Modeling and position control of an electromechanical actuator based on a mass-spring-biased EAP system

This paper deals with the modeling and position control of an ElectroActive Polymer (EAP) actuator system consisting in a combination of an EAP membrane and a mass-spring biasing mechanism. First, a description of the biasing system is provided, and a physical-based dynamic model is derived for the whole system. Then, the model is used for the identification of an experimental actuator, and for the subsequent design of a position control. A simple but effective method is presented in order to compensate the model nonlinearities and achieve fast positioning. Simulation stage is used for testing several control strategies, in order to choose the most suitable one to be integrated in the experimental system.