Design and comparison of high strain shape memory alloy actuators

Author

Lu, Alexandra ; Grant, Danny ; Hayward, Vincent

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., McGill Univ., Montreal, Que., Canada

Volume

1

fYear

1997

fDate

20-25 Apr 1997

Firstpage

260

Abstract

A simulator is developed to model and design high strain shape memory alloy (SMA) tension actuators. The simulator may be used predict characteristics of a given actuator, or to design its geometry under specifications such as force, speed, stroke and size. The accuracy of the model is verified experimentally in reference to an existing NiTi shape memory alloy prototype actuator. Having developed some confidence in the model, the performance of the proposed actuation mechanism is compared to other existing technologies. In particular, the force-displacement and speed characteristics of a micro-solenoid electro-magnetic actuator and a muscle-size pneumatic actuator are compared to those of the SMA actuators with same dimensions

Keywords

actuators; control system CAD; control system analysis computing; digital simulation; force control; shape memory effects; NiTi; force; force-displacement; geometry; high strain shape memory alloy tension actuators; micro-solenoid electro-magnetic actuator; model accuracy; muscle-size pneumatic actuator; size; speed; speed characteristics; stroke; Capacitive sensors; Crystalline materials; Intelligent actuators; Magnetic properties; Pneumatic actuators; Predictive models; Shape memory alloys; Solid modeling; Stress; Temperature;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Robotics and Automation, 1997. Proceedings., 1997 IEEE International Conference on

Conference_Location

Albuquerque, NM

Print_ISBN

0-7803-3612-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ROBOT.1997.620048

Filename

620048