Roll-to-roll manufacturing processes for producing self-healing electroactive polymer devices

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed in general to manufacturing and more specifically, to high volume manufacturing processes for producing electroactive polymer cartridges and actuators.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A tremendous variety of devices used today rely on actuators of one sort or another to convert electrical energy to mechanical energy. Conversely, many power generation applications operate by converting mechanical action into electrical energy. Employed to harvest mechanical energy in this fashion, the same type of device may be referred to as a generator. Likewise, when the structure is employed to convert physical stimulus such as vibration or pressure into an electrical signal for measurement purposes, it may be characterized as a sensor. Yet, the term “transducer” may be used to generically refer to any of the devices.

A number of design considerations favor the selection and use of advanced dielectric elastomer materials, also referred to as “electroactive polymers”, for the fabrication of transducers. These considerations include potential force, power density, power conversion/consumption, size, weight, cost, response time, duty cycle, service requirements, environmental impact, etc. As such, in many applications, electroactive polymer technology offers an ideal replacement for piezoelectric, shape-memory alloy and electromagnetic devices such as motors and solenoids.

An electroactive polymer transducer comprises two electrodes having deformable characteristics and separated by a thin elastomeric dielectric material. When a voltage difference is applied to the electrodes, the oppositely charged electrodes attract each other thereby compressing the polymer dielectric layer therebetween. As the electrodes are pulled closer together, the dielectric polymer film becomes thinner (the Z-axis component contracts) as it expands in the planar directions (along the X- and Y-axes), i.e., the displacement of the film is in-plane. The electroactive polymer film may also be configured to produce movement in a direction orthogonal to the film structure (along the Z-axis), i.e., the displacement of the film is out-of-plane, U.S. Pat. No. 7,567,681 discloses electroactive polymer film constructs which provide such out-of-plane displacement—also referred to as surface deformation or as thickness mode deflection.

The material and physical properties of the electroactive polymer film may be varied and controlled to customize the deformation undergone by the transducer. More specifically, factors such as the relative elasticity between the polymer film and the electrode material, the relative thickness between the polymer film and electrode material and/or the varying thickness of the polymer film and/or electrode material, the physical pattern of the polymer film and/or electrode material (to provide localized active and inactive areas), the tension or pre-strain placed on the electroactive polymer film as a whole, and the amount of voltage applied to or capacitance induced upon the film may be controlled and varied to customize the features of the film when in an active mode.

Numerous applications exist that benefit from the advantages provided by such electroactive polymer films whether using the film alone or using it in an electroactive polymer actuator. One of the many applications involves the use of electroactive polymer transducers as actuators to produce haptic feedback (the communication of information to a user through forces applied to the user's body) in user interface devices.

Over time and continued operation, electroactive polymer cartridges may undergo significant stresses due to flexing of the electrode diaphragm causing stress cracks or fractures in the electrode, leading to premature failure. Accordingly, an electrode of an electroactive polymer cartridge should be able to undergo flexure while maintaining suitable operation over extended continued operations. The present disclosure provides various apparatuses and processing techniques for producing electroactive polymer cartridges comprising electrodes capable of withstanding extended continued operation without failure. The present disclosure also provides high-volume roll-to-roll manufacturing processes for producing dielectric elastomer material based electrodes for electroactive polymer cartridges.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Electroactive polymer devices that can be used with these designs include, but are not limited to planar, diaphragm, thickness mode, roll, and passive coupled devices (hybrids) as well as any type of electroactive polymer device described in the commonly assigned patents and applications cited herein.

In one embodiment, a process for producing a corrugated electrode for use in an electroactive polymer cartridge is provided. The process comprises positioning a laminated web comprising a support sheet laminated to a dielectric elastomer film, the support sheet defining areas exposing portions of the dielectric elastomer film; applying a three to stretch the positioned laminated support sheet-dielectric elastomer film web in a direction that is orthogonal to a plane defined by the web; applying an electrically conductive material to the laminated support sheet-dielectric elastomer film web while the laminated support sheet-dielectric elastomer film web is in a stretched state; and relaxing the laminated support sheet-dielectric elastomer film web to form the corrugated electrode on the dielectric elastomer film portion of the web. In some embodiments the support sheet may be material that is printed or deposited rather than laminated onto the dielectric elastomer film. It may require drying or curing as a subsequent process step. In other embodiments, a non-conductive material that is optionally rigid may be deposited onto the stretched surface before or after an electrode material.

In some variations, the electroactive polymer actuator comprises at least one electroactive polymer cartridge, where the electroactive polymer cartridge includes an electroactive polymer film comprising a dielectric elastomer layer, wherein a portion of the dielectric elastomer layer is provided between first and second electrodes wherein the overlapping portions of the electrodes define an active area comprising the active portion, whereupon application of a triggering signal to the electrodes causes movement of the active area to produce the haptic effect, and wherein the first and second electrodes comprise an electrically conductive material in a corrugated configuration.

The electroactive polymer actuator can include a plurality of discrete electroactive polymer cartridges coupled together, where the electroactive polymer actuator includes an increased active portion comprising each active area of each electroactive polymer cartridge.

As noted above, there remains a need to mass produce such electroactive polymer devices while maintaining the performance characteristics obtained through batch production or lower volume manufacturing processes.

The present disclosure provides a roll-to-roll manufacturing process for producing electroactive polymer cartridges with self-healing electrodes. These electrodes can undergo ablation around the dielectric failures in the electroactive polymer film, which would prevent current from flowing through the ablated failure points and forestall a catastrophic failure of the electroactive polymer device. In one variation, the process comprises continuously advancing a film of an elastomeric material from a supply of elastomeric material, optionally mechanically straining the film to create a first pre-strained film section that remains continuous with the supply of elastomeric material, supporting the film section such that the first film section comprises a supported portion and an unsupported portion, mechanically straining the film out of plane (e.g., applying a force orthogonal to a plane defined by the film), depositing an electrically conductive material on a first side of the unsupported portion of the first film section while the film section is under strain, relaxing the film to create at least a first corrugated electrode, and optionally mechanically straining the film in a direction orthogonal to a plane defined by the film, depositing the electrically conductive material on a second side of the unsupported portion of the first film section opposing the first electrode while the section in under strain, and relaxing the film to create at least a second corrugated electrode.

The strain of the film during the application of the electrically conductive material may be orthogonal to the plane defined by the film.

Another variation disclosed herein the present invention includes an electroactive polymer film for use in an electroactive polymer device prepared by a process comprising the steps of straining (deforming) a section of elastomeric film in a direction orthogonal to a plane defined by the film, applying an electrically conductive material to the strained section of the film, and relaxing the film to form a corrugated electrode. Two such films may be laminated together along the surfaces opposite the electrode surfaces.

Another variation disclosed herein the present invention includes affixing one or more frames, output bars, or flexures to the film surface.

These and other features, objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those persons skilled in the art upon reading the details of the invention as more fully described below. In addition, variations of the processes and devices described herein include combinations of the embodiments or of aspects of the embodiments where possible are within the scope of this disclosure even if those combinations are not explicitly shown or discussed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is best understood from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. To facilitate understanding, the same reference numerals have been used (where practical) to designate similar elements are common to the drawings. Included in the drawings are the following:

FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate a top perspective view of a transducer before and after application of a voltage in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2A illustrates an exemplary electroactive polymer cartridge in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2B illustrates an exploded view of an electroactive polymer actuator, inertial mass and actuator housing in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3A illustrates a schematic roll-to-roll process for preparing an elastomeric film into an electroactive polymer film in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3B illustrates two rolls of electroactive polymer films being combined to produce an electroactive polymer device in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate an example of using a stiff belt member to assist in controlling the desired strain on an elastomeric film in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a electroactive polymer cartridge with self-healing corrugated electrodes and a fatigue-resistant conductive bus in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates a micrograph detail of circumferential corrugated electrodes produced in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a process for preparing a rigid polymer support web for producing corrugated electrodes on an electroactive polymer cartridge in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 8A-8F illustrate a process for preparing a rigid polymer support for producing electroactive polymer cartridges comprising corrugated electrodes in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, where:

FIG. 8A illustrates a rigid polymer support for producing frames for electroactive polymer cartridges in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8B illustrates the rigid polymer support shown in FIG. 8A with frames, disks, and sprocket holes cut into the rigid polymer support in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8C illustrates the pre-cut rigid polymer support shown in FIG. 8B with a release layer applied on top of the rigid polymer support in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8D illustrates the pre-cut coated rigid polymer support shown in FIG. 8C with adhesive tape laminated to the pre-cut frames to hold the disks in place with respect to the frames in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8E illustrates the pre-cut coated rigid polymer support shown in FIG. 8D with ring shaped slugs ejected from the pre-cut frames and disks that would overlie the active area of the electroactive polymer cartridge in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8F illustrates a partial sectional view of a pre-strained dielectric elastomer film laminated between two sheets of rigid polymer supports processed in accordance with FIGS. 8A-8E in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9A is a top view of an electroactive polymer cartridge comprising a laminated frame, disk, and pre-strained dielectric elastomer film prior to applying an electrically conductive material to the active area of the electroactive polymer cartridge in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9B is a sectional view of the cartridge shown in FIG. 9A taken along section 9B-9B;

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of a stretched deposition process of applying an electrically conductive material to an active area of an electroactive polymer cartridge for producing corrugated electrodes in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 11A-11F illustrates an electroactive polymer cartridge undergoing a stretched deposition process for producing a corrugated electrode on a stretched dielectric film portion of an electroactive polymer cartridge in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, where:

FIG. 11A is a cross-sectional view of an electroactive polymer cartridge in a relaxed state prior to the stretched deposition process in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11B is a cross-sectional view of the cartridge in a stretched state during the stretched deposition process in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11C is a cross-sectional view of the cartridge in a relaxed state after the stretched deposition process in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11D is an optional phase of the manufacturing process where the cartridge is turned over to apply an electrically conductive material to an active area of the cartridge in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11E is a cross-sectional view of the cartridge in a stretched state during the stretched deposition process in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11F is a cross-sectional view of the cartridge in a relaxed state after the stretched deposition process in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12A is a top view of an electroactive polymer cartridge comprising a laminated frame, disk, and pre-strained dielectric elastomer film coated with an electrically conductive material by the stretched deposition process described in connection with FIGS. 11A-11F to form a corrugated electrode in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12B is a sectional view of the cartridge shown in FIG. 12A taken along section 12B-12B;

FIG. 13 illustrates a generalized process for stretching a dielectric elastomer film portion of an electroactive cartridge over frustoconical protrusions formed on a sputtering drum in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 illustrates one embodiment of a sputtering drum comprising a spacer and a belt comprising multiple rows of frustoconical protrusions for stretching a dielectric elastomer film portion of an electroactive polymer cartridge in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 illustrates a sputtering drum comprising multiple belts comprising a plurality of frustoconical protrusions for stretching a dielectric elastomer film in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a detailed view of the button belt shown in FIG. 15 showing how the buttons hold the laminated disk diaphragms actuators in a stretched state during the deposition process according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 17 illustrates a roll-to-roll process for stripping the release layer from an electroactive polymer cartridge in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 18-20 illustrate one aspect of a roll-to-roll stretched deposition manufacturing process for producing dielectric elastomer electrodes for electroactive polymer cartridges, where:

FIG. 18 illustrates one aspect of a roll-to-roll manufacturing process for producing a rigid polymer support for an electroactive polymer cartridge in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 19 illustrates one aspect of a roll-to-roll manufacturing process for laminating a pre-strained dielectric elastomer film between two rigid polymer supports in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 20 is a continuous high-volume manufacturing process for producing electroactive polymer cartridges with self-healing corrugated electrodes in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 21 illustrates one aspect of a roll-to-roll stretched deposition manufacturing process for applying an electrically conductive material to a stretched dielectric elastomer film in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 22-24 illustrate a fatigue-resistant conductive bus for an electroactive polymer cartridge in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, where:

FIG. 22 illustrates a fatigue-resistant conductive bus to be applied on one side of an electroactive polymer cartridge in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 23 illustrates a fatigue-resistant conductive bus to be applied on an opposite side of the electroactive polymer cartridge in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 24 illustrates the fatigue-resistant conductive buses shown in FIGS. 22, 23 applied to both sides of the electroactive polymer cartridge in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 25 illustrates forming an encapsulation layer over the active area of an electroactive polymer cartridge comprising the fatigue-resistant conductive buses shown in FIGS. 22-24 applied to both sides of the cartridge in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 26 illustrates one form of encapsulation layer over a first side of the electroactive polymer cartridge in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 27 illustrates one form of encapsulation layer over a second side of the electroactive polymer cartridge in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 28A is a top view of an electroactive polymer cartridge with self-healing corrugated electrodes produced by the a roll-to-roll stretched deposition process and fatigue resistant conductive buses applied thereon in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 28B is a cross-sectional view of the electroactive polymer cartridge shown in FIG. 28A with self-healing corrugated electrodes and fatigue resistant conductive buses applied thereon in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 29 illustrates a process for producing electrical connections for stacked layers of electroactive polymer cartridges in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

Variation of the invention from that shown in the figures is contemplated.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Examples of electroactive polymer devices and their applications are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,394,282; 7,378,783; 7,368,862; 7,362,032; 7,320,457; 7,259,503; 7,233,097; 7,224,106; 7,211,937; 7,199,501; 7,166,953; 7,064,472; 7,062,055; 7,052,594; 7,049,732; 7,034,432; 6,940,221; 6,911,764; 6,891,317; 6,882,086; 6,876,135; 6,812,624; 6,809,462; 6,806,621; 6,781,284; 6,768,246; 6,707,236; 6,664,718; 6,628,040; 6,586,859; 6,583,533; 6,545,384; 6,543,110; 6,376,971; 6,343,129; 7,952,261; 7,911,761; 7,492,076; 7,761,981; 7,521,847; 7,608,989; 7,626,319; 7,915,789; 7,750,532; 7,436,099; 7,199,501; 7,521,840; 7,595,580; and 7,567,681, and in U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2009/0154053; 2008/0116764; 2007/0230222; 2007/0200457; 2010/0109486; and 2011/128239, and PCT Publication No. WO2010/054014, the entireties of which are incorporated herein by reference.

In various embodiments, the present invention provides a process for producing a patterned deformable polymer film for use in a deformable polymer device, the process including stretching an intermediary of a deformable film and applying a conductive material to the film while under the stretched state to form at least one electrode on a first surface of the deformable film, wherein the electrode obtains a corrugated configuration when the polymer film is returned to a relaxed state.

Films useful in embodiments of the present invention include, but are not limited to those made from polymers such as silicone, polyurethane, acrylate, hydrocarbon rubber, olefin copolymer, polyvinylidene fluoride copolymer, fluoroelastomer, styrenic copolymer, and adhesive elastomer.

Self-healing corrugated electrodes give dielectric elastomer transducers high reliability. Roll-to-roll metal deposition is the most viable means of producing these electrodes in volume. Thus, the roll-to-roll metal electrode manufacturing process outlined here provides a solution to the reliability problem that has hindered the commercial success of dielectric elastomer transducers for the last several years.

In various aspects, the manufacturing processes described herein employ a “button belt” for retrofitting a roll-to-roll sputtering chamber. In addition the process employs a temporary support (tape) to suspend an island (the disk) during lamination, then removing the temporary support after lamination. The process also employs a single pair of sprockets to precisely laminate a rigid/soft/rigid composite. The sprocket teeth align with sprocket holes in the lower/rigid polyethylene terephthalate (PET) layer, distend the soft polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) intermediary layer like a cone pushing on the center of a drum head, and align the incoming/top/rigid PET layer.

It is noted that the figures discussed herein schematically illustrate exemplary configurations of devices and processes that employ electroactive polymer films or transducers having such electroactive polymer films. Many variations are within the scope of this disclosure, for example, in variations of the device, the electroactive polymer transducers can be implemented to move a mass to produce an inertial haptic sensation. Alternatively, the electroactive polymer transducer can produce movement in the electronic media device when coupled to the assembly described herein. Electroactive transducers manufactured with the processes disclosed here can be used as actuators, generators, or sensors in many other applications including, without limitation, fluid handling systems, motion control, adaptive optical devices, vibration control systems, and energy harvesting systems.

In any application, the displacement created by the electroactive polymer transducer can be exclusively in-plane which is sensed as lateral movement, or can be out-of-plane (which is sensed as vertical displacement). Alternatively, the electroactive polymer transducer material may be segmented to provide independently addressable/movable sections so as to provide angular displacement of the housing or electronic media device or combinations of other types of displacement. In addition, any number of electroactive polymer transducers or films (as disclosed in the applications and patent listed herein) can be incorporated in the user interface devices described herein.

The electroactive polymer transducer may be configured to displace to an applied voltage, which facilitates programming of a control system used with the subject tactile feedback devices. Electroactive polymer transducers are ideal for such applications for a number of reasons. For example, because of their light weight and minimal components, electroactive polymer transducers offer a very low profile and, as such, are ideal for use in sensory/haptic feedback applications.

Some embodiments of the present invention may be categorized into at least three processes. A first process comprises producing a web of electroactive polymer diaphragms. The first process comprises laser cutting or die cutting a rigid polymer sheet (e.g., a (0.005″ PET) to define frames and disks; coating the PET with a water soluble release material (PVP); laminating adhesive tape to the polymer sheet, so that the disk is held fixed with respect to the frame; ejecting ring-shaped slugs formed between the ring and frame elements which would overly constrain the active area of the transducer if they were not removed; laminating this frame/disk film to both sides of a pre-strained dielectric; and removing the tape that held the disks in place. A surface of the rigid polymer sheet may be treated to modify its surface energy to prevent the formation of a conductive film in subsequent process steps. In a variation of this process the frames and disks are defined by printing or patterning coating material onto one or both surfaces of the electroactive polymer film. The coating material can be made rigid through thermal or photo-exposure.

Once the web of electroactive polymer diaphragms is produced, a second process is employed to apply an electrode formed of an electrically conductive material (e.g., a metal) onto the surface of the electroactive polymer diaphragms on the web. This process comprises stretching an individual electroactive polymer diaphragm in a direction orthogonal to a plane defined by the cartridge (e.g., out of plane force) and applying (e.g., sputtering) an electrically conductive material onto the surface of the electroactive polymer diaphragms in a roll-to-roll process.

After the metallization step, a third process may comprise stripping the metal from the surface of the rigid polymer sheet defining the electroactive polymer diaphragms; printing a fatigue-resistant carbon bus; printing an encapsulation layer; forming vias; and singulating the completed electroactive polymer transducers or cartridges from the web.

These and other processes are described in detail hereinbelow. Prior to describing such processes, however, FIGS. 1-4 provide a brief description of general electroactive polymer structures and processes for producing such structures.

Accordingly, the description now turns to FIGS. 1A and 1B, which illustrate an example of an electroactive polymer film or membrane 10 structure. A thin elastomeric dielectric film or layer 12 is sandwiched between compliant or stretchable electrode plates or layers 14 and 16, thereby forming a capacitive structure or film. The length “l” and width “w” of the dielectric layer, as well as that of the composite structure, are much greater than its thickness “t”. Preferably, the dielectric layer has a thickness in the range from about 10 μm to about 100 μm, with the total thickness of the structure in the range from about 15 μm to about 10 cm. Additionally, it is desirable to select the elastic modulus, thickness, and/or the geometry of electrodes 14, 16 such that the additional stiffness they contribute to the actuator is generally less than the stiffness of the dielectric layer 12, which has a relatively low modulus of elasticity, i.e., less than about 100 MPa and more preferably less than about 10 MPa, but is likely thicker than each of the electrodes. Electrodes suitable for use with these compliant capacitive structures are those capable of withstanding cyclic strains greater than about 1% without failure due to mechanical fatigue.

As seen in FIG. 1B, when a voltage is applied across the electrodes, the unlike charges in the two electrodes 14, 16 are attracted to each other and these electrostatic attractive forces compress the dielectric film 12 (along the Z-axis). The dielectric film 12 is thereby caused to deflect with a change in electric field. As electrodes 14, 16 are compliant, they change shape with dielectric layer 12. In the context of the present disclosure, “deflection” refers to any displacement, expansion, contraction, torsion, linear or area strain, or any other deformation of a portion of dielectric film 12. Depending on the architecture, e.g., a frame, in which capacitive structure 10 is employed (collectively referred to as a “transducer”), this deflection may be used to produce mechanical work. Various different transducer architectures are disclosed and described in the above-identified patent references.

