Development of 3D 4-electrode IPMC actuator with accurate omnidirectional control ability for microendoscopic surgical application

This paper presents a novel three-dimensional (3D) four-electrode ion polymer metal composite (IPMC) actuator with accurate omnidirectional control capability. The developed 3D IPMC transducer is used to enclose a section of optical fiber, thereby allowing electronic directional control of conducted laser light. This could be useful in applications such as microendoscopic ocular surgery. The fabricated device with the IPMC actuator dimension of 5 mm times 2 mm times 1 mm shows that it could reach a displacement of 400 mum in the direction perpendicular to the electrode surface when a square wave of 9 volts is applied. A threshold voltage about 4 volts is found during actuation for the fabricated transducer. Besides, the transducer moving along a direction which is not perpendicular to the electrode surface is also demonstrated. The result shows that a displacement of 275 mum can be reached when a sinusoid wave of 9 volts is applied, and the angle maintains a near constant value for varied operating frequencies.