Modeling and simulation study for the design of controlled IPMC actuators

The idea developed in the research stream containing the present work is to study the possibility of producing an improved IPMC actuator provided by a built-in low level controller with the following main goals: to reduce the effect of parameter uncertainties on the dynamic characteristics of the device; to guarantee that the control input voltage is kept under a maximum safe value independently on the operational conditions without prejudicing the performances. This paper reports on a preliminary modeling and experimental activity on IPMC actuators carried out employing an ad-hoc simulation framework. In such a framework, different campaigns of computer simulations have been conducted highlighting both the practical relevance of the solution under study and the effectiveness of the simulation models basing on experiments carried out using real IPMC samples.