With a voltage applied, the transducer film 10 continues to deflect until mechanical forces balance the electrostatic threes driving the deflection. The mechanical forces include elastic restoring forces of the dielectric layer 12, the compliance or stretching of the electrodes 14, 16 and any external resistance provided by a device and/or load coupled to transducer 10. The resultant deflection of the transducer 10 as a result of the applied voltage may also depend on a number of other factors such as the dielectric constant of the elastomeric material and its size and stiffness. Removal of the voltage and the induced charge causes the reverse effects.

In some cases, the electrodes 14 and 16 may cover a limited portion of dielectric film 12 relative to the total area of the film. This may be done to prevent electrical breakdown around the edge of the dielectric or achieve customized deflections in certain portions thereof. Dielectric material outside an active area (the latter being a portion of the dielectric material having sufficient electrostatic force to enable deflection of that portion) may be caused to act as an external spring force on the active area during deflection. More specifically, material outside the active area may resist or enhance active area deflection by its contraction or expansion.

The dielectric film 12 may be pre-strained. The pre-strain improves conversion between electrical and mechanical energy, i.e., the pre-strain allows the dielectric film 12 to deflect more and provide greater mechanical work. Pre-strain of a film may be described as the change in dimension in a direction after pre-straining relative to the dimension in that direction before pre-straining. The pre-strain may include elastic deformation of the dielectric film and be formed, for example, by stretching the film in tension and fixing one or more of the edges while stretched. The pre-strain may be imposed at the boundaries of the film or for only a portion of the film and may be implemented by using a rigid frame or by stiffening a portion of the film.

The transducer structure of FIGS. 1A and 1B and other similar compliant structures and the details of their constructs are more fully described in many of the referenced patents and publications disclosed herein.

FIG. 2A illustrates an exemplary electroactive polymer cartridge 12 having an electroactive polymer transducer film 26 placed between rigid frame 8 where the electroactive polymer film 26 is exposed in openings of the frame 8. The exposed portion of the film 26 includes two working pairs of thin elastic electrodes 32 on either side of the cartridge 12 where the electrodes 32 sandwich or surround the exposed portion of the film 26. The electroactive polymer film 26 can have any number of configurations. However, in one example, the electroactive polymer film 26 comprises a thin layer of elastomeric dielectric polymer (e.g., made of acrylate, silicone, urethane, thermoplastic elastomer, hydrocarbon rubber, fluoroelastomer, copolymer elastomer, or the like). When a voltage difference is applied across the oppositely-charged electrodes 32 of each working pair (i.e., across paired electrodes that are on either side of the film 26), the opposed electrodes attract each other thereby compressing the dielectric polymer layer 26 therebetween. The area between opposed electrodes is considered the active area. As the electrodes are pulled closer together, the dielectric polymer 26 becomes thinner (i.e., the Z-axis component contracts) as it expands in the planar directions (i.e., the X- and Y-axes components expand) (See FIG. 1B for axis references). Furthermore, like charges distributed across each electrode may repel one another, thereby contributing to the expansion of the elastic electrodes and dielectric films. The dielectric layer 26 is thereby caused to deflect with a change in electric field. As the electrode material is also compliant, the electrode layers change shape along with dielectric layer 26. As stated hereinabove, deflection refers to any displacement, expansion, contraction, torsion, linear or area strain, or any other deformation of a portion of dielectric layer 26. This deflection may be used to produce mechanical work. As shown, the dielectric layer 26 can also include one or more mechanical output bars 34. The bars 34 can optionally provide attachment points for either an inertial mass (as described below) or for direct coupling to a substrate in the electronic media device.

In fabricating a transducer, an elastic film 26 can be stretched and held in a pre-strained condition usually by a rigid frame 8. In those variations employing a four-sided frame, the film can be stretched bi-axially. It has been observed that pre-strain improves the dielectric strength of the polymer layer 26, thereby enabling the use of higher electric fields and improving conversion between electrical and mechanical energy, i.e., the pre-strain allows the film to deflect more and provide greater mechanical work. Preferably, the electrode material is applied after pre-straining the polymer layer, but may be applied beforehand. The two electrodes provided on the same side of layer 26, referred to herein as same-side electrode pairs, i.e., electrodes on the top side of dielectric layer 26 and electrodes on a bottom side of dielectric layer 26, can be electrically isolated from each other. The opposed electrodes on the opposite sides of the polymer layer form two sets of working electrode pairs, i.e., electrodes spaced by the electroactive polymer film 26 form one working electrode pair and electrodes surrounding the adjacent exposed electroactive polymer film 26 form another working electrode pair. Each same-side electrode pair can have the same polarity, whereas the polarity of the electrodes of each working electrode pair is opposite each other. Each electrode has an electrical contact portion configured for electrical connection to a voltage source.

In this variation, the electrodes 32 are connected to a voltage source via a flex connector 30 having leads 22, 24 that can be connected to the opposing poles of the voltage source. The cartridge 12 also includes conductive vias 18, 20. The conductive vias 18, 20 can provide a means to electrically couple the electrodes 8 with a respective lead 22 or 24 depending upon the polarity of the electrodes.

An electroactive polymer actuator for use in the processes and devices described herein can then be formed in a number of different ways. For example, the electroactive polymer can be formed by stacking a number of cartridges 12 together, having a single cartridge with multiple layers, or having multiple cartridges with multiple layers. Manufacturing and yield considerations may favor stacking single cartridges together to form the electroactive polymer actuator. In doing so, electrical connectivity between cartridges can be maintained by electrically coupling the vias 18, 20 together so that adjacent cartridges are coupled to the same voltage source or power supply.

The cartridge 12 shown in FIG. 2A includes three pairs of electrodes 32 separated by a single dielectric layer 26. In one variation, as shown in FIG. 2B, two or more cartridges 12 are stacked together to form an electroactive actuator 14 that is coupled to an inertial mass 50. Alternatively, the electroactive actuator 14 can be coupled directly to the electronic media device through a temporary attachment plate or frame. As discussed below, the electroactive actuator 14 can be placed within a cavity 52 that allows for movement of the actuator as desired. The pocket 52 can be directly formed in a housing of a haptic case. Alternatively, pocket 52 can be formed in a separate case 56 positioned within the housing of the device. If the latter, the material properties of the separate case 56 can be selected based upon the needs of the actuator 14. For example, if the main body of the haptic housing assembly is flexible, the separate case 56 can be made rigid to provide protection to the electroactive actuator and/or the mass 50. In any event, variations of the device and processes described herein include size of the cavity 52 with sufficient clearance to allow movement of the actuator 14 and/or mass 50 but a close enough tolerance so that the cavity 52 barrier (e.g., the haptic housing or separate case 56) serves as a limit to prevent excessive movement of the electroactive actuator 14. Such a feature prevents the active areas of the actuator 14 from excessive displacement that can shorten the life of the actuator or otherwise damage the actuator.

Additional examples of electroactive polymer films can be found in the commonly assigned patents and patent applications disclosed and incorporated by reference herein. Roll-to-roll manufacturing is a desirable way to produce high volumes of electroactive polymer devices. Roll-to-roll manufacturing comprises providing the unprocessed stock film material in a roll form, processing the material as the stock material unrolls and ultimately singulating the finished electroactive polymer devices at the conclusion of the assembly process. One can also have a roll-to-sheet process where the film is advanced by sections in a step-and-repeat fashion. The line is organized as a series of processing stations, and a film section is advanced from station to station along the web.

The final configuration of the electroactive polymer films presents challenges when trying to produce these films in high volume. For example, the materials are preferably pre-strained to a specific, well-controlled degree prior to assembly. Maintenance of a consistent web speed and tension and registration of multiple printing or patterning steps are especially difficult on a deformable substrate. Also, elastomeric materials are often prone to damage during the manufacturing process and this damage can limit performance and reliability of the finished devices.

To address these concerns and limitations, a novel process for producing electroactive polymer devices addresses the issues discussed above. In one variation the process includes separating the stock film material 300, typically a silicone, from a release liner (i.e., a liner of material that prevents the film from sticking together). The stock film material 300 may comprise any material used for fabrication of electroactive polymer devices such as disclosed in the references incorporated by reference herein. The roll-to-roll process can include rollers treated to release the stock film material 300 as it passes through the various manufacturing processes. For example, such treatment can include TEFLON coatings or other release (or non-stick) coatings that prevents the film from adhering to the roller. The rollers may also be covered with an intermediary layer such as an engineered surface, a removable liner, a compliant layer, or a deformable layer. Examples of engineered surfaces include, but are not limited to, parchment paper, textured surfaces, screen mesh, non-stick surfaces, and polymer sheets. Examples of deformable layers include, but are not limited to, foams and soft network materials such those made from ethylene vinyl acetate, silicone, olefins and polyurethanes. In an alternate variation, the process can include replacing the roll of the stock film material 300 with a feed direct from a coating or other manufacturing process that directly produces the film material 96.

As the film material 96 unwinds from the stock roll 300, a release liner 330 that separates layers of the film material 96 can be rewound 301. As noted herein, the film material 96 may be pre-strained. In the illustrated variation the film material 96 is stretched in a machine direction (direction parallel to the travel of the material 96) using, for example rollers 302 traveling at different speeds. The material 96 is then stretched in a transverse direction using a separate mechanism 304. Variations include simultaneously stretching the material 96 in a machine and transverse direction (i.e., biaxial stretchers). The desired stretch will depend upon the application as well as the desired performance of the electroactive polymer device. For example, the material can be stretched 30% in either or both the machine and transverse direction.

In some cases, it may be desirable to provide a layer of support to the film 96 after stretching. If so, a lamination layer 308 can be added to the film 96 to provide additional support for processing of the film. As discussed below, the lamination 308 also serves to reduce the occurrence of breaks in the film 96 as well as limit the breakage areas to non-critical sections of the film 96. This lamination layer 308 is sometimes referred to as a “rip-stop” layer or film. The rip-stop lamination layer may also include any number of openings that allow for further processing of the film 96. Though not shown, any number of cutouts can be included in the rip-stop layer 308 as long as the ability to provide support is not lost and the film 96 does not buckle during processing. The rip-stop layer 308 may comprise any number of polymeric materials, including polyethylene terephthalate, polyester and polycarbonate. The rip-stop layer 308 may have a surface treatment to optimize its interaction with the film 96. To provide sufficient support and tear resistance, the rip-stop layer 308 should have good surface blocking or bond to the film 96. Accordingly, the rip-stop layer 308 can be laminated to the film 96 using an adhesive layer, coatings, or tape. Preferably, the rip-stop layer 308 may include openings that allow for further processing of the film 96 into the electroactive polymer device. These openings may be created by any conventional process such as stamping, cutting, etching, etc. Although the laminated film 96 with rip-stop 308 can proceed through the manufacturing process, as illustrated in FIG. 3A, alternate variations of the process can include re-winding the film 96 after lamination with the rip-stop layer 308.

A printed layer can be used as an alternative to a laminated rip-stop layer. The printed material can be any material that can be applied to the film and cured or dried in place that is tougher and more tear resistant than the film. Examples of suitable materials include, but are not limited to, polyurethanes, silicones, acrylates, and epoxy systems.

Next, the film 96 with rip-stop 308 is fed through one or more electrode printing assemblies 310. The electrode printing assembly 310 may also optionally print the bus bar connection for the electrodes on both sides of the film 96. Any number of web-printing processes can produce the electrodes necessary for the electroactive polymer device, including flexographic printing, gravure (also called rotogravure or roto printing), screen printing, rotary screen printing, ink jet printing, aerosol jet printing, etc. The printing process may be adjusted for the offset caused by the openings in the rip-stop layer (for example, the print rollers can have raised bosses that are timed to print on the unlaminated portion of the film 96). Furthermore, registration of the film 96 web positions may be necessary to ensure electrodes are printed within the openings of the rip-stop lamination as well as on the web of film 96. Any such registration commonly used in printing or similar applications may be applied to the process disclosed herein.

FIG. 3A also illustrates printing occurring on both surfaces of the film 96. As noted above, electrode placement is required on each side of the film 96. In alternate variations of the process, printing can occur on a single side of the film 96, which is then rewound and reprocessed with printing occurring on the opposite side in a subsequent process. Alternatively, the single-sided printed film may be stacked or laminated where the single electrode can be used to service two adjacent films in a multilayer stack. In any case, registration may be necessary to ensure that printing of electrodes on opposing sides of the film material and on different sections of the film is within manufacturing tolerances.

In one embodiment, the electrodes can be printed on one side or both sides of the film 96 by first stretching the film 96 in a direction orthogonal to a plane defined by the film 96 and then printing the electrode material onto the pre-stretched film 96. When the film 96 is subsequently relaxed, the printed electrode forms a corrugated electrode. Specific processes and materials used in forming corrugated electrodes on a film are described in detail in connection with FIGS. 5-29 and are generally referred to throughout this description as stretched deposition processes.

Once the electrodes are placed on the film 96, the film 96 can be re-wound 312 with an interleaf or separation layer 314 positioned between layers of the film 96. Alternatively, the film 96 can continue for additional processing to assemble the electroactive polymer frame and support structures as described herein.

FIG. 3B illustrates an example of further processing of the printed elastomeric film 96 material in a process that produces a double layered electroactive polymer device. As shown, two sources of the printed film 96 can be fed 316 or unwound and joined to form a double layer of electroactive polymer film 96. The film may optionally be bonded or laminated depending upon the desired application. Next, one or more cartridge frames 318 may be added or bonded to the film 96 on both sides of the double layered electroactive polymer film 96. In addition to placement of the frames, one or more output bars or center discs 320 may be positioned by each electrode on the opposing sides of the double layer electroactive polymer film 96. Structural elements such as flexures may also be placed onto the film. Additional printing stations may be used to print adhesives or structural materials for the frames, flexures, and output bars. Finally, the finished electroactive polymer devices can be removed from the web (e.g., die cut, punched, laser cut, etc.). Clearly, variations of the process may include removal of the materials after any stage of processing so the device can be completed in a batch process rather than on the conveyor assembly system. Moreover, variations of the process include re-winding of the finished electroactive polymer device for subsequent removal.

In an alternate variation, a process for fabricating an electroactive polymer device may include UV, thermal, or surface treatment of the elastomeric polymer. The present inventors have found that UV treatment of the film prior to depositing electrodes on the film results in improved stroke performance of the finished actuator. Although not wishing to be bound to any particular theory, the present inventors believe UV exposure, silicone, polyurethane, acrylate, hydrocarbon rubber, olefin copolymer, polyvinylidene fluoride copolymer, fluoroelastomer, styrenic copolymer, and adhesive elastomer may change the surface energy of the film to improve uniformity of the electrode deposition. Further, the inventors speculate that UV treatment may change the hulk modulus or other properties of the elastomer making it more compliant and UV treatment may modify residual functional groups in the polymer film that cross-link during thermal loading in the manufacturing process.

Regardless of the actual mechanism, the present inventors have found UV treatment is an effective way to improve the stroke performance of actuators. In one example, UV treatment improved a pulse response of an actuator by 20% and characterized the actuators with lower resonant frequency as compared to a non-UV treated elastomer. The parameters for UV treatment will vary depending on a number of factors and the desired application of the end electroactive polymer device. In one example, it was found that UV curing of 6.5-7.01/cm²was an optimum point of UV treatment that improved stroke performance for actuators. Another unexpected benefit of UV treatment (prior to deposition of electrodes) is that the queue time between UV treatment and electrode printing was not a sensitive factor. In the study conducted by the present inventors, the queue time could last as long as 25 days. This finding may potentially allow for UV treatment during or immediately after pre-straining the film. In some cases, it may be possible to treat the elastomer during film manufacture so that the benefits are retained from when the elastomeric film is made to when the film is processed as described herein.

One of the problems with attempting to use roll-to-roll manufacturing for elastomeric films (such as silicone) is that the film is relatively thin (e.g., 23 μm) while having a very low modulus. The compliant film cannot remain flat without applying pre-strain but at the same time, the film can tear or break easily. Furthermore, to ensure that the device is manufactured to meet high actuator performance, the film requires a high level of applied strain during printing and lamination. Without a frame to hold and maintain the pre-strain, the electrode pattern printed on the film has a high chance of deforming and registration of the printed patterns is likely to be poor. If the film deforms during the printing operations, the film may be rendered non-functional for use in the electroactive polymer actuators.

To address this issue, a variation of the inventive manufacturing process includes applying a uni-axial pre-strain to the electroactive polymer film. Experiments have shown that uni-axial strain can match the stroke performance of regular bi-axial pre-strained films under certain conditions.

Uni-axial pre-strain magnitude can be defined by an index of thickness, the same as biaxial pre-strain after stretching. For example, uni-axial strain (67% thickness direction and 0% strain in XY direction) and biaxial strain (30% in two directions) can have similar film thickness ranges. The longer output bar direction is parallel to the uni-axial pre-strain direction.

To achieve uni-axial pre-strain in a roll-to-roll system, perforated belts 360, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, may be used to hold the two edges of the elastomeric film 96 in the web (longitudinal) direction. The uni-axial strain may be applied by stretching the film in lateral direction, while in the web direction there is zero or low pre-strain. The output bar of the electroactive polymer cartridge can be designed to be perpendicular to the web direction.

The lateral and longitude position of the belts 360 can be controlled precisely through the perforation rollers so the local strain will be consistent and stable. This allows for multiple printing and drying/curing steps as described herein. The major strain is defined by the distance between two belts 360 on the two long edges of elastomeric film 96.

The belts 360 may be constructed from a material that is much stiffer than the elastomeric film. For example, the belts 360 can comprise polyethylene terephthalate, which has a Young's Modulus between 2800-3100 MPa and tensile strength is 55-75 MPa. In contrast, silicone (a common material for the elastomeric film) generally has a Young's Modulus of 0.1-5 MPa and tensile strength is 5-8 MPa. Accordingly, polyethylene terephthalate is about 1000 times stiffer than silicone film.

When applying tension through the rollers 362, the majority of force will be applied to the polyethylene terephthalate belt 360 rather than the film 96. For example, assuming 5% elongation on the web, 400 out of 401 parts of force is applied on the polyethylene terephthalate belt while 1 part is applied on silicone film (assuming polyethylene terephthalate is 50 μm thick and 25 mm wide; while silicone film is 25 μm thick and 500 mm wide). This avoids the need to use tension rollers directly on the silicone film to control the strain of the film. If tension rollers were used, any small change in tension applied to the silicone film would lead to a great change in film elongation which would be difficult to control.

Biaxial stretching may be accomplished with perforated belts if the belts are constructed of stretchable material or are segmented, e.g. with perforated lines, so sections of the belt can separate upon stretching along the web direction while remaining engaged with the perforated rollers or guide chains along the edge of the web.

The exemplary electroactive polymer cartridges described hereinabove may comprise corrugated electrodes to improve continued operation and significantly extend the lifetime of the electroactive polymer cartridges. The high-volume roll-to-roll manufacturing processes described above also may be adapted to produce electroactive polymer cartridges comprising corrugated electrodes. A description of various embodiments of electroactive polymer cartridges comprising corrugated electrodes and high-volume roll-to-roll manufacturing processes for producing them are described hereinbelow. By way of context, a corrugated thin metal film is capable of stretching for many cycles without breaking, thus, making it suitable for use as an electrode deposited on a dielectric elastomer film diaphragm. The main advantage of corrugated electrodes is the ability to self-heal when a fault occurs, allowing continued operation of the electroactive polymer cartridge. High-volume roll-to-roll manufacturing processes for the producing electroactive polymer cartridges comprising dielectric elastomer films with corrugated electrodes formed thereon are described in connection with FIGS. 5-29.

There are two main approaches to producing corrugated electrodes on the surface of a dielectric elastomer film. The first approach is by a molding process and the second approach is by a stretched deposition process.

The molding approach, developed by the Danish Polymer Institute and Danfoss, involves casting a dielectric elastomer film on a corrugated carrier (the mold) so that the bottom surface is corrugated and the top surface is flat, and then laminating two such dielectric elastomer films back-to-back so that both outward facing surfaces are corrugated. This molding/lamination method has some drawbacks.

