Design and investigation of a linear smart actuator

S. Krishna Chaitanya; K. Dhanalakshmi

doi:10.1117/12.2084502

13 April 2015 Design and investigation of a linear smart actuator

Proceedings Volume 9431, Active and Passive Smart Structures and Integrated Systems 2015; 94312T (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2084502
Event: SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring, 2015, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Motors are nearly the sole constituents for actuation and driving applications, but there exist cases where their use proves to be impractical. Shape memory alloy (SMA), then revolutionized the actuator technology, thereby opening the door for new ideas and designs and with it what seemed unfeasible in the past have now become challenging. Many conventional actuators and sensors could be substituted with SMA, obtaining advantages in terms of reduction of weight, dimensions and its cost. SMAs are a group of metallic materials that revert to a predefined shape via phase transformation induced by a thermal procedure. Unlike metals that exhibit thermal expansion, SMA exhibits contraction when heated, which is larger by a hundredfold and exerts tremendous force for its small size. The focus of this work is to realize SMA wire as actuator which finds suitable applications (space, aerospace, biomechanics, etc.) where minimizing space, weight and cost are prime objectives. The accomplishments reported in this paper represent a significant development in the design of SMA actuator configurations for linear actuation. Report on design, fabrication and characterisation of the proposed system is presented. The design took advantage of converting the small linear displacement of the SMA wire into a large linear elastic motion under the influence of biasing element. From the results with control it is aspired that with further improvements on the design, the actuator can be utilized in enabling practical SMA technologies for potential robotic and commercial applications.

Citation Download Citation

S. Krishna Chaitanya and K. Dhanalakshmi "Design and investigation of a linear smart actuator", Proc. SPIE 9431, Active and Passive Smart Structures and Integrated Systems 2015, 94312T (13 April 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2084502

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