Energy-based control of a dielectric elastomer cardiac assist device

This paper is concerned by the port-Hamiltonian modeling and control of a dielectric elastomer actuator designed for use in a cardiac assist device. The proposed nonlinear model captures the actuator’s hyperelastic material behavior, viscoelastic damping, and electromechanical coupling, and remains valid for large deformations up to 40 %. An original Interconnection and Damping Assignment Passivity-Based Control strategy is developed to achieve closed-loop stabilization at a desired position. The accuracy of the multiphysics model and the performances of the proposed controller are experimentally validated.