One drawback is the need for a mold. One technique employs a spin casting polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) on an etched silicon wafer, however, this is not scalable to the production of thousands of square meters of dielectric per year. Volume production would require development of a release film for dielectric casting with 1×10 μm corrugations. Another drawback involves release stress. If a thin dielectric is desired (e.g., <30 μm total) then two 15 μm thick layers must be produced. It is difficult to peel a thin (15 μm), layer of soft elastomer from a flat carrier without tearing or deforming it. It would be more difficult still to get the elastomer off of a textured carrier. Yet another drawback with the molding/lamination approach is registration. A diaphragm actuator requires circular corrugations. Considerable time and cost might be required to correctly register other parts (e.g. frames, output disks) with corrugated areas of the dielectric, particularly once pre-strain is applied prior to placement of those parts.

Accordingly, although none of the drawbacks associated with the molding/casting process are insurmountable, the stretched deposition process may be more readily adapted to a roll-to-roll manufacturing process. Accordingly, the remainder of this disclosure will be primarily focused on the stretched deposition process. Nevertheless, other processes for forming corrugated electrodes, such as the molding process, are still contemplated as being within the scope of the present invention.

In a stretched deposition process for producing electrical interconnects, metal or any suitable electrically conductive material is deposited or applied on a flexible diaphragm while the diaphragm is stretched in a direction orthogonal to a plane defined by the flexible diaphragm. In electroactive polymer cartridges, the flexible diaphragms are made of dielectric elastomer film. Therefore, corrugated electrodes are formed on the dielectric elastomer film. After the stretched deposition process (e.g., metallization) the flexible diaphragm is (e.g., dielectric elastomer film) is relaxed to produce corrugations. No mold is required. Further, rigid components placed on the dielectric elastomer film diaphragm before the stretched deposition process enables stretching of the dielectric elastomer film. Subsequently, registration of the corrugations with the rigid components of the electroactive polymer cartridge actuator occurs automatically when the dielectric elastomer film is relaxed. The stretched deposition process can be scaled to high volume production using commercially available, roll-to-roll equipment such as sputtering equipment, for example. Non-conductive materials can be deposited in a similar fashion. This enables the incorporation of higher modulus materials such as silica or polycarbonate into the material layer stack which could serve the purpose of barrier layers, encapsulants, discharge suppression layers, and the like, without degrading the performance of the electroactive polymer device.

High-volume roll-to-roll manufacturing of electroactive polymer cartridges is facilitated when they are provided in the form of a web and the application equipment (e.g., sputtering, printing, spraying, depositing, etc.) holds the cartridges in a stretched state during the deposition process. Various structures and techniques for holding the cartridges in a stretched state during the deposition process are disclosed hereinbelow in connection with FIGS. 15, 16, and 21.

FIG. 5 illustrates an electroactive polymer cartridge 500 comprising a self-healing corrugated electrode 502 formed on the dielectric elastomer film by a stretched deposition process in accordance with one aspect of the present invention. A thin film connection 504 may be provided to connect the corrugated electrode 502 to a voltage power supply. As described in more detail hereinbelow, the corrugated electrode 502 may be formed by applying or depositing any suitable electrically conductive material onto a stretched dielectric elastomer film. In the illustrated embodiment, the self-healing corrugated electrode 502 is formed of a silver (Ag) electrically conductive material. Other electrically conductive materials include, for example, gold, copper, carbon, palladium silver, conductive polymers, conductive inks, among others.

The electroactive polymer cartridge 500 also includes a fatigue-resistant conductive bus 506, which will be described hereinbelow in connection with FIGS. 22-28. In one embodiment, the fatigue-resistant conductive bus 506 is formed of carbon, although any suitable conductive material may be employed provided that it is compliant to span and fill mechanical cracks that may develop on the corrugated electrodes 502. Conductive inks that include carbon or carbon compounds may be employed for this purpose, for example.

A high-volume roll-to-roll manufacturing process for producing electroactive polymer cartridges 500 comprising corrugated electrodes 502 by a stretched deposition process begins by laminating a pre-strained (stretched) dielectric elastomer film between two rigid polymer supports. The dielectric elastomer film is stretched in a direction that is orthogonal to a plane defined by the film and held in that position while the electrically conductive material is applied. Subsequently relaxing the dielectric elastomer film produces the corrugations in the electrode.

FIG. 6 illustrates a micrograph detail 600 of corrugated electrode 602 produced by a stretched deposition process in accordance with one aspect of the present invention. The three-sub details 600a-600c show that the corrugations form circumferentially in a circular direction.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram 700 of a process for preparing a rigid polymer support web for producing corrugated electrodes on electroactive polymer cartridges in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Initially, a rigid polymer support material is cut 702 to define frame and disk portions of the electroactive polymer cartridge. The pre-cut rigid polymer support material is then coated 704 with a release material. An adhesive tape is subsequently laminated 706 to the pre-cut coated rigid polymer support material such that the disks are held in fixed relation with respect to the frames. Ring-shaped slugs are formed between the ring and frame elements are then ejected 708 from the support material. The ring-shaped slugs are lifted by pins on an underlying drum and scooped off by prongs into a collection box. The pre-cut coated rigid polymer support web is now ready to be wound on a stock roll for later lamination to a pre-stretched dielectric elastomer film or, in a continuous process, may be fed directly to a lamination station where the pre-cut coated rigid polymer support web is laminated with a pre-stretched dielectric elastomer film.

In a separate process, although it may be inline with the processes 702-708, a dielectric elastomer film is pre-strained 710 in a planar direction as described in connection with FIGS. 3A, 4A. Then, two webs pre-cut coated rigid polymer supports are laminated 712 to both sides of the pre-strained dielectric elastomer film. The adhesive tape that held the disks in place also is removed 714. The output of the process illustrated by flow diagram 700 is a laminated pre-strained dielectric elastomer film web 814 (FIG. 8F), referred to herein as a “laminated support/film web.” The laminated support/film web is suitable for use in the stretched deposition process for producing corrugated electrodes. The laminated support/film web can be rolled in a stock roll to be later used in the stretched deposition electrode corrugation. In applications such as high-volume roll-to-roll manufacturing processes, however, the laminated support/film web is fed directly to the stretched deposition process. The process illustrated in flow diagram 700 is further explained below in connection with FIGS. 8A-8F

FIG. 8A illustrates a rigid polymer support 800 for producing the frame and disk structures of the electroactive polymer cartridges in accordance with one aspect of the present invention. In one embodiment, the rigid polymer support 800 may comprise any number of polymeric materials, including PET, polyester, polycarbonate, among others. The rigid polymer support 800 may have thickness dimensions in the range of about 0.0025 inch (63.5 μm) to 0.05 inch (1.27 mm) and preferably about 0.005 inch (127 μm), for example.

FIG. 8B illustrates the rigid polymer support 800 shown in FIG. 5A with frames 802, disks 804, and sprocket holes 806 cut into the rigid polymer support 800 for later lamination with a dielectric elastomer material. The frames 802 and disks 804 can be cut into the rigid polymer support 800 using any suitable technique, such as for example, laser cutting, die cutting, razor cutting, milling, among others. The sprocket holes 806 perforations also may be punched out by pins or sprockets on a perforation roller. Alternatively, the sprocket holes 806 may be drilled or cut as part of the overall manufacturing process. In one embodiment, the sprocket holes 806 may be formed by laser cutting or die cutting at the same time the frames 802 and disks 804 are cut into the rigid polymer support 800. The sprocket holes 806 are configured and spaced to align with sprocket teeth on a drum to ensure a tight <<0.002 inch (50.8 μm) error in registration during the lamination and/or the stretched deposition process in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8C illustrates the pre-cut rigid polymer support 800 shown in FIG. 8B with a release layer 808 applied on a top surface of the rigid polymer support 800. The release layer 808 may be any suitable layer that enables the electrically conductive material applied to the rigid polymer support 800 during the stretched deposition process to be stripped or removed. Without the release layer 808, the electrically conductive material applied during the stretched deposition process would be difficult to remove from the rigid polymer support 800. In one embodiment, the release layer 808 may be a water soluble material. In one embodiment, the release layer 808 may be formed of any suitable water-soluble polymer, such as, for example, PVP. In one embodiment, the water-soluble polymer may be applied to the PET support layer at a thickness of about 0.1 μm or less to 0.3 μm and preferably about 0.2 μm. After the water-soluble PVP polymer is applied to the PET support, it can be dried by any suitable heat source such as, for example, a heat lamp or an infrared heat lamp, among others. The PVP release layer 808 enables the electrically conductive layer applied to the PET support during the stretched deposition process to be stripped off or removed. In a roll-to-roll manufacturing process, the PVP release layer 808 may be stripped using multiple cylinders or rolls and the application of a water mist. Tacky rolls may also be used to remove the electrically conductive material from the support layer when the support layer has been treated to prevent the formation of a continuous film of electrically conductive material.

FIG. 8D illustrates the pre-cut coated rigid polymer support 800 shown in FIG. 8C with adhesive tape 810 laminated to the pre-cut frames 802 to hold the disks 804 in place with respect to the frames in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment, the adhesive tape 810 may be a 3M 218 low profile adhesive tape. The adhesive tape 810 may be applied by a tape laminator station of a roll-to-roll manufacturing process, as described in more detail hereinbelow.

FIG. 8E illustrates the pre-cut coated rigid polymer support shown in FIG. 8D with ring shaped slugs defined between the ring 804 and frame 802 elements are ejected from the pre-cut frames 802 and disks 804 that would overlie the active area of the electroactive polymer cartridge in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. After the ring shaped slug is ejected, a ring shaped opening 812 is left in the pre-cut coated rigid polymer support 800 that will expose a corresponding portion of dielectric polymeric film defined as the active area. This active area is coated with an electrically conductive material during the stretched deposition process to form a corrugated electrode.

FIG. 8F illustrates a partial sectional view of a pre-strained dielectric elastomer film 807 laminated between two sheets of rigid polymer supports 800A, 800B processed in accordance with FIGS. 8A-8E in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. After the ring shaped slugs are removed from the web, a dielectric elastomer film 807 is pre-strained and laminated between two pre-cut coated rigid polymer supports 800A, 800B to form a laminated support/film web 814 as shown in FIG. 8F, where the pre-strained dielectric elastomer film 807 is laminated between two sheets of the rigid polymer supports 800A, 800B, processed in accordance with FIG. 7, to form a laminated support/film web. The laminated support/film web is then ready to advance to the roll-to-roll stretched deposition process according to various aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 9A is a top view of an electroactive polymer cartridge 900 comprising a laminated frame 802, a disk 804, and a pre-strained dielectric elastomer film 807 prior to applying an electrically conductive material to the active area of the 818 electroactive polymer cartridge 900 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Electrical connections 809A, 809B are used to couple the electrodes to a voltage power supply. Electrical connection 809A is located above the dielectric elastomer film 807 whereas electrical connection 809B is located below the dielectric elastomer film 807. The release layer 808 is also shown.

FIG. 9B is a sectional view of the electroactive polymer cartridge 900 shown in FIG. 9A taken along section 9B-9B. The pre-stretched dielectric elastomer film 807 is laminated between first and second pre-cut rigid polymer supports 800A, 800B defining a top frame 802A, a bottom frame 802B, a top disk 804A, and a bottom disk 804B with ring slugs removed to expose the dielectric elastomer film 807. The release layer 808 is applied to the exposed surface of the first and second pre-cut rigid polymer supports 800A, 800B.

A top active area 818 is located on a top side 820 of the cartridge 900 and a bottom active area 822 is located on a bottom side 824 of the cartridge 900. Once the corrugated electrodes are formed on the top and bottom active areas 818, 822, a voltage potential can be applied to the top and bottom active areas 818, 822 of the pre-strained dielectric elastomer film 807 such that it behaves in the manner described in connection with FIGS. 1A, 1B. The center portion 826 of the cartridge 900 acts as a movable platform that can move in the directions indicated by the arrows.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram 1000 of a stretched deposition process of applying an electrically conductive material to an active area of an electroactive polymer cartridge for producing corrugated electrodes in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The laminated support/film web described in connection with FIG. 8F is advanced 1002 and positioned in a deposition station. At the deposition station a force is applied to the center of the disk portion of an electroactive polymer cartridge to push out or stretch 1004 the dielectric elastomer film 807 in a direction that is orthogonal to a plane defined by the film 807 in a predetermined deformation. In essence, this deforms the flexible diaphragm of the electroactive polymer cartridge. In one embodiment, the stretched configuration of the dielectric elastomer film 807 is a frustum, although other geometric configurations are contemplated within the scope of this disclosure. The center of the laminated disk is displaced to a first predetermined distance h1 in the direction that the force is applied. An electrically conductive material is applied 1006 to the stretched dielectric elastomer film 807, including the frame and disk portions of the electroactive polymer cartridge. Once the electrically conductive material is applied, the flexible diaphragm is allowed to relax. Accordingly, the pre-strained dielectric elastomer film 807 is also relaxed 1008. The relaxation process enables the corrugated electrode to form on the dielectric elastomer film 807. The coated laminated disk is then advanced to a stripping station to strip 1010 away the portion of the electrically conductive material applied to the release layer above the frame and disk portion of the electroactive polymer cartridge. For example, a water-soluble release layer may be stripped from the rigid polymer support by applying water and scrubbing the surface of the laminated disk.

Optionally, the processes defined in steps 1002-1010 can be repeated to form a corrugated electrode on the other side of the electroactive polymer cartridge. Accordingly, when the process determines 1012 that the other side of the electroactive polymer cartridge should be coated with electrically conductive material, the process 1000 proceeds along the “yes” branch to laminated support/film web is turned over 1014 over and steps 1002-1010 are repeated. When both sides of the electroactive polymer cartridge are coated, the process 1000 proceeds along the “no” path to a stripping station. It should be noted that prior to applying the electrically conductive material to the other side of the electroactive polymer cartridge, the flexible diaphragm is stretched in a direction that is orthogonal to a plane defined by the cartridge to a second predetermined distance h2 in the direction that the force is applied. In one embodiment, the second predetermined distance h2 is less than the first predetermined distance h1. In other embodiments, the second predetermined distance h2 may be equal to or greater than the first predetermined distance h1.

FIGS. 11A-11F illustrate an electroactive polymer cartridge undergoing a stretched deposition process for producing a corrugated electrode on a stretched dielectric elastomer film 807 portion of the electroactive polymer cartridge 900 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11A is a cross-sectional view of an electroactive polymer cartridge 900 in a relaxed configuration prior to entering a deposition station (e.g., chamber). When the electroactive polymer cartridge 900 is advanced to the deposition station, a three F1 indicated by the arrow is applied to stretch the flexible diaphragm in a direction that is orthogonal to a plane defined by the diaphragm, thus displacing the disk 804 to a predetermined distance h1 as shown in FIG. 11B.

FIG. 11B is a cross-sectional view of the cartridge 900 in a stretched state during the stretched deposition process in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. An electrically conductive material 1102 is applied to the top side 820 of the cartridge 900 by way of any suitable deposition technique as discussed in more detail hereinbelow. As shown in FIG. 11B, the diaphragm is displaced by distance of h1 under the applied force F1.

FIG. 11C is a cross-sectional view of the cartridge 900 in a relaxed state after the stretched deposition process in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The relaxed configuration enables the formation of a corrugated electrode 1104 in the top active area 818 on the top side 820 of the dielectric elastomer film 807. Note that during the deposition process, a layer 1106 of conductive material also is applied to the release layer 808 in the frame 802A and disk 804A portions of the cartridge 900.

As previously discussed, optionally, a corrugated electrode 1110 (FIG. 11F) may be formed on the bottom side 824 of the cartridge 900. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 11D, the cartridge 900 is turned over and is now prepared to receive an electrically conductive material on the bottom side.

FIG. 11E is a cross-sectional view of the cartridge 900 in a stretched state during the stretched deposition process in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. An electrically conductive material 1108 is applied to the bottom side 824 of the dielectric elastomer film 807. In one embodiment the electrically conductive material 1108 applied to the bottom side 824 may be the same as the electrically conductive material 1102 applied to the top side 820 of the dielectric elastomer film 807. In other embodiments, however, these materials 1102, 1108 may be different. As shown in FIG. 11B, the diaphragm is displaced by distance of h2 under the applied force F2.

FIG. 11F is a cross-sectional view of the cartridge 900 in a relaxed state after the stretched deposition process in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The relaxed configuration enables the formation of a corrugated electrode 1110 in the bottom active area 822 on the bottom side 824 of the dielectric elastomer film 807. Note that during the deposition process, a layer 1112 of conductive material also is applied to the release layer 808 in the frame 802B and disk 804B portions of the cartridge 900.

FIG. 12A is a top view of the electroactive polymer cartridge 900 comprising a laminated frame 802, disk 804, and pre-strained dielectric elastomer film 807 coated with an electrically conductive material 1102 by the stretched deposition process described in connection with FIGS. 11A-11F to form a corrugated electrode 1104 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Electrical connections 809A, 809B are used to couple the electrodes to a voltage power supply. Electrical connection 809A is located above the dielectric elastomer film 807 whereas electrical connection 809B is located below the dielectric elastomer film 807. The release layer 808 is also shown.

FIG. 12B is a sectional view of the cartridge 900 shown in FIG. 12A taken along section 12B-12B. The dielectric elastomer film 807 laminated between first and second pre-cut rigid polymer supports 800A, 800B defining a top frame 802A, a bottom frame 802B, a top disk 804A, and a bottom disk 802B with ring slugs removed to expose the dielectric elastomer film 807. The release layer 808 has been applied to the surface of the first and second pre-cut rigid polymer supports 800A, 800B. The electrically conductive material 1102 is applied on top of the release layer 808.

Once the corrugated electrodes 1104, 1110 are formed on the top and bottom active areas 818, 822 of the pre-strained dielectric polymer film 807, a voltage potential can be applied to the top and bottom active areas 818, 822 of the pre-strained dielectric elastomer film 807 such that it behaves in the manner described in connection with FIGS. 1A, 1B. The center portion 826 of the cartridge 900 acts as a flexible diaphragm that is free to move.

In various embodiments, the deposition process for applying electrically conductive materials to the top and/or bottom of the electroactive polymer cartridge 900 may take many forms. For example, applying an electrically conductive material by sputtering, evaporation, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), offset printing, screen printing, spray printing, electrostatic spray printing, flexography, pad printing, gravure printing, ink jet printing, aerosol jet printing, curtain coating, extrusion coating, slot-die coating, among others, may prove useful in the present manufacturing process.

The electrically conductive materials 1102, 1108 also may be selected from a plurality of materials such as, for example, gold, silver, copper, carbon, palladium silver, conductive inks, conductive polymers, among others.

FIG. 13 illustrates a generalized process 1300 for stretching the dielectric elastomer film 807 portion of an electroactive cartridge 900 over frustoconical protrusions 1302 formed on a sputtering drum 1304 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The cartridges 900 are disposed on a laminated support/film web 814 that advances into a sputtering chamber (not shown) in the direction indicated by the arrow. The sputtering drum 1304 is located in the sputtering chamber. The sputtering drum 1304 comprises a plurality of convex frustoconical protrusions 1302 that stretch the dielectric elastomer film 807 during the stretched deposition process. A portion of the web 814 is shown transparent in order to show the underlying frustoconical protrusions 1302 on the surface of sputtering drum 1304. Although frustoconical protrusions 1302 are shown, other geometric features are contemplated.

FIG. 14 illustrates one embodiment of a sputtering drum 1400 comprising a spacer 1402 and a “button” belt 1404 comprising multiple rows of frustoconical protrusions 1406 for stretching the dielectric elastomer film 807 portion of an electroactive cartridge 900 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 14 illustrates one embodiment of a sputtering drum 1400 comprising a spacer 1402 and a button belt 1404 for stretching a laminated disk. The spacer 1402 acts to adjust the degree of stretch, for example. The button belt 1404 is configured to retrofit onto existing sputtering drums 1400.

FIG. 15 illustrates a portion of a sputtering drum 1500 comprising a plurality of button belts 1502, 1504 holding the laminated disk diaphragms in a stretched state. Each of the button belts 1502, 1504 comprises a plurality of frustoconical convex features 1506, 1508 that hold the laminated disk diaphragms 1506 in a stretched state during the deposition process for producing a corrugated electrode thereon.

