Self-sensing position control of dielectric elastomer transducers

Dielectric Elastomer (DE) stack-transducers enable high force densities and considerable deformations since they consist almost only of active material. Based on a holistic model of the transducer system a self-sensing estimator based on an extended Kalman-filter is introduced in this contribution. By measuring the terminal voltage and current of the DE transducer the Kalman-filter estimates the deformation of the transducer, its inner states and an external load force as disturbance without superimposed excitation. In closed loop operation the deformation of the DE transducer is controlled by a sliding mode control based on the self-sensing estimation results. The self-sensing estimator and the self-sensing control are experimentally validated, finally.