• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.723-726
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• 2005

The two major obstacles in the application of IPMC to flapping actuators operated in the air are solvent loss and actuation force. In this paper, solvent loss of various IPMCs made of Nafion$^{TM}$117(183$\mu$m thickness) has been experimentally investigated to find out the best combination of cation and solvent for minimal solvent loss in IPMCs and higher actuation force. For this purpose. experiments for the internal solvent loss measurement of IMPCs have been conducted for various combinations of cation and solvent. From the experiments, it was found that heavy water showed improvement in the operating time up to more than two minutes. in the tip force measurement of IPMCs, it was found that smaller and thicker IPMCs produced larger tip forces. However, the shorter IPMCs generated reduced actuation displacements and created flapping motion with decreased natural frequency. For the design of flapping device actuated by 5mm wide, 10mm long, 0.2mm thick IPMCs were used in the stacked form. Since the actuation force is a few gram-force, we stacked five IPMCs to improve actuation force. To amply the actuation force, rack-and-pin ion type hinge was used for the flapping device and insect (Cicadidae) wing was attached to the stacked IPMC actuator. In the flapping test, the device could generate flapping angle of 15$^{\circ}$ at 6Hz excitation by 2.5 voltage square wave input.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.112-120
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• 2003

The composite of ionic polymer and metal has been fabricated and used for actuators. Platinum is deposited by electroless plating method onto the both sides of ionic polymer where ac voltage is applied. This results in the bending motion of a beam type actuator. In this paper, the fabrication method of ionic polymer-metal composite has been explained and the moving mechanism has been fabricated and measured using the ionic polymer-metal composite actuator. The moving mechanism is wireless type and the power is supplied through the rail electrodes in base plate. The maximum speed of the moving mechanism was about 24cm/min.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.10 no.11
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• pp.981-990
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• 2004

Specialized propulsors for naval applications have numerous opportunities in terms of research, design and fabrication of an appropriate propulsor. One of the most important components of any propulsor is the actuator that provides the mode of locomotion. Ionomeric electro-active polymer may offer an attractive solution for locomotion of small propulsors. A common ionomeric electro-active polymer, ionic Polymer-Metal Composites (IPHCs) give large true bending deformations under low driving voltages, operate in aqueous environments, are capable of transduction and are relatively well understood. IPMC fabrication and operation are presented to further elucidate the use of the material for a propulsor. Various materials, including IPMCs, are investigated and a simplified propulsor model is explored.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.717-722
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• 2012

This paper presents the design and dynamic model of the finger exoskeleton actuated by Ionic Polymer Metal Composites (IPMC) to assist a tip pinch task. Although this exoskeleton will be developed to assist 3 degree-of-freedom motion of each finger, it has been currently made to perform the tip pinch task using 1 degree-of-freedom mechanism as the first step. The six layers of IPMC were stacked in parallel to increase the low actuation force of IPMC. In addition, the finger dummy was manufactured to evaluate the performance of the finger exoskeleton. The pinch task experiments, which were performed on the finger dummy with the developed exoskeleton, showed that the pinch force close to the desired level was obtained. Moreover, the dynamic model of the exoskeleton and finger dummy was developed in order to perform the various analyses for the improvement of the exoskeleton.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.316-317
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• 2009

The ion-exchange membrane, Nafion, remains as the benchmark for a majority of research and development in IPMC technology. In this research, we employed a novel ionomer named by sulfonated poly(styrene-ran-ethylene) (SPSE) that is crosslinked by UV irradiation. The sulfonic acid groups were stable during the UV irradiation crosslinking process. Water uptake, ion exchange capacity, and proton conductivity are characterized for both pure SPSE and crosslinked SPSE membrane. The bending responses of SPSE actuators under both direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) excitations were investigated. The voltage-current behaviors of the actuators under AC excitations are also measured. Results showed the crosslinked SPSE actuators have better electromechanical performance than that of pure SPSE actuator with regard to tip displacement as a novel smart material.

• Proceedings of the Polymer Society of Korea Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.246-246
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• 2006

Ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) soaked with various ionic liquids was prepared by using polystyrene sulfonic acid-grafted poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) as ion-exchange membrane (IEM). The prepared IPMCs were effectively deformed three times larger and actuated for 300 times longer than those of Nafion with water at the same applied conditions. The experimental results indicated than the increase in the bending capability can be caused by the increase in the improved properties of the IEMs and ionic liquids such as uptake content and ionic conductivity. And air-operating stability of the IPMCs is appreciably governed by various physical and electrochemical properties of soaked solvents in IEMs.