FIG. 16 is a detailed view of the button belt 1500 shown in FIG. 15 showing how the frustoconical convex features 1508 hold the laminated disk diaphragms in a stretched state during the deposition process according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 illustrates a roll-to-roll process 1700 for stripping the release layer 808 from the electroactive polymer cartridge 900 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 17, the release layer 808 is removed by rolls 1702, 1704. The laminated film web 814 moves in the direction indicated by the arrow. The electrically conductive material applied during the stretched deposition process must be removed from the frame 802 and disk 804 portions of the electroactive polymer cartridges 900. A first roll 1702 may be a passive nip roll with a slightly rough surface. For example, the surface roughness of the first roll 1702 may be between 5 μm and 50 μm. In between the first roll 1702 and a second roll 1704, a water or isopropyl alcohol (IPA) mist is applied to the laminated support/film web 814. The second roll 1704 has a fixed shaft plus a clean room wipe that is periodically rotated and replaced. As previously discussed, the release layer may be formed of a material that soluble in water or solvents. Accordingly, the release layer is dissolved and wiped away from the rigid polymer support and the dielectric elastomer cartridges having electrodes formed therein are produced.

FIG. 18 illustrates one aspect of a roll-to-roll manufacturing process 1800 for producing a rigid polymer support for an electroactive polymer cartridge in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In one variation the process includes separating a stock roll 1802 comprising a rigid polymer support material 1804, typically a rigid polymer support material such as PET from a release liner (i.e., a liner of material that prevents the film from sticking together). The stock support material 1804 may comprise any material used for fabrication of electroactive polymer devices such as disclosed in the references incorporated by reference herein. The roll-to-roll process can include rollers treated to release the support material 1804 as it passes through the various manufacturing processes. For example, such treatment can include TEFLON coatings or other release (or non-stick) coatings that prevents the film from adhering to the roller. The rollers may also be covered with an intermediary layer such as an engineered surface, a removable liner, a compliant layer, or a deformable layer. Examples of engineered surfaces include, but are not limited to, parchment paper, textured surfaces, screen mesh, non-stick surfaces, and polymer sheets. Examples of deformable layers include, but are not limited to, foams and soft network materials such those made from ethylene vinyl acetate, silicone, olefin, and polyurethanes. In an alternate variation, the process can include replacing the roll of the stock support material 1804 with a feed direct from an extrusion or other manufacturing process.

As the support material 1804 unwinds from the stock roll 1802, a release liner 1806 that separates layers of the support material 1804 can be rewound 1808. As the unwound support material 1804 is fed, a laser 1810 cuts out frame and disk portions of electroactive polymer cartridges, and optionally sprocket holes, into the support material 1804. A release material 1812 is then applied to a roll 1814 to form a release layer 1816 above the pre-cut support material 1804. A trimming station 1818 trims the pre-cut coated support material 1804 to a suitable width. A tape laminator 1820 laminates an adhesive tape 1822 on the pre-cut coated support material 1804 in order to hold the disk portion fixed relative to the frame portion of the electroactive polymer cartridge. A slug ejector station 1824 comprises a drum 1826 with pins 1828 to eject ring shaped slugs. The ring-shaped slugs are lifted by the pins 1828 on the underlying drum 1826 and are scooped off by prongs 1830 on a collection box. Once the rings shaped slugs are ejected, the web 1832 can be re-wound in web stock roll 1834. Alternatively, the web 1832 can continue for additional processing to assemble the electroactive polymer frame and support structures as described herein.

FIG. 19 illustrates one aspect of a roll-to-roll manufacturing process 1900 for laminating a pre-strained dielectric elastomer film between two rigid polymer supports in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. As a dielectric elastomer film 1904 unwinds from a stock roll 1902, a release liner 1906 that separates layers of the dielectric elastomer film 1904 can be rewound 1908. The dielectric elastomer film 1904 may be pre-strained. In the illustrated variation the dielectric elastomer film 1904 is stretched in a machine direction (direction parallel to the travel of the film 1904) using, for example rollers 1910 traveling at different speeds. The film 1904 is then stretched in a transverse direction using a separate mechanism 1912. Variations include simultaneously stretching the film 1904 in a machine and transverse direction (i.e., bi-axial stretchers). The desired stretch will depend upon the application as well as the desired performance of the electroactive polymer device. For example, the material can be stretched 30% in either or both the machine and transverse direction.

Once the dielectric elastomer film 1904 is pre-strained, it is laminated between two sheets of rigid polymer supports 1832A, 1832B unwound from web stock rolls 1834A, 1834B by lamination rolls 1914A, 1914B. A laminated support/film web 1916 exits at A and is ready to enter the roll-to-roll stretched deposition process illustrated in FIG. 21.

FIG. 20 is a continuous high-volume manufacturing process 2000 for producing electroactive polymer cartridges with self-healing corrugated electrodes in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The process 2000 is a combination of the processes 1800 and 1900 performed simultaneously. The top and bottom process lines 2002A, 2002B simultaneously produce the rigid polymer supports 1832A, 1832B, which are laminated to a pre-strained dielectric elastomer film 1904 to produce a laminated support/film web 1916 by lamination rolls 1914A, 1914B. Accordingly, the web does not have to be turned over in order to process the other side. The laminated support/film web 1916 exits at A and is ready to enter the roll-to-roll stretched deposition process illustrated in FIG. 21.

For conciseness and brevity, steps in the process 2000 which are identical to the processes 1800, 1900 described in connection with FIGS. 18 and 19 will not be repeated as the processes are the same and similar reference numbers have been used to indicate similar process steps, with the exception being that in FIG. 20, reference numerals referencing elements of the top process line 2002A have an “A” suffix, whereas reference numerals referencing elements of the top process line 2002B have a “B” suffix. Otherwise, the processes depicted in top process lines 2002A, 2002B are the same of the process 1800 shown in FIG. 18. The process 1900 in FIG. 21 is the same of the process 1900 in FIG. 19.

FIG. 21 illustrates one aspect of a roll-to-roll stretched deposition manufacturing process 2100 for applying an electrically conductive material to a stretched dielectric elastomer film in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The laminated support/film web 1916 includes electroactive polymer cartridges 900 as previously described. The laminated support/film web 1916 enters at A either from process 1900 or 2000. The laminated support/film web 1916 enters a deposition chamber 2102 where an underlying drum 2104 comprising frustoconical projections 2106 stretches the laminated support/film web 1916 as the drum rotates in a clockwise direction. Once the laminated support/film web 1916 is stretched, an electrically conductive material 2108 is applied to the electroactive polymer cartridges 900.

After the application of the electrically conductive material 2108, the process advances to a stripping station 2110 comprising first and second rolls 2112, 2114 and a fluid dispensing station 2116 to remove the release layer 808. The first roll 2112 may comprise a surface roughness 2118 to further assist the release layer removal process. If the release layer is water soluble, the fluid dispensing station 2116 applies a water based solution 2120 to assist in the stripping process. In other aspects, the fluid dispensing station 2116 may apply an ISA solution to assist in the stripping process.

FIGS. 22-24 illustrate a fatigue-resistant conductive bus for an electroactive polymer cartridge in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 22 illustrates a fatigue-resistant conductive bus 2200 to be applied on a corrugated electrode formed on one side of an electroactive polymer cartridge in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 23 illustrates a fatigue-resistant conductive bus 2300 to be applied on a corrugated electrode formed on an opposite side of the electroactive polymer cartridge in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 24 illustrates the fatigue-resistant conductive buses 2200, 2300 shown in FIGS. 22, 23 applied, to both sides of the electroactive polymer cartridge in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

With reference now to FIGS. 22-24, the fatigue-resistant conductive buses 2200, 2300 may be applied to the corrugated electrode portions of electroactive polymer cartridges to extent the operable life of the cartridge. In one embodiment, the fatigue-resistant conductive buses 2200, 2300 is formed of carbon, although any suitable conductive material may be employed provided that it is compliant to span and fill mechanical cracks that develop on the corrugated electrodes. Conductive inks, for example, may be employed for this purpose. In one embodiment, the fatigue-resistant buses 2200, 2300 may be pad printed onto the active areas of the electroactive polymer cartridge where the corrugated electrodes are formed. In other embodiments, the fatigue-resistant buses 2200, 2300 may be applied to active areas of the active areas of the electroactive polymer cartridge where the corrugated electrodes are formed by any suitable technique, including, without limitation, screen printing, spray printing, electrostatic spray printing, flexography, pad printing, gravure printing, ink jet printing, aerosol jet printing, among others.

FIG. 25 illustrates an electroactive polymer cartridge 2500 comprising the fatigue-resistant conductive buses shown 2200, 2300 in FIGS. 22-24 applied to both sides of the cartridge (only top side shown) in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Both sides of the electroactive polymer cartridge 2500 can be encapsulated with the encapsulations 2600, 2700 shown in FIGS. 26 and 27, where FIG. 26 illustrates the encapsulation 2600 for a first side of the electroactive polymer cartridge 2500 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 27 illustrates the encapsulation 2700 for a second side of the electroactive polymer cartridge 2500 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 28A and 28B are top and cross-sectional views of an electroactive polymer cartridge 900 with self-healing corrugated electrodes 1104, 1110 produced by the a roll-to-roll stretched deposition process 1000, 2100 (FIGS. 10, 21) and fatigue resistant conductive buses 2200, 2300 applied thereon in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 29 illustrates a process 2900 for producing electrical connections for stacked layers of electroactive polymer cartridges 900 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Initially, the dielectric elastomer film 807 is pierced “p” at piercing stations 2902, 2904 to form vias 2906, 2908 in at least two electroactive polymer cartridges 900A, 900B. Electrically conductive RTV silicone (room temperature vulcanizing silicone) is dispensed “d” into the vias 2906, 2908 of corresponding electroactive polymer cartridges 900C, 900D at dispensing stations 2910, 2912. The electroactive polymer cartridges 900C, 900D having received the electrically conductive RTV silicone are then laminated to form a two layer electroactive polymer cartridge. The process of piercing vias, dispensing electrically conductive RTV silicone, and laminating may be repeated to stack additional layers of electroactive polymer cartridges.

Finally, finished electroactive polymer cartridges 900 of single or multiple layers may be segmented into individual components suitable for tape and reel delivery to customers or further processing. In one aspect, the electroactive polymer cartridges 900 may be surface mounted technology (SMT) compatible.

As for other details of the present invention, materials and alternate related configurations may be employed as within the level of those with skill in the relevant art. The same may hold true with respect to process-based aspects of the invention in terms of additional acts as commonly or logically employed. In addition, though the invention has been described in reference to several examples, optionally incorporating various features, the invention is not to be limited to that which is described or indicated as contemplated with respect to each variation of the invention. Various changes may be made to the invention described and equivalents (whether recited herein or not included for the sake of some brevity) may be substituted without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention. Any number of the individual parts or subassemblies shown may be integrated in their design. Such changes or others may be undertaken or guided by the principles of design for assembly.

Also, it is contemplated that any optional feature of the inventive variations described may be set forth and claimed independently, or in combination with any one or more of the features described herein. Reference to a singular item, includes the possibility that there are plural of the same items present. More specifically, as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” “said,” and “the” include plural referents unless the specifically stated otherwise. In other words, use of the articles allow for “at least one” of the subject item in the description above as well as the claims below. It is further noted that the claims may be drafted to exclude any optional element. As such, this statement is intended to serve as antecedent basis for use of such exclusive terminology as “solely,” “only” and the like in connection with the recitation of claim elements, or use of a “negative” limitation. Without the use of such exclusive terminology, the term “comprising” in the claims shall allow for the inclusion of any additional element—irrespective of whether a given number of elements are enumerated in the claim, or the addition of a feature could be regarded as transforming the nature of an element set forth in the claims. Stated otherwise, unless specifically defined herein, all technical and scientific terms used herein are to be given as broad a commonly understood meaning as possible while maintaining claim validity.

Claims

1. A process for producing an electroactive polymer cartridge with a corrugated surface, the process comprising: positioning a web comprising a support material attached to a dielectric elastomer film, the support material defining areas exposing portions of the dielectric elastomer film;applying a force to stretch the positioned web in a direction that is orthogonal to a plane defined by the web;applying a second material to the web while the web is in a stretched state; andrelaxing the web to form a corrugated layer on the dielectric elastomer film portion of the web.
2. The process according to claim 1, wherein the second material is electrically conductive.
3. The process according to claim 1, wherein the second material is electrically non-conductive.
4. The process according to claim 1, wherein the support material is a support sheet laminated to the dielectric elastomer film.
5. The process according to claim 1, wherein the support material is printed.
6. The process according to claim 1, further comprising defining elements of the electroactive polymer cartridge in the support material.
7. The process according to claim 1, further comprising applying a release layer on the support material.
8. The process according to claim 7, further comprising: laminating an adhesive tape to the support sheet to hold cut-out elements fixed relative to a frame portion of the electroactive polymer cartridge;ejecting slugs of the support sheet material defined between the elements and the frame portion of the electroactive polymer cartridge; andremoving the laminated adhesive tape.
9. The process according to claim 7, further comprising stripping the release layer.
10. The process according to claim 1 further comprising applying a fatigue resistant conductive bus on the corrugated area.
11. The process according to claim 10 further comprising applying an encapsulation layer over the fatigue resistant conductive bus.
12. The process according to claim 10, wherein the fatigue resistant conductive bus is made of a conductive ink comprising carbon.
13. The process according to claim 1 further comprising laminating the dielectric elastomer film between a first and second support sheet.
14. The process according to claim 2, wherein applying an electrically conductive material is selected from the group consisting of sputtering, evaporating, printing, spraying, depositing, chemical vapor deposition, offset printing, screen printing, spray printing, electrostatic spray printing, flexography, pad printing, gravure printing, ink jet printing, curtain coating, extrusion coating, slot-die coating, kiss coating, roller coating, and aerosol jet printing, and/or combinations thereof.
15. The process according to claim 2, wherein the electrically conductive material is selected from the group consisting of gold, silver, copper, carbon, palladium silver, aluminum, conductive inks, conductive polymer and/or combinations thereof.
16. The process according to claim 4, wherein positioning further comprises positioning the support sheet laminated to the dielectric elastomer film in a deposition chamber.
17. The process according to claim 16, wherein applying the force to stretch the film web in the direction that is orthogonal to the plane defined by the web further comprises rotatably contacting a frustoconical projection on a drum with the web.
18. A process for producing a corrugated electrode for use in an electroactive polymer cartridge, the process comprising: positioning a laminated web comprising first and second sides, the laminated web further comprising a dielectric elastomer film laminated between first and second support sheets, the first and second support sheets defining areas exposing portions of the dielectric elastomer film;applying a first force to stretch the positioned laminated web in a direction that is orthogonal to a plane defined by the laminated web to a first predetermined distance in the direction of the applied first force;applying a first electrically conductive material to the first side of the laminated web while the laminated web is in a stretched state; andrelaxing the laminated web to form a first corrugated electrode on a first side of the dielectric elastomer film portion of the laminated web.
19. The process according to claim 18 further comprising: turning over the laminated web;positioning the laminated web;applying a second force to stretch the positioned laminated web in a direction that is orthogonal to a plane defined by the laminated web to a second predetermined distance in the direction of the applied second force;applying a second electrically conductive material to the second side of the laminated web while the laminated web is in a stretched state; andrelaxing the laminated web to form a second corrugated electrode on a second side of the dielectric elastomer film portion of the laminated web.
20. The process according to claim 18, wherein the first predetermined distance is greater than the second predetermined distance.
21. The process according to claim 18, wherein the first and second electrically conductive materials are similar materials.
22. The process according to claim 18, further comprising stripping a release layer from the first and second sides of the laminated web.
23. The process according to claim 18, further comprising: applying a first fatigue resistant conductive bus on the first corrugated electrode;applying a second fatigue resistant conductive bus on a second corrugated electrode; andapplying a first encapsulation layer over the first fatigue resistant conductive bus;applying a second encapsulation layer over the second fatigue resistant conductive bus;wherein the fatigue resistant conductive bus is made of a conductive ink comprising carbon.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a U.S. national phase application filed under 35 U.S.C. §371 of International Patent Application No. PCT/US2013/033061, filed Mar. 20, 2013 entitled ROLL-TO-ROLL MANUFACTURING PROCESSES FOR PRODUCING SELF-HEALING ELECTROACTIVE POLYMER DEVICES, which application claims the benefit, under 35 USC §119(e), of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/613,530 filed Mar. 21, 2012 entitled “ROLL-TO-ROLL MANUFACTURING PROCESS FOR SELF-HEALING DIELECTRIC ELASTOMER TRANSDUCERS” the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.

PCT Information

Filing Document	Filing Date	Country	Kind
PCT/US2013/033061	3/20/2013	WO	00

Publishing Document	Publishing Date	Country	Kind
WO2013/142552	9/26/2013	WO	A

US Referenced Citations (758)

