Electro-lattice actuator: a compliant high-contractile active lattice structure

Electro-ribbon actuators are high-performance electrically-driven artificial muscles with high flexibility, low mass, low power consumption, high contraction, and high force-to-weight ratio. They show great promise for driving the deployment of compact folding structures. This article presents the electro-lattice actuator (ELA), a compliant, three-dimensional, free-standing lattice structure that uses this phenomenon to contract to a flat sheet upon the application of a potential difference. The ELA was designed in the form of multiple interconnected buckled structures and fabricated using polyvinyl chloride sheets and tape and copper electrodes. The ELA structure was pre-set into an open-cell configuration by annealing in an oven. Isometric testing at varying compressions showed that the tensile stress of the proposed lattice actuator reaches a maximum of 184 Pa (a 472 Pa change in tensile stress compared with its unactuated state). A cuboid shaped ELA (13.6 cm length × 10.0 cm width × 5.4 cm height) achieved a contraction of 92.6% and a contraction rate of 35.6% s−1. The novel ELA opens up the use of electro-ribbon actuation to more complex and more effective 3D actuating and deploying structures.