Electroactive elastomeric actuator for all-polymer linear peristaltic pumps

This paper describes the concept of a lightweight and deformable structure with intrinsic distributed electromechanical actuation, potentially suitable to develop soft linear peristaltic pumps for incompressible fluids. The proposed system is represented by a series of radially expanding flexible tubular modules, made of dielectric elastomers (DEs), as one of the most promising classes of electroactive polymers for actuation. Each module consists of a cylindrical hollow DE actuator, working in purely radial mode with specific boundary constraints. The static electromechanical transduction performance of such a module was investigated analytically, numerically, and experimentally. For this purpose, predictions obtained from an analytical model, derived in the hypothesis of linear elasticity, were compared with those provided by a finite-element method. Both models were validated by means of a comparison with experimental data, obtained from a silicone-made prototype module. Results permitted to obtain a simple tool of simulation, suitable to predict the performance of the system in terms of both displaced volume and driving pressure, as a function of the material elastic modulus and the applied voltage.