Number	Name	Date	Kind
2430013	Hansell	Nov 1947	A
2967914	Pye	Jan 1961	A
3050034	Benton	Aug 1962	A
3056932	Wood	Oct 1962	A
3303750	Powell	Feb 1967	A
3304773	Rogallo	Feb 1967	A
3400281	Malik	Sep 1968	A
3403234	Barnes, Jr. et al.	Sep 1968	A
3463942	Mellon	Aug 1969	A
3509714	Walton	May 1970	A
3516846	Matson	Jun 1970	A
3539841	Riff	Nov 1970	A
3558936	Horan	Jan 1971	A
3606241	Bornholdt	Sep 1971	A
3699963	Zaffaroni	Oct 1972	A
3783480	Booe	Jan 1974	A
3798473	Murayama et al.	Mar 1974	A
3801839	Yo	Apr 1974	A
3816774	Ohnuki et al.	Jun 1974	A
3821967	Sturman et al.	Jul 1974	A
3832580	Yamamuro et al.	Aug 1974	A
3851363	Booe	Dec 1974	A
3903733	Murayama et al.	Sep 1975	A
3935485	Yoshida et al.	Jan 1976	A
3940637	Ohigashi et al.	Feb 1976	A
3943614	Yoshikawa et al.	Mar 1976	A
3947644	Uchikawa	Mar 1976	A
3965757	Barrus	Jun 1976	A
4011474	O'Neill	Mar 1977	A
4028566	Franssen et al.	Jun 1977	A
4051395	Taylor	Sep 1977	A
4056742	Tibbetts	Nov 1977	A
4088915	Kodama	May 1978	A
4089927	Taylor	May 1978	A
4127749	Atoji et al.	Nov 1978	A
4140936	Bullock	Feb 1979	A
4155950	Berezuk et al.	May 1979	A
4158787	Forward	Jun 1979	A
4170742	Itagaki et al.	Oct 1979	A
4190336	Frank et al.	Feb 1980	A
4216403	Krempl et al.	Aug 1980	A
4227347	Tam	Oct 1980	A
4234813	Iguchi et al.	Nov 1980	A
4236416	Barcita	Dec 1980	A
4240535	Pierce et al.	Dec 1980	A
4245815	Willis	Jan 1981	A
4257594	Conrey et al.	Mar 1981	A
4266339	Kalt	May 1981	A
4283461	Wooden et al.	Aug 1981	A
4283649	Heinouchi	Aug 1981	A
4284921	Lemonon et al.	Aug 1981	A
4290983	Sasaki et al.	Sep 1981	A
4297394	Wooden et al.	Oct 1981	A
4315433	Edelman et al.	Feb 1982	A
4322877	Taylor	Apr 1982	A
4326762	Hockenbrock et al.	Apr 1982	A
4330730	Kurz et al.	May 1982	A
4342936	Marcus et al.	Aug 1982	A
4344743	Bessman et al.	Aug 1982	A
4346505	Lemonon et al.	Aug 1982	A
4363991	Edelman	Dec 1982	A
4373525	Kobayashi	Feb 1983	A
4376302	Miller	Mar 1983	A
4384394	Lemonon et al.	May 1983	A
4387318	Kolm et al.	Jun 1983	A
4400634	Micheron	Aug 1983	A
4401911	Ravinet et al.	Aug 1983	A
4404490	Taylor et al.	Sep 1983	A
4413202	Krempl et al.	Nov 1983	A
4433359	Hamabe et al.	Feb 1984	A
4434452	Hamabe et al.	Feb 1984	A
4435667	Kolm et al.	Mar 1984	A
4442372	Roberts	Apr 1984	A
4455181	Lifshin	Jun 1984	A
4469920	Murphy	Sep 1984	A
4469978	Hamada et al.	Sep 1984	A
4472255	Millington et al.	Sep 1984	A
4473806	Johnston	Sep 1984	A
4500377	Broussoux et al.	Feb 1985	A
4518555	Ravinet et al.	May 1985	A
4561830	Bradley	Dec 1985	A
4566135	Schmidt	Jan 1986	A
4588998	Yamamuro et al.	May 1986	A
4592383	Rikuta	Jun 1986	A
4594058	Fischell	Jun 1986	A
4595338	Kolm et al.	Jun 1986	A
4598338	Van Devender et al.	Jul 1986	A
4605167	Maehara	Aug 1986	A
4626730	Hubbard, Jr.	Dec 1986	A
4638207	Radice	Jan 1987	A
4654554	Kishi	Mar 1987	A
4668449	Soni et al.	May 1987	A
4671792	Borsanyi	Jun 1987	A
4678955	Toda	Jul 1987	A
4686440	Hatamura et al.	Aug 1987	A
4689614	Strachan	Aug 1987	A
4704369	Nath et al.	Nov 1987	A
4704556	Kay	Nov 1987	A
4715396	Fox	Dec 1987	A
4728265	Cannon	Mar 1988	A
4733121	Hebert	Mar 1988	A
4748366	Taylor	May 1988	A
4762733	Thiel et al.	Aug 1988	A
4783888	Fujii et al.	Nov 1988	A
4784479	Ikemori	Nov 1988	A
4785837	Hansen et al.	Nov 1988	A
4786837	Kalnin et al.	Nov 1988	A
4787411	Moldenhauer	Nov 1988	A
4793588	Laverty, Jr.	Dec 1988	A
4803671	Rochling et al.	Feb 1989	A
4808084	Tsubouchi et al.	Feb 1989	A
4814661	Ratzlaff et al.	Mar 1989	A
4820236	Berliner et al.	Apr 1989	A
4824107	French	Apr 1989	A
4825116	Itoh et al.	Apr 1989	A
4833659	Geil et al.	May 1989	A
4835747	Billet	May 1989	A
4839872	Gragnolati et al.	Jun 1989	A
4843275	Radice	Jun 1989	A
4849668	Crawley et al.	Jul 1989	A
4868447	Lee et al.	Sep 1989	A
4869282	Sittler et al.	Sep 1989	A
4870868	Gastgeb et al.	Oct 1989	A
4877957	Okada et al.	Oct 1989	A
4877988	McGinniss et al.	Oct 1989	A
4879698	Langberg	Nov 1989	A
4885783	Whitehead et al.	Dec 1989	A
4885830	Ohtaka	Dec 1989	A
4904222	Gastgeb et al.	Feb 1990	A
4906886	Breimesser et al.	Mar 1990	A
4911057	Fishman	Mar 1990	A
4911995	Belanger et al.	Mar 1990	A
4958100	Crawley et al.	Sep 1990	A
4961956	Simopoulos et al.	Oct 1990	A
4969197	Takaya	Nov 1990	A
4971287	Shaw	Nov 1990	A
4980597	Iwao	Dec 1990	A
4989951	Miyano et al.	Feb 1991	A
5024872	Wilson et al.	Jun 1991	A
RE33651	Blonder et al.	Jul 1991	E
5030874	Saito et al.	Jul 1991	A
5048791	Ellison et al.	Sep 1991	A
5057372	Imfeld	Oct 1991	A
5065067	Todd et al.	Nov 1991	A
5076538	Mohr et al.	Dec 1991	A
5085401	Botting et al.	Feb 1992	A
5090246	Colla et al.	Feb 1992	A
5090794	Hatano et al.	Feb 1992	A
5100100	Benson et al.	Mar 1992	A
5103211	Daoud et al.	Apr 1992	A
5104707	Watanabe et al.	Apr 1992	A
5119840	Shibata	Jun 1992	A
5132582	Hayashi et al.	Jul 1992	A
5142510	Rodda	Aug 1992	A
5148735	Veletovac	Sep 1992	A
5149514	Sanjurjo	Sep 1992	A
5153820	MacFarlane et al.	Oct 1992	A
5153859	Chatigny et al.	Oct 1992	A
5156885	Budd	Oct 1992	A
5170089	Fulton	Dec 1992	A
5171734	Sanjurjo et al.	Dec 1992	A
5172024	Broussoux et al.	Dec 1992	A
5188447	Chiang et al.	Feb 1993	A
5192197	Culp	Mar 1993	A
5199641	Hohm et al.	Apr 1993	A
5206557	Bobbio	Apr 1993	A
5217355	Hyman et al.	Jun 1993	A
5229979	Scheinbeim et al.	Jul 1993	A
5232196	Hutchings et al.	Aug 1993	A
5240004	Walinsky et al.	Aug 1993	A
5244707	Shores	Sep 1993	A
5250784	Muller et al.	Oct 1993	A
5254296	Perlman	Oct 1993	A
5256474	Johnston	Oct 1993	A
5258201	Munn et al.	Nov 1993	A
5281885	Watanabe et al.	Jan 1994	A
5288551	Sato et al.	Feb 1994	A
5291335	Ogino	Mar 1994	A
5302318	Dutta et al.	Apr 1994	A
5305178	Binder et al.	Apr 1994	A
5321332	Toda	Jun 1994	A
5322975	Nagy et al.	Jun 1994	A
5350966	Culp	Sep 1994	A
5352574	Guiseppi-Elie	Oct 1994	A
5356500	Scheinbeim et al.	Oct 1994	A
5361240	Pearce	Nov 1994	A
5368704	Madou et al.	Nov 1994	A
5369995	Scheinbeim	Dec 1994	A
5377258	Bro	Dec 1994	A
5380396	Shikida et al.	Jan 1995	A
5410210	Sato et al.	Apr 1995	A
5417235	Wise et al.	May 1995	A
5424596	Mendenhall et al.	Jun 1995	A
5428523	McDonnal	Jun 1995	A
5430565	Yamanouchi et al.	Jul 1995	A
5438553	Wilson et al.	Aug 1995	A
5440194	Beurrier	Aug 1995	A
5452878	Gravesen et al.	Sep 1995	A
5481152	Bushulte	Jan 1996	A
5488872	McCormick	Feb 1996	A
5493372	Mashtare et al.	Feb 1996	A
5495137	Park et al.	Feb 1996	A
5499127	Tsubota et al.	Mar 1996	A
5500635	Mott	Mar 1996	A
5504388	Kimura et al.	Apr 1996	A
5509888	Miller	Apr 1996	A
5515341	Toda et al.	May 1996	A
5548177	Carroll	Aug 1996	A
5559387	Beurrier	Sep 1996	A
5563466	Rennex et al.	Oct 1996	A
5571148	Loeb et al.	Nov 1996	A
5578889	Epstein	Nov 1996	A
5589725	Haertling	Dec 1996	A
5591986	Niigaki et al.	Jan 1997	A
5593462	Gueguen et al.	Jan 1997	A
5630709	Bar-Cohen	May 1997	A
5632841	Hellbaum et al.	May 1997	A
5636072	Shibata et al.	Jun 1997	A
5636100	Zheng et al.	Jun 1997	A
5637421	Poehler et al.	Jun 1997	A
5642015	Whitehead et al.	Jun 1997	A
5647245	Takei	Jul 1997	A
5668703	Rossi et al.	Sep 1997	A
5674596	Johnston	Oct 1997	A
5678571	Brown	Oct 1997	A
5682075	Bolleman et al.	Oct 1997	A
5684637	Floyd	Nov 1997	A
5696663	Unami et al.	Dec 1997	A
5703295	Ishida et al.	Dec 1997	A
5717563	MacDougall et al.	Feb 1998	A
5722418	Bro	Mar 1998	A
5744908	Kyushima	Apr 1998	A
5751090	Henderson	May 1998	A
5755909	Gailus	May 1998	A
5761782	Sager	Jun 1998	A
5766934	Guiseppi-Elie	Jun 1998	A
5777540	Dedert et al.	Jul 1998	A
5788468	Dewa et al.	Aug 1998	A
5798600	Sager et al.	Aug 1998	A
5800421	Lemelson	Sep 1998	A
5801475	Kimura	Sep 1998	A
5814921	Carroll	Sep 1998	A
5828157	Miki et al.	Oct 1998	A
5831371	Bishop	Nov 1998	A
5835453	Wynne et al.	Nov 1998	A
5847690	Boie et al.	Dec 1998	A
5857694	Lazarus et al.	Jan 1999	A
5876675	Kennedy	Mar 1999	A
5883466	Suyama et al.	Mar 1999	A
5889354	Sager	Mar 1999	A
5892314	Sager et al.	Apr 1999	A
5896287	Mihara et al.	Apr 1999	A
5897097	Biegelsen et al.	Apr 1999	A
5900572	Aeroe	May 1999	A
5902836	Bennett et al.	May 1999	A
5910107	Iliff	Jun 1999	A
5912499	Diem et al.	Jun 1999	A
5913310	Brown	Jun 1999	A
5914901	Pascucci	Jun 1999	A
5915377	Coffee	Jun 1999	A
5918502	Bishop	Jul 1999	A
5928262	Harber	Jul 1999	A
5928547	Shea et al.	Jul 1999	A
5933170	Takeuchi et al.	Aug 1999	A
5961298	Bar-Cohen et al.	Oct 1999	A
5964583	Danby	Oct 1999	A
5971355	Biegelsen et al.	Oct 1999	A
5977685	Kurita et al.	Nov 1999	A
5984760	Marine	Nov 1999	A
5988902	Holehan	Nov 1999	A
6012961	Sharpe, III et al.	Jan 2000	A
6037707	Gailus et al.	Mar 2000	A
6040356	Kanki et al.	Mar 2000	A
6048276	Vandergrift	Apr 2000	A
6048622	Hagood, IV et al.	Apr 2000	A
6055859	Kozuka et al.	May 2000	A
6059546	Brenan et al.	May 2000	A
6060811	Fox et al.	May 2000	A
6069420	Mizzi et al.	May 2000	A
6074178	Bishop et al.	Jun 2000	A
6074179	Jokela et al.	Jun 2000	A
6075504	Stoller	Jun 2000	A
6078126	Rollins et al.	Jun 2000	A
6084321	Hunter et al.	Jul 2000	A
6089701	Hashizume et al.	Jul 2000	A
6093078	Cook	Jul 2000	A
6093995	Lazarus et al.	Jul 2000	A
6094988	Aindow	Aug 2000	A
6097821	Yokoyama et al.	Aug 2000	A
6108275	Hughes et al.	Aug 2000	A
6111743	Lavene	Aug 2000	A
6117396	Demers	Sep 2000	A
6130510	Kurihara et al.	Oct 2000	A
6133398	Bhat et al.	Oct 2000	A
6140131	Sunakawa et al.	Oct 2000	A
6140740	Porat et al.	Oct 2000	A
6140746	Miyashita et al.	Oct 2000	A
6148842	Kappel et al.	Nov 2000	A
6156842	Hoenig et al.	Dec 2000	A
6157528	Anthony	Dec 2000	A
6161966	Chang et al.	Dec 2000	A
6165126	Merzenich et al.	Dec 2000	A
6168133	Heinz et al.	Jan 2001	B1
6181351	Merrill et al.	Jan 2001	B1
6184044	Sone et al.	Feb 2001	B1
6184608	Cabuz et al.	Feb 2001	B1
6184609	Johansson et al.	Feb 2001	B1
6184844	Filipovic et al.	Feb 2001	B1
6190805	Takeuchi et al.	Feb 2001	B1
6194815	Carroll	Feb 2001	B1
6196935	Spangler et al.	Mar 2001	B1
6198203	Hotomi	Mar 2001	B1
6198204	Pottenger	Mar 2001	B1
6201398	Takada	Mar 2001	B1
6210827	Dopp et al.	Apr 2001	B1
6228533	Ohashi et al.	May 2001	B1
6232702	Newnham et al.	May 2001	B1
6239535	Toda et al.	May 2001	B1
6239536	Lakin	May 2001	B1
6240814	Boyd et al.	Jun 2001	B1
6248262	Kubotera et al.	Jun 2001	B1
6249076	Madden et al.	Jun 2001	B1
6252221	Kaneko et al.	Jun 2001	B1
6252334	Nye et al.	Jun 2001	B1
6252336	Hall	Jun 2001	B1
6255758	Cabuz et al.	Jul 2001	B1
6262516	Fukuda et al.	Jul 2001	B1
6268219	McBride et al.	Jul 2001	B1
6282074	Anthony	Aug 2001	B1
6284396	Kaule	Sep 2001	B1
6284435	Cao	Sep 2001	B1
6286961	Ogawa	Sep 2001	B1
6291155	Raguse et al.	Sep 2001	B1
6291928	Lazarus et al.	Sep 2001	B1
6294859	Jaenker	Sep 2001	B1
6297579	Martin et al.	Oct 2001	B1
6311950	Kappel et al.	Nov 2001	B1
6316084	Claus et al.	Nov 2001	B1
6321428	Toda et al.	Nov 2001	B1
6330463	Hedrich	Dec 2001	B1
6333595	Horikawa et al.	Dec 2001	B1
6334673	Kitahara et al.	Jan 2002	B1
6336367	Raeisaenen	Jan 2002	B1
6336880	Agner	Jan 2002	B1
6339527	Farooq et al.	Jan 2002	B1
6343129	Pelrine et al.	Jan 2002	B1
6345840	Meyer et al.	Feb 2002	B1
6349141	Corsaro	Feb 2002	B1
6355185	Kubota	Mar 2002	B1
6358021	Cabuz	Mar 2002	B1
6359370	Chang	Mar 2002	B1
6366193	Duggal et al.	Apr 2002	B2
6369954	Berge et al.	Apr 2002	B1
6375857	Ng et al.	Apr 2002	B1
6376971	Pelrine et al.	Apr 2002	B1
6377383	Whitehead et al.	Apr 2002	B1
6379393	Marvroidis et al.	Apr 2002	B1
6379809	Simpson et al.	Apr 2002	B1
6385021	Takeda et al.	May 2002	B1
6385429	Weber et al.	May 2002	B1
6388043	Langer et al.	May 2002	B1
6388553	Shea et al.	May 2002	B1
6388856	Anthony	May 2002	B1
6400065	Toda et al.	Jun 2002	B1
6404107	Lazarus et al.	Jun 2002	B1
6411009	Jaenker	Jun 2002	B2
6411013	Horning	Jun 2002	B1
6424079	Carroll	Jul 2002	B1
6429573	Koopmann et al.	Aug 2002	B2
6429576	Simes	Aug 2002	B1
6433689	Hovind et al.	Aug 2002	B1
6434245	Zimmermann	Aug 2002	B1
6435840	Sharma et al.	Aug 2002	B1
6436531	Kollaja et al.	Aug 2002	B1
6437489	Shinke et al.	Aug 2002	B1
6457697	Kolze	Oct 2002	B1
6459088	Yasuda et al.	Oct 2002	B1
6471185	Lewin et al.	Oct 2002	B2
6475931	Bower et al.	Nov 2002	B2
6486589	Dujari et al.	Nov 2002	B1
6492762	Pant et al.	Dec 2002	B1
6495945	Yamaguchi et al.	Dec 2002	B2
6499509	Berger et al.	Dec 2002	B2
6502803	Mattes	Jan 2003	B1
6504286	Porat et al.	Jan 2003	B1
6509802	Kasperkovitz	Jan 2003	B2
6514237	Maseda	Feb 2003	B1
6522516	Anthony	Feb 2003	B2
6523560	Williams et al.	Feb 2003	B1
6524675	Mikami et al.	Feb 2003	B1
6528925	Takeuchi et al.	Mar 2003	B1
6528928	Burns et al.	Mar 2003	B1
6530266	Adderton et al.	Mar 2003	B1
6532145	Carlen et al.	Mar 2003	B1
6540893	Wakida et al.	Apr 2003	B1
6543110	Pelrine et al.	Apr 2003	B1
6544664	Takahashi	Apr 2003	B1
6545384	Pelrine et al.	Apr 2003	B1
6562513	Takeuchi et al.	May 2003	B1
6583533	Pelrine et al.	Jun 2003	B2
6586859	Kombluh et al.	Jul 2003	B2
6590267	Goodwin-Johansson et al.	Jul 2003	B1
6593155	Mohler et al.	Jul 2003	B2
6617759	Zumeris et al.	Sep 2003	B1
6617765	Lagier et al.	Sep 2003	B1
6619799	Blum et al.	Sep 2003	B1
6628040	Pelrine et al.	Sep 2003	B2
6631068	Lobo	Oct 2003	B1
6637276	Adderton et al.	Oct 2003	B2
6640402	Vooren et al.	Nov 2003	B1
6644027	Kelly	Nov 2003	B1
6646077	Lyons	Nov 2003	B1
6650455	Miles	Nov 2003	B2
6652938	Nishikawa et al.	Nov 2003	B1
6654004	Hoggarth	Nov 2003	B2
6664718	Pelrine et al.	Dec 2003	B2
6668109	Nahum et al.	Dec 2003	B2
6673533	Wohlstadter et al.	Jan 2004	B1
6680825	Murphy et al.	Jan 2004	B1
6682500	Soltanpour et al.	Jan 2004	B2
6685442	Chinn et al.	Feb 2004	B2
6690101	Magnussen et al.	Feb 2004	B2
6700314	Cuhat et al.	Mar 2004	B2
6701296	Kramer et al.	Mar 2004	B1
6702916	Smith	Mar 2004	B2
6707236	Pelrine et al.	Mar 2004	B2
6720710	Wenzel et al.	Apr 2004	B1
6733130	Blum et al.	May 2004	B2
6743273	Chung et al.	Jun 2004	B2
6762050	Fukushima et al.	Jul 2004	B2
6768246	Pelrine et al.	Jul 2004	B2
6781284	Pelrine et al.	Aug 2004	B1
6784227	Simon et al.	Aug 2004	B2
6791205	Woodbridge	Sep 2004	B2
6796639	Sugahara	Sep 2004	B2
6800155	Senecal et al.	Oct 2004	B2
6804068	Sasaki et al.	Oct 2004	B2
6806621	Heim et al.	Oct 2004	B2
6806806	Anthony	Oct 2004	B2
6806808	Watters et al.	Oct 2004	B1
6807729	Kawashima et al.	Oct 2004	B2
6809462	Pelrine et al.	Oct 2004	B2
6809928	Gwin et al.	Oct 2004	B2
6812624	Pei et al.	Nov 2004	B1
6824689	Wang et al.	Nov 2004	B2
6847153	Balizer	Jan 2005	B1
6847155	Schwartz et al.	Jan 2005	B2
6856305	Nagano	Feb 2005	B2
6864592	Kelly	Mar 2005	B1
6866242	Hirota	Mar 2005	B2
6867533	Su et al.	Mar 2005	B1
6869275	Dante et al.	Mar 2005	B2
6876125	Basheer et al.	Apr 2005	B2
6876135	Pelrine et al.	Apr 2005	B2
6879318	Chan et al.	Apr 2005	B1
6882086	Kornbluh et al.	Apr 2005	B2
6891317	Pei et al.	May 2005	B2
6902048	Chung	Jun 2005	B1
6911764	Pelrine et al.	Jun 2005	B2
6935287	Shinogle	Aug 2005	B2
6938945	Wald et al.	Sep 2005	B2
6940211	Pelrine et al.	Sep 2005	B2
6940212	Mueller	Sep 2005	B2
6940221	Matsukiyo et al.	Sep 2005	B2
6944931	Shcheglov et al.	Sep 2005	B2
6952313	Schrader	Oct 2005	B2
6967430	Johansson	Nov 2005	B2
6994314	Garnier et al.	Feb 2006	B2
6997870	Couvillon, Jr.	Feb 2006	B2
7008838	Hosking et al.	Mar 2006	B1
7011378	Maluf et al.	Mar 2006	B2
7011760	Wang et al.	Mar 2006	B2
7029056	Browne et al.	Apr 2006	B2
7034432	Pelrine et al.	Apr 2006	B1
7037270	Seward	May 2006	B2
7038357	Goldenberg et al.	May 2006	B2
7049732	Pei et al.	May 2006	B2
7052594	Pelrine et al.	May 2006	B2
7062055	Pelrine et al.	Jun 2006	B2
7063268	Chrysler et al.	Jun 2006	B2
7063377	Brei et al.	Jun 2006	B2
7064472	Pelrine et al.	Jun 2006	B2
7071596	Krill	Jul 2006	B2
7075162	Unger	Jul 2006	B2
7075213	Krill	Jul 2006	B2
7092238	Saito et al.	Aug 2006	B2
7099141	Kaufman et al.	Aug 2006	B1
7104146	Benslimane et al.	Sep 2006	B2
7109643	Hirai et al.	Sep 2006	B2
7113318	Onuki et al.	Sep 2006	B2
7113848	Hanson	Sep 2006	B2
7115092	Park et al.	Oct 2006	B2
7140180	Gerber et al.	Nov 2006	B2
7141888	Sabol et al.	Nov 2006	B2
7142368	Kim et al.	Nov 2006	B2
7142369	Wu et al.	Nov 2006	B2
7144616	Unger et al.	Dec 2006	B1
7148789	Sadler et al.	Dec 2006	B2
7164212	Leijon et al.	Jan 2007	B2
7166952	Topliss et al.	Jan 2007	B2
7166953	Heim et al.	Jan 2007	B2
7170665	Kaneko et al.	Jan 2007	B2
7190016	Cahalen et al.	Mar 2007	B2
7193350	Blackburn et al.	Mar 2007	B1
7195393	Potter	Mar 2007	B2
7195950	Taussig	Mar 2007	B2
7196688	Schena	Mar 2007	B2
7199302	Raisanen	Apr 2007	B2
7199501	Pei et al.	Apr 2007	B2
7205704	Audren et al.	Apr 2007	B2
7205978	Poupyrev et al.	Apr 2007	B2
7209280	Goossens	Apr 2007	B2
7211937	Kornbluh et al.	May 2007	B2
7224106	Pei et al.	May 2007	B2
7233097	Rosenthal et al.	Jun 2007	B2
7237524	Pelrine et al.	Jul 2007	B2
7242106	Kelly	Jul 2007	B2
7245440	Peseux	Jul 2007	B2
7256943	Kobrin et al.	Aug 2007	B1
7259495	Asai et al.	Aug 2007	B2
7259503	Pei et al.	Aug 2007	B2
7276090	Shahinpoor et al.	Oct 2007	B2
7291512	Unger	Nov 2007	B2
7298054	Hirsch	Nov 2007	B2
7298559	Kato	Nov 2007	B2
7298603	Mizuno et al.	Nov 2007	B2
7301261	Ifuku et al.	Nov 2007	B2
7310874	Higuchi et al.	Dec 2007	B2
7312917	Jacob	Dec 2007	B2
7316794	O'Brien	Jan 2008	B2
7320457	Heim et al.	Jan 2008	B2
7321185	Schultz	Jan 2008	B2
7323790	Taylor et al.	Jan 2008	B2
7332688	Browne et al.	Feb 2008	B2
7339285	Negron Crespo	Mar 2008	B2
7339572	Schena	Mar 2008	B2
7342573	Ryynanen	Mar 2008	B2
7344763	Kokeguchi et al.	Mar 2008	B2
7353747	Swayze et al.	Apr 2008	B2
7355293	Bernhoff et al.	Apr 2008	B2
7359124	Fang et al.	Apr 2008	B1
7362031	Maita et al.	Apr 2008	B2
7362032	Pelrine et al.	Apr 2008	B2
7362889	Dubowsky et al.	Apr 2008	B2
7368862	Pelrine et al.	May 2008	B2
7371596	Warner, Jr. et al.	May 2008	B2
7373454	Noe	May 2008	B1
7378783	Pelrine et al.	May 2008	B2
7392876	Browne et al.	Jul 2008	B2
7394182	Pelrine et al.	Jul 2008	B2
7394282	Sinha et al.	Jul 2008	B2
7394641	Won et al.	Jul 2008	B2
7397166	Morgan et al.	Jul 2008	B1
7401846	Browne et al.	Jul 2008	B2
7411332	Kornbluh et al.	Aug 2008	B2
7426340	Seo	Sep 2008	B2
7429074	McKnight et al.	Sep 2008	B2
7429495	Wan	Sep 2008	B2
7436099	Pei et al.	Oct 2008	B2
7436646	Delince et al.	Oct 2008	B2
7442421	Li et al.	Oct 2008	B2
7442760	Roberts et al.	Oct 2008	B2
7444072	Seo	Oct 2008	B2
7446926	Sampsell	Nov 2008	B2
7449821	Dausch	Nov 2008	B2
7454820	Nakamura	Nov 2008	B2
7456549	Heim et al.	Nov 2008	B2
7468575	Pelrine et al.	Dec 2008	B2
7481120	Gravesen et al.	Jan 2009	B2
7482745	Shirogane et al.	Jan 2009	B2
7492076	Heim et al.	Feb 2009	B2
7498729	Ogino	Mar 2009	B2
7499223	Berge et al.	Mar 2009	B2
7511706	Schena	Mar 2009	B2
7513624	Yavid et al.	Apr 2009	B2
7515350	Berge et al.	Apr 2009	B2
7518284	Benslimane et al.	Apr 2009	B2
7521840	Heim	Apr 2009	B2
7521847	Heim	Apr 2009	B2
7537197	Heim et al.	May 2009	B2
7548015	Benslimane et al.	Jun 2009	B2
7548232	Shahoian et al.	Jun 2009	B2
7567681	Pelrine et al.	Jul 2009	B2
7573064	Benslimane et al.	Aug 2009	B2
7585122	Eromaki et al.	Sep 2009	B2
7586242	Yokoyama et al.	Sep 2009	B2
7595580	Heim	Sep 2009	B2
7608989	Heydt et al.	Oct 2009	B2
7618680	Gleason et al.	Nov 2009	B2
7626319	Heim	Dec 2009	B2
7646544	Batchko et al.	Jan 2010	B2
7648118	Ukpai et al.	Jan 2010	B2
7659918	Turner	Feb 2010	B2
7679267	Heim	Mar 2010	B2
7679839	Polyakov et al.	Mar 2010	B2
7690622	Ito et al.	Apr 2010	B2
7702227	Ito et al.	Apr 2010	B2
7703740	Franklin	Apr 2010	B1
7703742	Heim et al.	Apr 2010	B2
7703839	McKnight et al.	Apr 2010	B2
7705521	Pelrine et al.	Apr 2010	B2
7714701	Altan et al.	May 2010	B2
7732999	Clausen et al.	Jun 2010	B2
7733575	Heim et al.	Jun 2010	B2
7745374	Tanaka et al.	Jun 2010	B2
7750532	Heim	Jul 2010	B2
7750617	Omi	Jul 2010	B2
7754520	Lee	Jul 2010	B2
7761981	Rosenthal et al.	Jul 2010	B2
7772745	Kawakubo et al.	Aug 2010	B2
7785656	Pei et al.	Aug 2010	B2
7787646	Pelrine et al.	Aug 2010	B2
7813047	Wang et al.	Oct 2010	B2
7824580	Boll et al.	Nov 2010	B2
7883783	Nagatani	Feb 2011	B2
7886993	Bachmaier et al.	Feb 2011	B2
7893965	Heim et al.	Feb 2011	B2
7898159	Heydt et al.	Mar 2011	B2
7911115	Pelrine et al.	Mar 2011	B2
7911761	Biggs et al.	Mar 2011	B2
7915789	Smith	Mar 2011	B2
7915790	Heim et al.	Mar 2011	B2
7921541	Pei et al.	Apr 2011	B2
7923064	Pelrine et al.	Apr 2011	B2
7923902	Heim	Apr 2011	B2
7923982	Sumita	Apr 2011	B2
7930815	Coleman et al.	Apr 2011	B2
7940476	Polyakov et al.	May 2011	B2
7952261	Lipton et al.	May 2011	B2
7958789	Hayakawa et al.	Jun 2011	B2
7971850	Heim et al.	Jul 2011	B2
7980671	Nystrom et al.	Jul 2011	B2
7986466	Lee et al.	Jul 2011	B2
7990022	Heim	Aug 2011	B2
7997260	Kaakkola et al.	Aug 2011	B2
7999447	Micallef	Aug 2011	B2
8004339	Barrow	Aug 2011	B2
8007986	Zhang et al.	Aug 2011	B2
8026023	Hamada	Sep 2011	B2
8033324	Mukasa et al.	Oct 2011	B2
8042264	Rosenthal et al.	Oct 2011	B2
8049333	Alden et al.	Nov 2011	B2
8050601	Lin et al.	Nov 2011	B2
8054566	Heim et al.	Nov 2011	B2
8056618	Wagner et al.	Nov 2011	B2
8058861	Pelrine et al.	Nov 2011	B2
8072121	Heim et al.	Dec 2011	B2
8074939	Hyde et al.	Dec 2011	B2
8093783	Rosenthal et al.	Jan 2012	B2
8127437	Lipton et al.	Mar 2012	B2
8133932	Kijlstra et al.	Mar 2012	B2
8164835	Heim et al.	Apr 2012	B2
8172998	Bennett et al.	May 2012	B2
8183739	Heim	May 2012	B2
8211054	Dewey	Jul 2012	B2
8221944	Shirasaki et al.	Jul 2012	B2
8222799	Polyakov et al.	Jul 2012	B2
8237324	Pei et al.	Aug 2012	B2
8248750	Biggs et al.	Aug 2012	B2
8258238	Boersma et al.	Sep 2012	B2
8283839	Heim	Oct 2012	B2
8294600	Peterson et al.	Oct 2012	B2
8310444	Peterson et al.	Nov 2012	B2
8316526	Pei et al.	Nov 2012	B2
8319403	Lipton et al.	Nov 2012	B2
8419822	Li	Apr 2013	B2
8421316	Tryson et al.	Apr 2013	B2
8508109	Kurihara et al.	Aug 2013	B2
8545987	Strader et al.	Oct 2013	B2
8585007	Schapeler et al.	Nov 2013	B2
8594839	Hanson	Nov 2013	B2
8667849	Sato et al.	Mar 2014	B2
8679575	Biggs et al.	Mar 2014	B2
8773373	Sato et al.	Jul 2014	B2
8779650	Jenninger et al.	Jul 2014	B2
8842355	Lipton et al.	Sep 2014	B2
8975888	Pelrine et al.	Mar 2015	B2
8981621	Pelrine et al.	Mar 2015	B2
RE45464	Kornbluh et al.	Apr 2015	E
9164202	Batchko et al.	Oct 2015	B2
20010007449	Kobachi et al.	Jul 2001	A1
20020083858	MacDiarmid et al.	Jul 2002	A1
20030168936	Everingham et al.	Sep 2003	A1
20040014860	Meier et al.	Jan 2004	A1
20040035472	Teltscher et al.	Feb 2004	A1
20040046739	Gettemy	Mar 2004	A1
20040124738	Pelrine et al.	Jul 2004	A1
20040234401	Banister	Nov 2004	A1
20040242956	Scorvo	Dec 2004	A1
20050002113	Berge	Jan 2005	A1
20050046312	Tetsu	Mar 2005	A1
20050085693	Belson et al.	Apr 2005	A1
20050113892	Sproul	May 2005	A1
20050140922	Bekerman et al.	Jun 2005	A1
20050200984	Browne et al.	Sep 2005	A1
20050238506	Mescher et al.	Oct 2005	A1
20060079619	Wang et al.	Apr 2006	A1
20060057377	Harrison et al.	Jun 2006	A1
20060122954	Podlasek et al.	Jun 2006	A1
20060138371	Garnier	Jun 2006	A1
20060197741	Biggadike	Sep 2006	A1
20060238069	Maruyama et al.	Oct 2006	A1
20060258912	Belson et al.	Nov 2006	A1
20070080435	Lin	Apr 2007	A1
20070122132	Misawa et al.	May 2007	A1
20070152982	Kim et al.	Jul 2007	A1
20070170910	Chang et al.	Jul 2007	A1
20070173602	Brinkman et al.	Jul 2007	A1
20070189667	Wakita et al.	Aug 2007	A1
20070200457	Heim et al.	Aug 2007	A1
20070219285	Kropp et al.	Sep 2007	A1
20070230222	Drabing et al.	Oct 2007	A1
20080043318	Whitesides et al.	Feb 2008	A1
20080062589	Drabing	Mar 2008	A1
20080143696	Goulthorpe	Jun 2008	A1
20080152921	Kropp	Jun 2008	A1
20080248231	Daigaku et al.	Oct 2008	A1
20080264441	Takagi	Oct 2008	A1
20080265709	Clausen	Oct 2008	A1
20080303782	Grant et al.	Dec 2008	A1
20090028491	Fillion et al.	Jan 2009	A1
20090050829	Haynes et al.	Feb 2009	A1
20090104448	Thompson et al.	Apr 2009	A1
20090184606	Rosenthal et al.	Jul 2009	A1
20090250021	Zarrabi et al.	Oct 2009	A1
20090297829	Pyles et al.	Dec 2009	A1
20100006827	Buckley	Jan 2010	A1
20100172011	Piroux et al.	Jul 2010	A1
20100236843	Englund	Sep 2010	A1
20100273063	Wallace et al.	Oct 2010	A1
20110021917	Morita	Jan 2011	A1
20110128239	Polyakov et al.	Jun 2011	A1
20110155307	Pelrine et al.	Jun 2011	A1
20110216389	Piroux et al.	Sep 2011	A1
20110222138	Piroux et al.	Sep 2011	A1
20110256383	Cochet et al.	Oct 2011	A1
20110285247	Lipton et al.	Nov 2011	A1
20120126959	Zarrabi et al.	May 2012	A1
20120128960	Büsgen	May 2012	A1
20120307338	Solarkski et al.	Dec 2012	A1
20140014715	Moran et al.	Jan 2014	A1
20140176753	Hillis et al.	Jun 2014	A1
20140290834	Egron et al.	Oct 2014	A1
20140319971	Yoo et al.	Oct 2014	A1
20140322522	Yoo	Oct 2014	A1
20140352879	Yoo et al.	Dec 2014	A1
20150009009	Zarrabi et al.	Jan 2015	A1
20150043095	Lipton et al.	Feb 2015	A1
20150070740	Zarrabi et al.	Mar 2015	A1
20150084483	Yoo et al.	Mar 2015	A1
20150096666	Yoo et al.	Apr 2015	A1
20150119529	Laurino	Apr 2015	A1
20150221851	Biggs et al.	Aug 2015	A1
20150221861	Biggs et al.	Aug 2015	A1
20160025429	Muir et al.	Jan 2016	A1
20160204338	Schmeer et al.	Jul 2016	A1
20160208944	Muir et al.	Jul 2016	A1
20160230904	Zarrabi et al.	Aug 2016	A1

