Breaking the Cardiovascular Flow Barrier for Dielectric Elastomer Actuator-Based Pumping: Design and Characterization

Amine Benouhiba, Armando Walter, Silje Ekroll Jahren, Francesco Clavica, Dominik Obrist, Yoan Civet, and Yves Perriard

This article presents the design and characterization of a high-performance tubular dielectric elastomer pump. The study investigates three distinct pump designs tailored for operation under varying internal pressures of 15, 70, and 120 mmHg. Each pump design is meticulously tested, and the results reveal significant variations in their performance characteristics. The optimal outcomes are achieved with a flow rate of 6.5 L min−1, demonstrating the pump's efficiency in maintaining fluid circulation.

2025

Journal Articles

DEyeA: Artificial Muscles for the Restoration of Eye Blinking Following Facial Paralysis

S. Konstantinidi; M. Koenigsdorff; P-J. Martin; A. Benouhiba; Y. Civet et al.

Advanced Materials Technologies. 2025. DOI : 10.1002/admt.202401616.

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Breaking the Cardiovascular Flow Barrier for Dielectric Elastomer Actuator-Based Pumping: Design and Characterization

A. Benouhiba; A. Walter; S. E. Jahren; F. Clavica; D. Obrist et al.

Advanced Engineering Materials. 2025. Vol. 27, num. 2, p. 2401306. DOI : 10.1002/adem.202401306.

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Reviews

The elastic frontier: dielectric elastomer actuators in healthcare technology

A. Benouhiba; S. Holzer; S. Konstantinidi; Y. Civet; Y. Perriard

SMART MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES. 2025. Vol. 34, num. 3. DOI : 10.1088/1361-665X/adae6a.

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2024

Journal Articles

Investigation of buckling instabilities in fiber-reinforced DEAs

S. M. A. Konstantinidi; M. Koenigsdorff; T. G. Martinez; A. Benouhiba; J. Mersch et al.

Composites Science and Technology. 2024. Vol. 258. DOI : 10.1016/j.compscitech.2024.110849.

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Fiber-Reinforced Equibiaxial Dielectric Elastomer Actuator for Out-of-Plane Displacement

S. Holzer; S. M. A. Konstantinidi; M. Koenigsdorff; T. Martinez; Y. Civet et al.

Materials. 2024. Vol. 17, num. 15. DOI : 10.3390/ma17153672.

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Dielectric elastomer actuator-based valveless pump as Fontan failure assist device: introduction and preliminary study

A. Benouhiba; A. M. Walter; S. E. Jahren; T. G. Martinez; F. Clavica et al.

Interdisciplinary Cardiovascular And Thoracic Surgery. 2024. Vol. 38, num. 4, p. ivae041. DOI : 10.1093/icvts/ivae041.

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Novel para-aortic cardiac assistance using a pre-stretched dielectric elastomer actuator

S. E. Jahren; T. G. Martinez; A. M. Walter; F. Clavica; P. P. Heinisch et al.

Interdisciplinary CardioVascular and Thoracic Surgery. 2024. DOI : 10.1093/icvts/ivae027.

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Conference Papers

A Dielectric Elastomer based Miniaturized Soft Planar Microactuator

S. Holzer; B. Tiwari; S. M. A. Konstantinidi; Y. R. C. Civet; Y. Perriard

2024. ACTUATOR 2024; International Conference and Exhibition on New Actuator Systems and Applications, Wiesbaden, 2024-06-13 – 2024-06-14.

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Energy-based modeling and robust position control of a dielectric elastomer cardiac assist device

A. Hammoud; N. Liu; Y. Le Gorrec; Y. R. C. Civet; Y. Perriard

2024. 8th IFAC Workshop on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Methods for Nonlinear Control, Besançon, France, 2024-06-10 – 2024-06-12. p. 25 – 30. DOI : 10.1016/j.ifacol.2024.08.251.

