Development and modeling of conducting polymer actuators and the fabrication of a conducting polymer based feedback loop

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2003.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Madden, Peter Geoffrey Alexander, 1971-
Other Authors: Ian W. Hunter.
Format: Thesis
Language:en_US
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2005
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/27861
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author Madden, Peter Geoffrey Alexander, 1971-
author2 Ian W. Hunter.
author_facet Ian W. Hunter.
Madden, Peter Geoffrey Alexander, 1971-
author_sort Madden, Peter Geoffrey Alexander, 1971-
collection MIT
description Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2003.
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spelling mit-1721.1/278612019-04-10T22:31:13Z Development and modeling of conducting polymer actuators and the fabrication of a conducting polymer based feedback loop Madden, Peter Geoffrey Alexander, 1971- Ian W. Hunter. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering. Mechanical Engineering. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2003. This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. Includes bibliographical references. Conducting polymers as a class of materials can be used to build a diverse range of devices. Conducting polymer based actuators (muscles), transistors (neurons), strain gages (muscle spindles), force sensors (Golgi tendon organs), light emitting diodes, photodetectors (eyes), batteries and supercapacitors (energy storage), and chemical sensors (noses) can all be manufactured. The range of behaviors makes conducting polymers the only class of materials that might be able to mimic the full range of functions needed to build a truly lifelike artificial system. In this thesis, a conducting polymer actuator and conducting polymer strain gage are used for the first time to build a reflex or position feedback loop that rejects position disturbances. The successful operation of the conducting polymer based reflex loop is an important step towards building an all polymer reflex loop that is directly integrated into a bulk material. Such a reflex loop could be used to control position, to control force or to dynamically change the material stiffness and viscosity. In the course of the project, an improved understanding of conducting polymer actuators has led to mathematical descriptions of the charging and discharging of long linear actuators and to equations describing the deflection and force of three layer bending beam actuators. These equations can be used as design tools to build actuators that satisfy given performance requirements. Finally, the performance of the actuators has been related to specific material properties to help direct research into new conducting polymeric materials. by Peter Geoffrey Alexander Madden. Ph.D. 2005-09-26T15:51:35Z 2005-09-26T15:51:35Z 2003 2003 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/27861 54792824 en_US M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 136 p. 10071983 bytes 10909943 bytes application/pdf application/pdf application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Mechanical Engineering.
Madden, Peter Geoffrey Alexander, 1971-
Development and modeling of conducting polymer actuators and the fabrication of a conducting polymer based feedback loop
title Development and modeling of conducting polymer actuators and the fabrication of a conducting polymer based feedback loop
title_full Development and modeling of conducting polymer actuators and the fabrication of a conducting polymer based feedback loop
title_fullStr Development and modeling of conducting polymer actuators and the fabrication of a conducting polymer based feedback loop
title_full_unstemmed Development and modeling of conducting polymer actuators and the fabrication of a conducting polymer based feedback loop
title_short Development and modeling of conducting polymer actuators and the fabrication of a conducting polymer based feedback loop
title_sort development and modeling of conducting polymer actuators and the fabrication of a conducting polymer based feedback loop
topic Mechanical Engineering.
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/27861
work_keys_str_mv AT maddenpetergeoffreyalexander1971 developmentandmodelingofconductingpolymeractuatorsandthefabricationofaconductingpolymerbasedfeedbackloop