Foreign Referenced Citations (175)

Number	Date	Country
2329804	Nov 1999	CA
2330384	Nov 1999	CA
2769441	Feb 2011	CA
1447365	Oct 2003	CN
2535833	Feb 1977	DE
4408618	Sep 1995	DE
19636909	Mar 1998	DE
19952062	May 2000	DE
10058096	Jun 2002	DE
10161349	Jul 2003	DE
10335019	Feb 2005	DE
0196839	Oct 1986	EP
0295907	Dec 1988	EP
0154473	May 1992	EP
0522882	Jan 1993	EP
0833182	Apr 1998	EP
0980103	Feb 2000	EP
1050955	Nov 2000	EP
1090835	Apr 2001	EP
1323925	Jul 2004	EP
1528609	May 2005	EP
1698876	Sep 2006	EP
1751843	Feb 2007	EP
1843406	Oct 2007	EP
1976036	Oct 2008	EP
2119747	Nov 2009	EP
2511314	Oct 2012	EP
2208461	Jun 1974	FR
2745476	Sep 1997	FR
2338513	Dec 1999	GB
2470006	Nov 2010	GB
S 5181120	Jul 1976	JP
S 52120840	Oct 1977	JP
S 5445593	Apr 1979	JP
S 5542474	Mar 1980	JP
S 5565569	May 1980	JP
S 5661679	May 1981	JP
S 56101788	Aug 1981	JP
S 59126689	Jul 1984	JP
S 6199499	May 1986	JP
S 61239799	Oct 1986	JP
S 6397100	Apr 1988	JP
H 02162214	Jun 1990	JP
02222019	Sep 1990	JP
03173022	Jul 1991	JP
H 05244782	Sep 1993	JP
H 07111785	Apr 1995	JP
H 07240544	Sep 1995	JP
H 09275688	Oct 1997	JP
H 10137655	May 1998	JP
H 10207616	Aug 1998	JP
H 10321482	Dec 1998	JP
H 112764	Jan 1999	JP
11134109	May 1999	JP
H 11133210	May 1999	JP
2000-081504	Mar 2000	JP
2000-331874	Nov 2000	JP
2001-130774	May 2001	JP
2001-136598	May 2001	JP
2001-286162	Oct 2001	JP
2001-291906	Oct 2001	JP
2002-503008	Jan 2002	JP
2003-040041	Feb 2003	JP
3501216	Mar 2004	JP
2004-516966	Jun 2004	JP
2004-205827	Jul 2004	JP
2004-221742	Aug 2004	JP
2004-296154	Oct 2004	JP
2004-353279	Dec 2004	JP
2005-001885	Jan 2005	JP
2005-202707	Jul 2005	JP
3709723	Aug 2005	JP
2005-260236	Sep 2005	JP
2006-048302	Feb 2006	JP
2006-509052	Mar 2006	JP
2006-178434	Jul 2006	JP
2006-244490	Sep 2006	JP
2007-206362	Aug 2007	JP
2007-287670	Nov 2007	JP
2008-262955	Oct 2008	JP
2008-277729	Nov 2008	JP
2009-077618	Apr 2009	JP
2009-249313	Oct 2009	JP
2010-273524	Dec 2010	JP
5415442	Feb 2014	JP
2004-0097921	Dec 2004	KR
10-0607839	Aug 2006	KR
10-0650190	Nov 2006	KR
2008-0100757	Nov 2008	KR
2010-0121801	Nov 2010	KR
20110122244	Nov 2011	KR
I272194	Feb 2007	TV
I1269615	Dec 2006	TW
WO 8707218	Dec 1987	WO
WO 8902658	Mar 1989	WO
WO 9418433	Aug 1994	WO
WO 9508905	Mar 1995	WO
WO 9626364	Aug 1996	WO
WO 9715876	May 1997	WO
WO 9819208	May 1998	WO
WO 9835529	Aug 1998	WO
WO 9845677	Oct 1998	WO
WO 9917929	Apr 1999	WO
WO 9923749	May 1999	WO
WO 9937921	Jul 1999	WO
WO 0101025	Jan 2001	WO
WO 0106575	Jan 2001	WO
WO 0106579	Jan 2001	WO
WO 0158973	Aug 2001	WO
WO 0159852	Aug 2001	WO
WO 0191100	Nov 2001	WO
WO 0237660	May 2002	WO
WO 0237892	May 2002	WO
WO 02071505	Sep 2002	WO
WO 03056274	Jul 2003	WO
WO 03056287	Jul 2003	WO
WO 03081762	Oct 2003	WO
WO 03107523	Dec 2003	WO
WO 2004009363	Jan 2004	WO
WO 2004027970	Apr 2004	WO
WO 2004053782	Jun 2004	WO
WO 2004074797	Sep 2004	WO
WO 2004079832	Sep 2004	WO
WO 2004086289	Oct 2004	WO
WO 2004093763	Nov 2004	WO
WO 2005027161	Mar 2005	WO
WO 2005053002	Jun 2005	WO
WO 2005079187	Sep 2005	WO
WO 2005079353	Sep 2005	WO
WO 2005081676	Sep 2005	WO
WO 2005086249	Sep 2005	WO
WO 2006040532	Apr 2006	WO
WO 2006071419	Jul 2006	WO
WO 2006102273	Sep 2006	WO
WO 2006121818	Nov 2006	WO
WO 2006123317	Nov 2006	WO
WO 2007018877	Feb 2007	WO
WO 2007029275	Mar 2007	WO
WO 2007072411	Jun 2007	WO
WO 2008039658	Apr 2008	WO
WO 2008052559	May 2008	WO
WO 2008105861	Sep 2008	WO
WO 2008150817	Dec 2008	WO
WO 2009006318	Jan 2009	WO
WO 2009056497	May 2009	WO
WO 2009076477	Jun 2009	WO
WO 2009112988	Sep 2009	WO
WO 2010054014	May 2010	WO
WO 2010104953	Sep 2010	WO
WO 2010115549	Oct 2010	WO
WO 2011097020	Aug 2011	WO
WO 2011118315	Sep 2011	WO
WO 2012032437	Mar 2012	WO
WO 2012044419	Apr 2012	WO
WO 2012099854	Jul 2012	WO
WO 2012118916	Sep 2012	WO
WO 2012129357	Sep 2012	WO
WO 2012148644	Nov 2012	WO
WO 2013044195	Mar 2013	WO
WO 2013055733	Apr 2013	WO
WO 2013103470	Jul 2013	WO
WO 2013155377	Oct 2013	WO
WO 2013192143	Dec 2013	WO
WO 2014028819	Feb 2014	WO
WO 2014028822	Feb 2014	WO
WO 2014028825	Feb 2014	WO
WO 2014062776	Apr 2014	WO
WO 2014066576	May 2014	WO
WO 2014074554	May 2014	WO
WO 2014089388	Jun 2014	WO
WO 2014187976	Nov 2014	WO
WO 2015020698	Feb 2015	WO
WO 2015051291	Apr 2015	WO
WO 2015126928	Aug 2015	WO
WO 2015126928	Dec 2015	WO

