Analysis of dielectric fluid transducers

Dielectric fluid transducers (DFTs) are electrostatic devices which alternate solid compliant dielectric layers/electrodes with dielectric fluid layers, and they enable the conversion of electrical energy into mechanical work (and vice versa) through capacitance variations associated with a modification of their shape. Compared to other capacitive transducers, e.g., dielectric elastomer transducers, DFTs feature better tolerance to electrical break-down and larger ratio between converted energy and stored elastic energy. To date, practical DFT topologies have been proposed and demonstrated for both actuation and generation purposes, showing promising performance in terms of converted energy density and efficiency. This paper presents an overview on operating principles/layouts, introduces a simplified analytical modelling approach and proposes some figure of merit to evaluate the performances of this new class of transducers.