Amy E. Bowers
Dielectric elastomer pump for artificial organisms
Bowers, Amy E.; Rossiter, Jonathan M.; Walters, Peter; Ieropoulos, Ioannis
Authors
Jonathan M. Rossiter
Peter Walters
Yannis Ieropoulos Ioannis2.Ieropoulos@uwe.ac.uk
Professor in Bioenergy & Director of B-B
Contributors
Federico Carpi
Editor
Yoseph Bar-Cohen
Editor
Abstract
This paper presents a bio-inspired, dielectric elastomer (DE) based tubular pumping unit, developed for eventual use as a component of an artificial digestive tract onboard a microbial fuel cell powered robot (EcoBot). The pump effects fluid displacement by direct actuation of the tube wall as opposed to excitation by an external body. The actuator consists of a DE tube moulded from silicone, held in a negative pressure chamber, which is used for prestraining the tube. The pump is coupled with custom designed polymeric check valves in order to rectify the fluid flow and assess the performance of the unit. The valves exhibited the necessary low opening pressures required for use with the actuator. The tube's actuation characteristics were measured both with and without liquid in the system. Based on these data the optimal operating conditions for the pump are discussed. The pump and valve system has achieved flowrates in excess of 40μl/s. This radially contracting/expanding actuator element is the fundamental component of a peristaltic pump. This 'soft pump' concept is suitable for biomimetic robotic systems, or for the medical or food industries where hard contact with the delivered substrate may be undesirable. Future work will look at connecting multiple tubes in series in order to achieve peristalsis. © 2011 SPIE.
Citation
Rossiter, J. M., Bowers, A. E., Walters, P., & Ieropoulos, I. (2011). Dielectric elastomer pump for artificial organisms. Proceedings of SPIE, 7976, https://doi.org/10.1117/12.880440
Journal Article Type | Conference Paper |
---|---|
Publication Date | May 17, 2011 |
Journal | Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering |
Print ISSN | 0277-786X |
Publisher | Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 7976 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1117/12.880440 |
Keywords | dielectric elastomer, artificial digestive tract, microbial fuel cell powered robot, tubular pumping unit |
Public URL | https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/964617 |
Publisher URL | http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.880440 |
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