Non-Patent Literature Citations (191)

Entry
International Search Report for PCT/US2013/033061, dated Jun. 28, 2013 (5 pages).
Ajluni, Cheryl, “Pressure Sensors Strive to Stay on Top, New Silicon Micromachining Techniques and Designs Promise Higher Performance,” Electronic Design—Advanced Technology Series, Oct. 3, 1994, pp. 67-74.
Akle, Barbar J., et al., “Ionic Electroactive Hybrid Transducers,” Smart Structures and Materials 2005: Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD), Proceedings of SPIE, Bellingham, WA, vol. 5759, 2005, pp. 153-164.
Anderson, R.A., “Mechanical Stress in a Delectric Solid From a Uniform Electric Field,” The American Physical Society, 1986, pp. 1302-1307.
Aramaki, S., S. Kaneko, K. Arai, Y. Takahashi, H. Adachi, and K. Yanagisawa. 1995. “Tube Type Micro Manipulator Using Shape Memory Alloy (SMA),” Proceedings of the IEEE Sixth International Symposium on Micro Machine and Human Science, Nagoya, Japan, pp. 115-120.
Ashley, S., “Artificial Muscles”, Scientific American 2003, pp. 53-59.
Ashley, S., “Smart Skis and Other Adaptive Structures,” Mechanical Engineering, Nov. 1995, pp. 77-81.
Bar-Cohen, Yoseph, JPL, WorldWide ElectroActive Polymers, EAP (Artifical Muscles) Newsletter, vol. 1, No. 1, Jun. 1999.
Bar-Cohen, Yoseph, JPL, WorldWide ElectroActive Polymers, EAP (Artifical Muscles) Newsletter, vol. 1, No. 2, Dec. 1999.
Bar-Cohen, Yoseph, JPL, WorldWide ElectroActive Polymers, EAP (Artifical Muscles) Newsletter, vol. 2, No. 1, Jul. 2000.
Bar-Cohen, Yoseph, JPL, WorldWide ElectroActive Polymers, EAP (Artifical Muscles) Newsletter, vol. 2, No. 2, Dec. 2000.
Bar-Cohen, Yoseph, JPL, WorldWide ElectroActive Polymers, EAP (Artifical Muscles) Newsletter, vol. 3, No. 1, Jun. 2001.
Bar-Cohen, Yoseph, JPL, WorldWide ElectroActive Polymer Actuators Webhub webpages 1-7, http://ndeaa.jpl.nasa.gov/nasa-nde/lommas/eap/EAP-web.htm, downloaded Jul. 23, 2001 (7 pages).
Baughman, R., L. Shacklette, R. Elsenbaumer, E. Plichta, and C. Becht “Conducting Polymer Electromechanical Actuators,” Conjugated Polymeric Materials: Opportunities in Electronics, Optoelectronics and Molecular Electronics, eds. J.L. Bredas and R.R. Chance, Kluwer Academic Publishers, The Netherlands, pp. 559-582, 1990.
Baughman, R.H., L.W. Shacklette, R.L. Elsenbaumer, E.J. Plichta, and C. Becht “Micro electromechanical actuators based on conducting polymers,” in Molecular Electronics, Materials and Methods, P.I. Lazarev (ed.), Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 267-289 (1991).
Beckett, J., “New Robotics Tap the Mind, Help the Heart, SRI shows of latest technologies,” San Francisco Chronicle, Aug. 27, 1998.
Begley, M. et al., “The Electro-Mechanical Response to Highly Compliant Substrates and Thin Stiff Films with Periodic Cracks,” International Journal of Solids and Structures, 42:5259-5273, 2005.
Benslimane, M and P. Gravesen, “Mechanical Properties of Dielectric Elastomer Actuators with Smart Metallic Compliant Electrodes,” Proceedings of SPIE, International Society for Optical Engineering, vol. 4695, Jan. 1, 2002, pp. 150-157.
Bharti, V., Y. Ye, T.-B. Xu and Q.M. Zhang, “Correlation Between Large Electrostrictive Strain and Relaxor Behavior with Structural Changes Induced in P(VDF-TrFE) Copolymer by Electron Irradiation,” Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. vol. 541, pp. 653-659 (1999).
Bharti, V., Z.-Y.Cheng S. Gross, T.-B. Xu and Q.M. Zhang, “High Electrostrictive Strain Under High Mechanical Stress in Electron-Irradiated Poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) Copolymer,” Applied Physics Letters, vol. 75, No. 17, pp. 2653-2655 (Oct. 25, 1999).
Bharti, V., H.S. Xu, G. Shanthi and Q.M. Zhang, “Polarization and Structural Properties of High Energy Electron Irradiated Poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) Copolymer Films,” to be published in J. Appl. Phys. (2000).
Bharti, V.,X.-Z. Zhao, Q.M. Zhang, T. Romotowski, F. Tito, and R. Ting, “Ultrahigh Field Induced Strain and Polarization Response in Electron Irradiated Poly(Vinylidene Fluoride-Trifluoroethylene) Copolymer,”Mat. Res. Innovat. vol. 2, pp. 57-63 (1998).
Bobbio, S., M. Kellam, B. Dudley, S. Goodwin Johansson, S. Jones, J. Jacobson, F. Tranjan, and T. DuBois, “Integrated Force Arrays,” in Proc. IEEE Micro Electro Mechanical Systems Workshop, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Feb. 7-10, 1993, pp. 146-154.
Bohon, K. and S. Krause, “An Electrorheological Fluid and Siloxane Gel Based Electromechanical Actuator: Working Toward an Artificial Muscle,” to be published in J. Polymer Sci., Part B. Polymer Phys. (2000).
Boyle, W. et al., “Departure from Paschen's Law of Breakdown in Gases,” The Physical Review, Second Series, 97(2): 255-259, Jan. 15, 1955.
Brock, D.L., “Review of Artifical Muscle based on Contractile Polymers,” MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, A.I. Memo No. 1330, Nov. 1991.
Caldwell, D., G. Medrano-Cerda, and M. Goodwin, “Characteristics and Adaptive Control of Pneumatic Muscle Actuators for a Robotic Elbow,” Proc. IEEE Int. Conference on Robotics and Automation, San Diego, California (May 8-13, 1994).
Calvert, P. and Z. Liu, “Electrically Stimulated Bilayer Hydrogels as Muscles,” Proceedings of the SPIE International Symposium on Smart Structures and Materials: Electro-Active Plymer Actuators and Devices, Mar. 1-2, 1999, Newport Beach, California, USA, pp. 236-241.
Chen et al., “Active control of low-frequency sound radiation from vibrating panel using planar sound sources,” Journal of Vibration and Acoustics, vol. 124, pp. 2-9, Jan. 2002.
Chen, Zheng et al., “Quasi-Static Positioning of Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite (IPMC) Actuators,” Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics, Monterey, California, Jul. 24-28, 2005, pp. 60-65.
Cheng, Z.-Y., H.S. Xu, J. Su, Q. M. Zhjang, P.-C. Wang and A.G. MacDiarmid, “High Performance of All-Polymer Electrostrictive Systems,” Proceedings of the SPIE Ineternational Symposium on Smart Structures and Materials: Electro-Active Polymer Actuators and Devices, Mar. 1-2, 1999, Newport Beach, California, USA, pp. 140-148.
Cheng, Z.-Y., T.-B. Xu, V. Bharti, S. Wang, and Q.M. Zhang, “Transverse Strain Responses in the Electrostrictive Poly(Vinylidene Fluoride-Trifluorethylene) Copolymer,” Appl. Phs. Lett. vol. 74, No. 13, pp. 1901-1903, Mar. 29, 1999.
Chiarelli, P., A. Della Santa, D. DeRossi, and A. Mazzoldi, “Actuation Properties of Electrochemically Driven Polypyrrole Free-Standing Films,” Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, vol. 6, pp. 32-37, Jan. 1995.
Delille, R. et al., “Novel Compliant Electrodes Based on Platinum Salt Reduction,” Smart Structures and Materials 2006: Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD), edited by Yoseph Bar-Cohen, Proceedings of SPIE, 6168 (6168Q), 2006.
De Rossi, D., and P. Chiarelli, “Biomimetic Macromolecular Actuators,” Macro-Ion Characterization, American Chemical Society Symposium Series, vol. 548, Ch. 40, pp. 517-530 (1994).
Dowling, K., Beyond Faraday-NonTraditional Actuation, available on the World Wide Web at http://www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/˜nivek/OTH/beyond-faraday/beyondfaraday.html, 9 pages, 1994.
Egawa, S. and T. Higuchi, “Multi-Layered Electrostatic Film Actuator,” Proc. IEEE Micro Electra Mechanical Systems, Napa Valley, California, pp. 166-171 (Feb. 11-14, 1990).
Elhami, K. B. Gauthier-Manuel, “Electrostriction of the Copolymer of Vinylidene-Fluoride and Trifluoroethylene,” J. Appl. Phys. vol. 77 (8), 3987-3990, Apr. 15, 1995.
Flynn, Anita M., L.S. Tavrow, S.F. Bart, R.A. Brooks, D.J. Ehrlich, Kr.R. Udayakumar, and L.E. Cross. 1992. “Piezoelectric Micromotors for Microrobots,” IEEE Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 44-51 (Mar. 1992); also published as MIT AI Laboratory Memo 1269, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Feb. 1991).
Ford, V. and J. Kievet, “Technical Support Package on Traveling-Wave Rotary Actuators”, NASA Tech Brief, vol. 21, No. 10, Item #145, from JPL New Technology Report NPO-19261, Oct. 1997.
Full, R.J. and K. Meijer, “Artificial Muscles Versus Natural Actuators from Frogs to Flies,” Proceedings of the 7th SPIE Symposium on Smart Structures and Materials-Electroactive Polymers and Devices (EAPAD) Conference, Mar. 6-8, 2000, Newport Beach, California, USA, pp. 2-9.
Furuhata, T., T. Hirano, and H. Fujita, “Array-Driven Ultrasonic Microactuators,” Solid State Sensors and Actuators, 1991, Digest of Tech. Papers, Transducers, pp. 1056-1059.
Furukawa, T. and N. Seo, “Electrostriction as the Origin of Piezoelectricity in Ferroelectric Polymers,” Japanese J. Applied Physics, vol. 29, No. 4, pp. 675-680 (Apr. 1990).
Ghaffarian, S.R., et al., “Electrode Structures in High Strain Actuator Technology,” Journal of Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials, Nov. 2007, 9(11), pp. 3585-3591.
Gilbertson, R.G. and J.D. Busch. “Survey of MicroActuator Technologies for Future Spacecraft Missions,” presented a the conference entitled “Practical Robotic Interstellar Flight: Are We Ready?” New York University and The United Nations, New York. (Aug. 29 and Sep. 1, 1994); also published on the World Wide Web at http://nonothinc.com/nanosci/microtech/mems/ten-actuators/gilbertson.html.
Goldberg, Lee, “Adaptive-Filtering Developments Extend Noise-Cancellation Applications,” Electronic Design, Feb. 6, 1995, pp. 34 and 36.
Greene, M. J.A. Willett, and R. Kornbluh, “Robotic Systems,” in ONR Report 32198-2, Ocean Engineering and Marine Systems 1997 Program (Dec. 1997).
Greenland, P. Allegro Microsystems Inc., and B. Carsten, Bruce Carsten Associates, “Stacked Flyback Converters Allow Lower Voltage MOSFETs for High AC Line Voltage Operation,” Feature PCIM Article, PCIM, Mar. 2000.
Hansen, G., “High Aspect Ratio Sub-Micron and Nano-Scale Metal Filaments,” SAMPE Journal, 41(2): 24-33, 2005.
Heydt, R., R. Pelrine, J. Joseph, J. Eckerle, and R. Kornbluh, “Acoustical Performance of an Electrostrictive Polymer Film Loudspeaker,” Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 107(2), pp. 833-839 (Feb. 2000).
Heydt, R., R. Kornbluh, R. Pelrine, and B. Mason, “Design and Performance of an Electrostrictive Polymer Film Acoustic Actuator,” Journal of Sound and Vibration (1998) 215(2), 297-311.
Hirano, M., K. Yanagisawa, H. Kuwano, and S. Nakano, “Microvalve with Ultra-Low Leakage,” Tenth Annual International Workshop on Micro Electromechanical Systems, Nagoya, Japan, IEEE Proceedings (Jan. 26-30, 1997), pp. 323-326.
Hirose, S., Biologically Inspired Robots: Snake-like Locomotors and Manipulators, “Development of the ACM as a Manipulator,” Oxford University Press, New York, 1993, pp. 170-172.
http://www.neurosupplies.com/pdf—files/transducers.pdf, printed from web Jul. 25, 2001.
Huang, Cheng et al., “Colossal Dielectric and Electromechanical Responses in Self-Assembled Polymeric Nanocomposites”, Applied Physics Letters 87, 182901 (2005), pp. 182901-1 through 182901-3.
Hunter, I.W. and S. Lafontaine, “A Comparison of Muscle with Artificial Actuators,” Technical Digest of the IEEE Solid-State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, Hilton Head, South Carolina, Jun. 22-25, 1992, pp. 178-185.
Hunter, I., S. Lafontaine, J. Hollerbach, and P. Hunter, “Fast Reversible NiTi Fibers for Use in MicroRobotics,” Proc. 1991 IEEE Micro Electro Mechanical Systems—MEMS '91, Nara, Japan, pp. 166-170.
Jacobsen, S., R. Price, J. Wood, T. Rytting and M. Rafaelof, “A Design Overview of an Eccentric-Motion Electrostatic Microactuator (the Wobble Motor)”, Sensors and Actuators, 20 (1989) pp. 1-16.
Joseph, J., R. Pelrine, J. Eckerle, J. Bashkin, and P. Mulgaonkar, “Micro Electrical Composite Sensor”, SRI International, printed from web Jul. 25, 2001.
Kaneto, K., M. Kaneko, Y. Min, and A.G. MacDiarmid, “Artifical Muscle: Electromechanical Actuators Using Polyaniline Films,” Synthetic Metals 71, pp. 2211-2212, 1995.
Kawamura, S., K. Minani, and M. Esashi, “Fundamental Research of Distributed Electrostatic Micro Actuator,” Technical Digest of the 11th Sensor Symposium, pp. 27-30 (1992).
Khuri-Yakub et al., “Silicon micromachined ultrasonic transducers,” Japan Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 39 (2000), pp. 2883-2887, Par 1, No. 5B, May 2000.
Kinsler et al., Fundamentals of Acoustics, Third Edition, John Wiley and Sons, 1982.
Kondoh, Y., and T. Ono. 1991. “Bimorph Type Actuators using Lead Zinc Niobate-based Ceramics,” Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 30, No. 9B, pp. 2260-2263, Sep. 1991.
Kornbluh, R., R. Pelrine, R. Heydt, and Q. Pei, “Acoustic Actuators Based on the Field-Activated Deformation of Dielectric Elastomers,” (2000).
Kornbluh, R., G. Andeen, and J. Eckerle, “Artificial Muscle: The Next Generation of Robotic Actuators,” presented at the Fourth World Conference on Robotics Research, SME Paper M591-331, Pittsburgh, PA, Sep. 17-19, 1991.
Kornbluh, R. D and R. E. Pelrine., “Dexterous Multiarticulated Manipulator with Electrostrictive Polymer Artificial Muscle,” ITAD-7247-QR-96-175, SRI Project No. 7247, Prepared for Office of Naval Research, Nov. 1996.
Kornbluh, R., R. Pelrine, J. Joseph, “Elastomeric Dielectric Artificial Muscle Actuators for Small Robots,” Proceedings of the Third IASTED International Conference on Robotics and Manufacturing, Jun. 14-16, 1995, Cancun, Mexico.
Kornbluh, R. et al., “Electroactive polymers: An emerging technology for MEMS,” (invited) in MEMS/MOEMS Components and Their Applications, eds. S. Janson, W. Siegfried, and A. Henning, Proc. SPIE, 5344:13-27, 2004.
Kornbluh, R. et al., “Electroelastomers: Applications of dielectric elastomer transducers for actuation, generation and smart structures,” Smart Structures and Materials 2002: Industrial and Commercial Applications of Smart Structures Technologies, ed., A. McGowan, Proc. SPIE, 4698:254-270, 2002.
Kornbluh, R., Pelrine, R., Eckerie, J., Joseph, J., “Electrostrictive Polymer Artificial Muscle Actuators,” IEEE International Conference on Robotic and Automation, Leuven, Belgium, 1998.
Kornbluh, R., R. Pelrine, Jose Joseph, Richard Heydt, Qibing Pei, Seiki Chiba, 1999. “High-Field Electrostriction of Elastomeric Polymer Dielectrics for Actuation”, Proceedings of the SPIE International Symposium on Smart Structures and Materials: Electro-Active Polymer Actuators and Devices, Mar. 1-2, 1999, Newport Beach, California, USA. pp. 149-161.
Kornbluh et al., “Medical Applications of New Electroactive Polymer Artificial Muscles,” SRI International, Menlo Park, CA, JSPP, v. 16, 2004.
Kornbluh, Roy D., Robotic Systems, Ocean Engineering and Marine Systems, 2000 Program, Jan. 2001, Office of Naval Research Public Release, ONR-32100-1.
Kornbluh, Roy D., Robotic Systems, Ocean Engineering and Marine Systems, 1999 Program, Feb. 2000, Office of Naval Research Public Release, ONR-32100-2.
Kornbluh, Roy D., Robotic Systems, Ocean Engineering and Marine Systems, 1997 Program, Dec. 1997, Office of Naval Research Public Release, ONR-32198-2.
Kornbluh, Roy D., Robotic Systems, Ocean Engineering and Marine Systems, 1998 Program, Feb. 1999, Office of Naval Research Public Release, ONR-32199-4.
Kornbluh, R., “Presentation to Colin Corporation”, Jan. 1997.
Kornbluh, R. “Presentation to Medtronic”, Jan. 2000.
Kornbluh, R. et al., “Shape control of large lightweight mirrors with dielectric elastomer actuation,” Actuation Smart Structures and Materials 2003: Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices, ed. Y. Bar-Cohen, Proc. SPIE, 5051, 2003.
Kornbluh, R., Pelrine, R. Joseph, J., Pei, Q. and Chiba., “Ultra-High Strain Response of Elastomeric Polymer Dielectrics”, Proc. Materials Res. Soc., Fall meeting, Boston, MA, pp. 1-12, Dec. 1999.
Kornbluh, R., R. Pelrine, Q. Pei, S. Oh, and J. Joseph, 2000. “Ultrahigh Strain Response of Field-Actuated Elastomeric Polymers,” Proceedings of the 7th SPIE Symposium on Smart Structures and Materials-Electroactive Polymers and Devices (EAPAD) Conference, Mar. 6-8, 2000, Newport Beach, California, USA, pp. 51-64.
Kornbluh, R., “Use of Artificial Muscle Butterfly for Chronicle Newpaper Photograph,” Aug. 1998.
Ktech's PVDF Sensors, http://www.ktech.com/pvdf.htm, Jun. 6, 2001, pp. 1-5.
Kymissis et al., “Parasitic Power Harvesting in Shoes,” XP-010312825—Abstract, Physics and Media Group, MIT Media Laboratory E15-410, Cambridge, MA, Oct. 19, 1998, pp. 132-139.
Lacour, S. et al., “Mechanisms of Reversible Stretchability of Thin Metal Films on Elastomeric Substrates, ” Applied Physics Letters 88, 204103, 2006.
Lacour, S. et al., “Stretchable Interconnects for Elastic Electronic Surfaces,” Proceedings of the IEEE on Flexible Electronics Technology, 93(8): 1459-1467, 2005.
Lakes, R.S., “Extreme damping in compliant composites with a negative stiffness phase” or “Extreme Damping in Composite Materials with Negative Stiffness Inclusions”, Nature, 410, 565-567, Mar. 2001.
Lakes, R.S., “Extreme damping in compliant composites with a negative stiffness phase”, Philosophical Magazine Letters, 81, 95-100 (2001).
