Power electronic drives for magnetically triggered gels

Properly fabricated polymer gels exhibit an abrupt change in volume in response to a small change in an environmental parameter, such as temperature. The authors have developed gels that change in volume in response to an applied alternating magnetic field, and are working to apply these gels as actuators. This paper describes power electronic circuits suitable for electromagnetic activation of these polymer gels. Issues in the selection of circuit topologies for this application are discussed. Experimental results are presented, which demonstrate the magnetic activation of gels using prototype power electronic drives.