Angebot für eine Studien-/Diplomarbeit > Digital logic with artificial muscles and neurons

Dielectric elastomers (DEs) are soft, multifunctional and electroactive polymers. They are generally used as actuators, sensors or for energy-harvesting. They need to work with high voltage and low current, thus the implementation of these structures with conventional electronics can be challenging. Our group is working on realizing electronic circuits directly within these smart materials, in order to solve the compatibility problem, through the employment of piezoresistive inks. With the improvement of materials and design of the DEs, more complex circuits could be embedded within entirely soft, smart structures. The group also studies different kinds of dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs). A DEA is a compliant, elastic capacitance that reacts to high electric  elds producing an actuation; this actuation can be tailored to work in many ways (e.g. in-plane actuation, bending, bi-stable switching).

Available tasks include the optimization of the DE-units’ design and the geometry of bi-stable actuators. DE-units are the basic elements of signal processing, each one is composed by an actuator (DEA) and a piezo-resistive switch so that the actuation of the DEA induces a change in the switch resistance. The geometry of the components in uences the switching mechanism and can be improved to have a better response to electrical stimuli. Further work can be done on the miniaturization of NAND and NOR gates. These logic gates are essential for building latched power switches that could be used to control the behavior of DE-based soft robots. Bi-stable actuators are DEA-based bending structures that can switch between two stable equilibrium states after a voltage impulse is applied to them. The geometry of the structure has to be optimized for a smooth change between the two states. Moreover, a soft grippers or similar demonstrators could be realized to test the performance.

Schwerpunkte der Arbeit

• Analyse des biologischen Vorbilds

• Ableitung ingenieurtechnischer Lösungsansätze

• Entwicklung von Entwurfs-Konzepten, Berechnung und Simulation

• Herstellung und Aufbau von Demonstratoren

• Dokumentation und Kommunikation mit internationalen Partnern

Ansprechpartner

M.Sc. Luca Ciarella

MIE, Room 212

+49 351 463-xyz

luca.ciarella@tu-dresden.de

Dr.-Ing. E.-F. Markus Henke

MIE, Raum 113

+49 351 463-39962

markus.henke@tu-dresden.de