Lakes, R.S., “Extreme damping in compliant composites with a negative stiffness phase” or “Extreme Damping in Composite Materials with a Negative Stiffness Phase”, Physical Review Letters, 86, 2897-2900, Mar. 26, 2001.
Lang, J, M. Schlect, and R. Howe, “Electric Micromotors: Electromechanical Characteristics,” Proc. IEEE Micro Robots and Teleoperators Workshop, Hyannis, Massachusetts (Nov. 9-11, 1987).
Lawless, W. and R. Arenz, “Miniature Solid-state Gas Compressor,” Rev. Sci Instrum., 58(8), pp. 1487-1493, Aug. 1987.
Liu, C., Y. Bar-Cohen, and S. Leary, “Electro-statically stricted polymers (ESSP),” Proceedings of the SPIE International Symposium on Smart Structures and Materials: Electro-Active Polymer Actuators and Devices, Mar. 1-2, 1999, Newport Beach, California, USA., pp. 186-190.
Liu, C. & Y. Bar-Cohen, “Scaling Laws of Microactuators and Potential Aplications of Elecroactive Polymers in MEMS”, SPIE, Conference on Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices, Newport Beach, CA Mar. 1999.
Liu, Y., T. Zeng, Y.X. Wang, H. Yu, and R. Claus, “Self-Assembled Flexible Electrodes on Electroactive Polymer Actuators,” Proceedings of the SPIE International Symposium on Smart Structures and Materials: Electro-Active Polymer Actuators and Devices, Mar. 1-2, 1999, Newport Beach, California, USA., pp. 284-288.
Madden et al., “Conducting polymer actuators as engineering materials,” SPIE: Smart Materials and Structures, ed. Yoseph Bar-Cohen, Bellingham, WA, pp. 176-190, Pub 2002.
Madden, J.D. et al., “Fast contracting polypyrrole actuators”, Jan. 6, 2000, Elsevier Science S.A., pp. 185-192.
Martin, J. and R. Anderson, 1999. “Electrostriction in Field-Structured Composites: Basis for a Fast Artificial Muscle?”, The Journal of Chemical Physics, vol. 111, No. 9, pp. 4273-4280, Sep. 1, 1999.
Measurements Specialties, Inc.—Piezo Home, http://www.msiusa.com/piezo/index.htm, Jun. 6, 2001.
Möller, S. et al., A Polymer/semiconductor write-once read-many-times memory, Nature, vol. 26, Nov. 13, 2003, pp. 166-169, Nature Publishing Group.
Nguyen, T.B., C.K. DeBolt, S.V. Shastri and A. Mann, “Advanced Robotic Search,” in ONR Ocean, Atmosphere, and Space Fiscal Year 1999 Annual Reports (Dec. 1999).
Nguyen, T., J. A. Willett and Kornbluh, R., “Robotic systems,” in ONR Ocean, Atmosphere, and Space Fiscal Year 1998 Annual Reports (Dec. 1998).
Nguyen, T., Green, M., and Kornbluh, R., “Robotic Systems,” in ONR Ocean, Atmosphere, and Space Fiscal Year 1999 Annual Reports (Dec. 1999).
Nihon Kohden Corporation, Operators Manual, available Oct. 1, 2001.
NXT plc, Huntingdon, UK (www.nxtsound.com) Sep. 17, 2008.
Ohara, K., M. Hennecke, and J. Fuhrmann, “Electrostriction of polymethylmethacrylates,” Colloid & Polymer Sci. vol. 280, 164-168 (1982).
Olsson, A., G. Stemme, and E. Stemme, “The First Valve-less Diffuser Gas Pump,” Tenth Annual International Workshop on Micro Electromechanical Systems, Nagoya, Japan, IEEE Proceedings (Jan. 26-30, 1997), pp. 108-113.
Olsson, A., O. Larsson, J. Holm, L. Lundbladh, O. Ohinan, and G. Stemme. 1997. “Valve-less Diffuser Micropumps Fabricated using Thermoplastic Replication,” Proc. IEEE Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, Nagoya, Japan, pp. 305-310 (Jan. 26-30, 1997).
Osterbacka, R. et al., “Two-Dimensional Electronic Excitations in Self-Assembled Conjugated Polymer Nanocrystals,” Science, vol. 287:839-842, Feb. 4, 2000.
Otero, T.F., J. Rodriguez, and C. Santamaria, “Smart Muscle Under Electrochemical Control of Molecular Movement in Polypyrrole Films,” Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings, vol. 330, pp. 333-338, 1994.
Otero, T.F., J. Rodriguez, E. Angulo and C. Santamaria, “Artificial Muscles from Bilayer Structures,” Synthetic Metals, vol. 55-57, pp. 3713-3717 (1993).
Park, S.E., and T. Shrout., “Ultrahigh Strain and Piezoelectric Behavior in Relaxor Based Ferroelectric Single Crystals,” J. Appl. Phys., vol. 82, No. 4, pp. 1804-1811, Aug. 15, 1997.
Pei, Q., O. Inganäs, and I. Lundström, “Bending Bilayer Strips Built From Polyaniline for Artificial Electrochemical Muscles,” Smart Materials and Structures, vol. 2, pp. 1-6., Jan. 22, 1993.
Pei, Qibing “Description of Conference Demonstration” Mar. 2001.
Pei et al., “Electrochemical Applications of the Bending Beam Method. 1. Mass Transport and Volume Changes in Polypyrrole During Redox,” J. Phys. Chem., 1992, 96, pp. 10507-10514.
Pei, Q. et al., “Multifunctional Electroelastomer Roll Actuators and Their Application for Biomimetic Walking Robots,” Smart Structures and Materials 2003. Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices, San Diego, CA, USA, Mar. 3-6, 2003, vol. 5051, 2003, pp. 281-290, XP002291729, Proceedings of the SPIE, ISSN: 0277-786X, the whole document.
Pei, Q. et al., “Multifunctional Electroelastomer Rolls,” Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc., vol. 698, Nov. 26-30, 2001, Boston, MA, pp. 165-170.
Pei, Q., Pelrine, R., Kornbluh, R., Jonasdottir, S., Shastri, V., Full, R., “Multifunctional Electroelastomers: Electroactive Polymers Combining Structural, Actuating, and Sensing Functions,” ITAD-433-PA-00-123, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, available at www.sri.com-publications, Jan. 17, 2001.
Pei, Q. et al., “Recent Progress on Electroelastomer Artificial Muscles and Their Application for Biomimetic Robots”, SPIE, Pub. Jun. 2004, 11 pages.
Pelrine, R. et al., “Applications of dielectric elastomer actuators,” (invited paper) in Smart Structures and Materials 2001: Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices, ed., Y. Bar Cohen, Proc. SPIE, 4329:335-349, 2001.
Pelrine, R. and Kornbluh, R., and. 1995. “Dexterous Multiarticulated Manipulator with Electrostrictive Polymer Artificial Muscle Actuator,” EMU 95-023, SRI International, Menlo Park, California, Apr. 28, 1995.
Pelrine, R., R. Kornbluh, and J. Joseph, “Electrostriction of Polymer Dielectrics with Compliant Electrodes as a Means of Actuation,” Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, vol. 64, No. 1, 1998, pp. 77-85.
Pelrine, R., R. Kornbluh, J. Joseph and S. Chiba, “Electrostriction of Polymer Films for Microactuators,” Proc. IEEE Tenth Annual International Workshop on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, Nagoya, Japan, Jan. 26-30, 1997, pp. 238-243.
Pelrine, R., R. Kornbluh, and J. Joseph, FY 1992 Final Report on Artifical Muscle for Small Robots, ITAD-3393-FR-93-063, SRI International, Menlo Park, California, Mar. 1993.
Pelrine, R., R. Kornbluh, and J. Joseph, FY 1993 Final Report on Artifical Muscle for Small Robots, ITAD-4570-FR-94-076, SRI International, Menlo Park, California, 1994.
Pelrine, R., R. Kornbluh, and J. Joseph, FY 1994 Final Report on Artifical Muscle for Small Robots, ITAD-5782-FR-95-050, SRI International, Menlo Park, California, 1995.
Pelrine, R., R. Kornbluh, and J. Joseph, FY 1995 Final Report on Artifical Muscle for Small Robots, ITAD-7071-FR-96-047, SRI International, Menlo Park, California, 1996.
Pelrine, R., R. Kornbluh, and J. Joseph, FY 1996 Final Report on Artifical Muscle for Small Robots, ITAD-7228-FR-97-058, SRI International, Menlo Park, California, 1997.
Pelrine, R., R. Kornbluh, and J. Joseph, FY 1997 Final Report on Artifical Muscle for Small Robots, ITAD-1612-FR-98-041, SRI International, Menlo Park, California, 1998.
Pelrine, R., R. Kornbluh, and J. Joseph, FY 1998 Final Report on Artifical Muscle for Small Robots, ITAD-3482-FR-99-36, SRI International, Menlo Park, California, 1999.
Pelrine, R., R. Kornbluh, and J. Joseph, FY 1999 Final Report on Artifical Muscle for Small Robots, ITAD-10162-FR-00-27, SRI International, Menlo Park, California, 2000.
Pelrine, R., R. Kornbluh, Q. Pei, and J. Joseph, “High Speed Electrically Actuated Elastomers with Over 100% Strain,” Science, vol. 287, No. 5454, pp. 1-21, 2000.
Pelrine, R., R. Kornbluh, Q. Pei, and J. Joseph. “High Speed Electrically Actuated Elastomers with Strain Greater Than 100%”, Science, Reprint Series, Feb. 4, 2000, vol. 287, pp. 836-839.
Pelrine, R., R. Kornbluh, and G. Kofod, “High Strain Actuator Materials Based on Dielectric Elastomers,” submitted to Advanced Materials (May 2000).
Pelrine, R., Roy Kornbluh, Jose Joseph, Qibing Pei, Seiki Chiba “Recent Progress in Artificial Muscle Micro Actuators,” SRI Interational, Tokyo, 1999 MITI/NEEDOIMNIC, 1999.
Pelrine, R., R. Kornbluh, J. Joseph and S. Chiba, “Review of Artificial Muscle Approaches,” invited paper, in Proc. Third International Symposium on Micro Machine and Human Science, Nagoya, Japan, Oct. 14-16, 1992.
Piezoflex(TM) PVDF Polymer Sensors, http://www.airmar.com/piezo/pvdf.htm. Jun. 6, 2001.
PowerLab ADInstruments, MLT001 High-Sensitivity Force Transducers, AD Instruments Transducers Series, printed from web Jul. 25, 2001.
Puers et al, “A Capacitive Pressure Sensor with Low Impedance Output and Active Suppression of Parasitic Effects,” Sensors and Actuators, A21-A23 (1990) 108-114.
Puers, Robert, “Capacitive sensors: when and how to use them,” Sensors and Actuators A, 37-38 (1993) 93-105.
Reed, C. et al., “The Fundamentals of Aging HV Polymer-Film Capacitors, ” IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation, 1(5): 904-922, 1994.
Sakarya, S., “Micromachining Techniques for Fabrication of Integrated Light Modulting Devices”, Netherlands 2003, pp. 1-133.
Scheinbeim, J., B. Newman, Z. MA, and J. Lee, “Electrostrictive Response of Elastomeric Polymers,” ACS Polymer Preprints, 33(2), pp. 385-386, 1992.
Schlaberg, H. I., and J. S. Duffy, “Piezoelectric Polymer Composite Arrays for Ultrasonic Medical Imaging Applications,” Sensors and Actuators, A 44, pp. 111-117, Feb. 22, 1994.
Shahinpoor, M., “Micro-electro-mechanics of Ionic Polymer Gels as Electrically Controllable Artificial Muscles,” J. Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, vol. 6, pp. 307-314, May 1995.
Shkel, Y. and D. Klingenberg, “Material Parameters for Electrostriction,” J. Applied Physics, vol. 80(8), pp. 4566-4572, Oct. 15, 1996.
Smela, E., O. Inganas, and I. Lundstrom, “Controlled Folding of Micrometer-size Structures,” Science, vol. 268, pp. 1735-1738 (Jun. 23, 1995).
Smela, E., O. Inganas, Q. Pei and I. Lundstrom, “Electrochemical Muscles: Micromachinging Fingers and Corkscrews,” Advanced Materials, vol. 5, No. 9, pp. 630-632, Sep. 1993.
Smith, S. et al., A low switching voltage organic-on-inorganic heterojunction memory element utilizing a conductive polymer fuse on a doped silicon substrate, Applied Physics Letters, vol. 84, No. 24, May 28, 2004, pp. 5019-5021.
Sokolova, M. et al., “Influence of a Bias Voltage on the Characteristics of Surface Discharges in Dry Air,” Plasma Processes and Polymers, 2: 162-169, 2005.
Sommer-Larsen, P. and A. Ladegaard Larsen, “Materials for Dielectric Elastomer Actuators,” SPIE, vol. 5385, Mar. 1, 2004, pp. 68-77.
Standard Test Methods for Rubber Deterioration—Cracking in an Ozone Controlled Environment, ASTM International, D 1149-07.
Su, J., Q.M. Zhang, C.H. Kim, R.Y. Ting and R. Capps, “Effects of Transitional Phenomena on the Electric Field induced Strain-electrostrictive Response of a Segmented Polyurethane elastomer,” pp. 1363-1370, Jan. 20, 1997.
Su, J, Z. Ounaies, J.S. Harrison, Y. Bara-Cohen and S. Leary, “Electromechanically Active Polymer Blends for Actuation,” Proceedings of 7th SPIE Symposium on Smart Structures and Materials-Electroactive Polymers and Devices (EAPAD) Conference, Mar. 6-8, 2000, Newport Beach, CA, USA, pp. 65-72.
Suzuki et al., “Sound radiation from convex and concave domes in infinite baffle,” Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 69(2), Jan. 1981.
Technology, http://www.micromuscle.com/html/technology.html, Jun. 6, 2001.
“The Rubbery Ruler”, http://www.ph.unimelb.edu.au, printed from web Jul. 25, 2001.
Tobushi, H., S. Hayashi, and S. Kojima, “Mechanical Properties of Shape Memory Polymer of Polyurethane Series,” in JSME International Journal, Series I, vol. 35, No. 3, 1992.
Todorov et al, “WWWeb Application for Ferropiezoelectric Ceramic Parameters Calculation”, Proceedings 24th International Conference on Microelectronics, vol. 1, May 2004, pp. 507-510.
Treloar, L.R.G., “Mechanics of Rubber Elasticity,” J Polymer Science, Polymer Symposium, No. 48, pp. 107-123, 1974.
Uchino, K. 1986. “Electrostrictive Actuators: Materials and Applicaions,” Ceramic Bulletin, 65(4), pp. 647-652, 1986.
Unger et al. (2000), “Monolithic Microfabricated Valves and Pumps by Multilayer Soft Lithography,” Science 288:113-116, no month.
Wade, Jr., W.L., R.J. Mannone and M. Binder, “Increased Dielectric Breakdown Strengths of Melt-Extruded Polyporphlene Films,” Polymer vol. 34, No. 5, pp. 1093-1094 (1993).
Wax, S.G. and R.R. Sands, “Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices,” Proceedings of the SPIE International Symposium on Smart Structures and Materials: Electro-Active Polymer Actuators and Devices, Mar. 1-2, 1999, Newport Beach, CA, USA, pp. 2-10.
Whitesides et al. (2001), “Flexible Methods for Microfluidics,” Physics Today 52(6):42-47, no month.
Winters, J., “Muscle as an Actuator for Intelligent Robots,” Robotics Research: Trans. Robotics International of SME, Scottsdale, AZ (Aug. 18-21, 1986).
Woodard, Improvements of ModalMax High-Fidelity Peizoelectric Audio Device (LAR-16321-1), NASA Tech Briefs, May 2005, p. 36.
Xia, Younan et al., “Triangular Nanoplates of Silver: Synthesis, Characterization, and Use as Sacrificial Templates for Generating Triangular Nanorings of Gold,” Adv. Mater., 2003, 15, No. 9, pp. 695-699.
Yam, P., “Plastics Get Wired,” Scientific American, vol. 273, pp. 82-87, Jul. 1995.
Yoshio, O., “Ablation Characteristics of Silicone Insulation,” Journal of Polymer Science: Part A: Polymer Chemistry, 36: 233-239, 1998.
Yuan, W. et al. “New Electrode Materials for Dielectric Elastomer Actuators,” Proc. SPIE, 6524 (6524ON), 2007.
Zhang, Q.M., V. Bharti, Z.Y. Cheng, T.B. Xu, S. Wang, T.S. Ramotowski, F. Tito, and R. Ting, “Electromechanical Behavior of Electroactive P(VDF-TrFE) Copolymers,” Proceedings of the SPIE International Symposium on Smart Structures and Materials: Electro-Active Polymer Actuators and Devices, Mar. 1-2, 1999, Newport Beach, CA, USA, pp. 134-139.
Zhang, Q., V. Bharti and X. Zhao, “Giant Electrostriction and Relaxor Ferroelectric Behavior in Electron-irradiated Poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) Copolymer,” Science, vol. 280, pp. 2101-2104 (Jun. 26, 1998).
Zhang, Q.M., Z.Y. Cheng, V. Bharti, T.B. Xu, H. Xu, T. Mai and S.J. Gross, “Piezoelectric and Electrostrictive Polymeric Actuator Materials,” Proceedings of the 7th SPIE Symposium on Smart Structures and Materials: Electroactive Polymers and Devices (EAPAD) Conference, Mar. 6-8, 2000, Newport Beach, CA, USA, pp. 34-50.
Zhenyi, M., J.I. Scheinbeim, J.W. Lee, and B.A. Newman. 1994. “High Field Electrostrictive Response of Polymers,” Journal of Polymer Sciences, Part B—Polymer Physics, vol. 32, pp. 2721-2731, 1994.
U.S. Appl. No. 14/440,991, filed May 6, 2015.
U.S. Appl. No. 14/437,741, filed Apr. 22, 2015.
U.S. Appl. No. 14/421,450, filed Feb. 13, 2015.
U.S. Appl. No. 14/435,761, filed Apr. 15, 2015.
U.S. Appl. No. 14/649,743, filed Jun. 4, 2015.
Biomimetic Products, Inc., hhtp://www.biomimetic.com, Jun. 6, 2001.
Campolo, D., et al., “Efficient Charge Recovery Method for Driving Piezoelectric Actuators with Quasi-Square Waves,” IEEE Transaction on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control, IEE, US, vol. 50, No. 3, Mar. 1, 2003, pp. 237-244.
Gardner, J.W., “Microsensors: Principles and Applications,” John Wiley, 1994. (Book—not attached).
Handbook of adhesion technology, vol. 2, 2011, pp. 128, Print and electronic bundle ISBN 978-3-642-01170-2, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-01169-6.
Kornbluh, R., “Description of Children's Tour,” Aug. 20, 2000.
Kornbluh, R., R. Pelrine, Q. Pei, and V. Shastri “Electroactive Polymer (EAP) Actuators as Artificial Muscles—Reality, Potential and Challenges”, Chapter 16, Application of Dielectric EAP Actuators, SPIE Press, May 2001.
Nguyen, T., Green, M., and Kornbluh, R., “Robotic Systems,” in ONR Ocean, Atmosphere, and Space Fiscal Year 2000 Annual Reports (Jan. 2001). (Cited in U.S. Pat. No. 7,211,937 however, unable to locate).
Pelrine et al., “Electrostrictive Polymer Artificial Muscle Actuators,” May 1998, Proc. of the 1998 IEEE Conf. on Robotics & Automation, pp. 2147-2154.
Polyoxymethylene urea NPL document, retrieved Nov. 11, 2015.
Prahlad, H. et al., “Programmable Surface Deformation: Thickness-Mode Electroactive Polymer Actuators and their Applications,” Proc. SPIE, vol. 5759, 102, 2005, 12 pages.
Seoul et al., “Electrospinning of Poly(vinylidene fluoride) Dimethylformamide Solutions with Carbon Nanotubes,” Department of Textile Engineering, Inha University, Mar. 31, 2003.

Related Publications (1)

	Number	Date	Country
	20150034237 A1	Feb 2015	US

Provisional Applications (1)

	Number	Date	Country
	61613530	Mar 2012	US

Roll-to-roll manufacturing processes for producing self-healing electroactive polymer devices

Information

Patent Number

Date Filed

Date Issued

Inventors

Original Assignees

Examiners

Agents

CPC

Field of Search

CPC

International Classifications

Term Extension

Abstract