Institute of Fundamental Technological Research

Dielectric Electro-Active Polymers (DEAP) are lighweight materials whose dimensions change significantly when subjected to electric stimulation. One form of DEAP construction consists of a thin layer of dielectric sandwiched between two perforated rigid electrodes. They can be used as an actuator or a sensor and have the potential to be an effective replacement for many conventional transducers. This paper refers to their use as loudspeakers. To date, flat DEAP loudspeakers have been portotyped and tested but no numeric prediction of their acoustic performance has been presented. In this paper an elemental model is presented. The electro-dynamic behaviour of the electrodes and dielectric layers is taken into account. The acoustic impedance is calculated assuming baffled conditions. The impedances of the individual layers are stacked together and preliminary results are shown.

loudspeaker, DEAP, sound power

Dielectric Electro-Active Polymers (DEAPs) are lightweight materials whose dimensions change significantly when subjected to electric stimulation. One form of DEAP construction consists of a thin layer of dielectric sandwiched between two perforated rigid electrodes. They can be used as an actuator or a sensor and have the potential to be an effective replacement for many conventional transducers. This paper refers to their use as loudspeakers. To date, at DEAP loudspeakers have been prototyped and tested but no numerical prediction of their acoustic perfomances has been presented. In this paper an elemental model is presented, where the electrodes are modelled as bending plates, the dielectric as a Winkler bedding and the acoustic impedance calculated assuming baffled conditions. The impedances of the elements are stacked together and preliminary results are shown.