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Frequency response of fiber reinforced DEAs

S. M. A. Konstantinidi; M. Koenigsdorff; T. G. Martinez; Y. R. C. Civet; G. Gerlach et al.

2024. SPIE Smart Structures + Nondestructive Evaluation 2024, Long Beach, California, USA, March 24-28, 2024. DOI : 10.1117/12.3010528.

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Highly anisotropic carbon fiber electrodes for DEAs and their dynamic non-monotonic conductive properties

M. Koenigsdorff; J. Mersch; S. M. A. Konstantinidi; Y. Perriard; G. Gerlach

2024. SPIE Smart Structures + Nondestructive Evaluation 2024, Long Beach, California, USA, March 24-28, 2024. DOI : 10.1117/12.3010366.

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Inversing the actuation cycle of dielectric elastomer actuators for a facial prosthesis

S. M. A. Konstantinidi; Q. P. M. De Menech; T. G. Martinez; P. Germano; A. Boegli et al.

2024. SPIE Smart Structures + Nondestructive Evaluation 2024, Long Beach, California, USA, March 24-28, 2024. DOI : 10.1117/12.3010529.

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An artificial urinary sphincter based on dielectric elastomer technology

Q. P. M. De Menech; S. Zammouri; S. M. A. Konstantinidi; A. Benouhiba; Y. R. C. Civet et al.

2024. SPIE Smart Structures + Nondestructive Evaluation 2024, Long Beach, California, USA, March 24-28, 2024. DOI : 10.1117/12.3004813.

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Carbon based printed electrodes for DEAs: study of pad, inkjet, and stencil printing

S. Holzer; A. M. Walter; S. M. A. Konstantinidi; T. G. Martinez; Y. R. C. Civet et al.

2024. SPIE Smart Structures + Nondestructive Evaluation 2024, Long Beach, California, USA, March 24-28, 2024. DOI : 10.1117/12.3010530.

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Characterisation of Polymer Materials for the Development of an Artificial Urethra

Q. De Menech; L. Andre; S. Konstantinidi; A. Benouhiba; T. Martinez et al.

2024. 46 International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, Orlando, United States, 2024-07-15 – 2024-07-19. DOI : 10.1109/EMBC53108.2024.10781661.

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2023

Journal Articles

Uni-axial reinforced dielectric elastomer actuators with embedded 3D printed fibers

S. M. A. Konstantinidi; T. G. Martinez; B. Tandon; Y. R. C. Civet; Y. Perriard

Smart Materials And Structures. 2023. Vol. 32, num. 12, p. 125011. DOI : 10.1088/1361-665X/ad0447.

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Dielectric Elastomer Actuator-Based Valveless Impedance-Driven Pumping for Meso- and Macroscale Applications

A. Benouhiba; A. Walter; S. E. Jahren; T. Martinez; F. Clavica et al.

Soft Robotics. 2023. DOI : 10.1089/soro.2022.0244.

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Hemodynamic effects of a dielectric elastomer augmented aorta on aortic wave intensity: An in-vivo study

S. E. Jahren; T. G. Martinez; A. M. Walter; L. Ferrari; F. Clavica et al.

Journal of Biomechanics. 2023. Vol. 159. DOI : 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2023.111777.

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Conference Papers

Study of Potential Factors and their Interaction in Dielectric Elastomer based Cell Stretcher

S. Holzer; F. Hartmann; F. Öz; T. Martinez; Y. Civet et al.

2023. 2023 26th International Conference on Electrical Machines and Systems (ICEMS), Zhuhai, China, November 5-8, 2023. DOI : 10.1109/ICEMS59686.2023.10345117.

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Mechanical Characterisation of Porcine Urethra: Non Linear Constitutive Models and Experimental Approach

Q. De Menech; S. Konstantinidi; T. Martinez; A. Benouhiba; Y. Civet et al.

2023. Seventh International Conference on Advances in Biomedical Engineering (ICABME 2023), Beirut, Libanon (hybrid), October 12-13, 2023. p. 35 – 40. DOI : 10.1109/ICABME59496.2023.10293025.

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