Tunable force/displacement of a vibration shaker driven by a dielectric elastomer actuator

Recently dielectric elastomer actuators have been explored for applications to haptic feedback. The force/displacement of the vibration shaker driven by the dielectric elastomer actuator will determine the user’s tactile sensation. In this paper, we investigate how to tune the output force/displacement induced by a dielectric elastomer actuator. The dielectric elastomer made of natural rubber–Oppo band, Singapore–is employed in the experiments and can exhibit large amplitude of oscillation. The effect of damping is taken into account in modelling the system, which may lead to disappearance of the superharmonic and subharmonic response. The media, which connect the vibration shaker and the user, are found to play an important role in influencing the output force/displacement. Both theory and experiments show that as the stiffness of the media increases, the output force of the vibration shaker increases, while the output displacement decreases. We hope that the current analyses can improve the understanding of dynamic behaviour of dielectric elastomers and enhance their applications to haptic feedback.