Flexible pump based on dielectric elastomer material

Abstract

A flexible pump comprises: a flexible pump balloon comprising multiple non-stretchable tubular flexible films that have a shuttle-shaped cross-section, are arranged in a ring array, and are spliced adjacently, a middle section of each tubular flexible film being a fill area saturated with a liquid medium with high breakdown strength, and a positive electrode and a negative electrode being fixed on a surface of one side of the middle section of each tubular flexible film in a radial direction and symmetrically located on two sides of an axial reference plane of the middle section respectively; and a pair of rigid end covers. The flexible pump solves the technical problems of liquid transport and pressurization.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A flexible pump based on a dielectric elastomer material, comprising:
 a flexible pump balloon comprising multiple non-stretchable tubular flexible films that have a shuttle-shaped cross-section, are arranged in a ring array, and are spliced adjacently, a middle section of each said tubular flexible film being a fill area saturated with a liquid medium with high breakdown strength, and a positive electrode and a negative electrode being fixed on a surface of a side of the middle section of each said tubular flexible film in a radial direction, located on two sides of an axial reference plane of the middle section respectively, and distributed symmetrically; and   a pair of rigid end covers provided with a water inlet and a water outlet respectively and located at two ends of the flexible pump balloon separately, same ends of the multiple tubular flexible films being fixed to the corresponding rigid end cover one by one.   
     
     
         2 . The flexible pump based on a dielectric elastomer material according to  claim 1 , wherein the tubular flexible films are biaxially oriented polypropylene films. 
     
     
         3 . The flexible pump based on a dielectric elastomer material according to  claim 1 , wherein the liquid medium is a plant-based oil with high breakdown strength. 
     
     
         4 . The flexible pump based on a dielectric elastomer material according to  claim 1 , wherein the positive electrodes and the negative electrodes are ionically conductive hydrogel electrodes. 
     
     
         5 . The flexible pump based on a dielectric elastomer material according to  claim 1 , wherein the water inlet and the water outlet in the rigid end covers are both of a valve structure.