Development of a Small and Lightweight Missile Fin Control Actuation System Driven by Novel Dielectric Elastomer Actuators

In missile technology, for the high maneuverability of guided missile systems, miniaturization and lightweight technologies are essential. Therefore, novel actuator technologies are required for the miniaturization and reduction in the weight of fin control systems that control the direction of guided missiles. In this article, we introduce fin control actuation systems (FCASs) driven by dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) that possess the characteristics of living muscles for miniaturization and lightening of the missiles. Each actuator has a very light weight of 3.5 g; furthermore, it is compact in size, with a diameter of 9.5 mm and length of 65 mm, so that it can be bundled in small volumes as required. Prototypes of the developed DEA-based FCAS can achieve angular displacements of up to 12.5 {\circ } and a high torque performance of up to 56.4 N \cdot mm. In addition, a controller capable of switching a high voltage at a high frequency has been manufactured to improve the control performance of DEA-based FCAS. To evaluate the performance of the completed FCAS, tests with regard to the step response, frequency response, repeatability, and performance change with respect to temperature were carried out and used to verify the effectiveness and practicality of the developed system by presenting and analyzing the experimental results.