Dynamic Model and Control of Electroactive Polymer Actuators

The aim of the paper is to describe an integrated approach for modeling the dynamic behavior of actuation systems based on electroactive polymer actuators. The mathematical analysis of the system in order to develop the dynamic model is difficult in this case because of the unknown parameters within governing equations, and therefore a new approach is presented. Thus, an actuation system is considered, and its behavior is determined using Matlab Software, D-space platform and an optical sensor, which analyses the position, velocity and acceleration developed by the actuator. The dynamic model of the system is determined in order to further implement it in a model based control technique. The model is generated, using system identification toolbox within Matlab, based on the input and output (response) of the considered system.