Incorporation of thermal expansion in static force modeling of Pneumatic Artificial Muscles

In this article, the thermal expansion effect is considered as the main cause of the gradual shift in the forcedisplacement relationship, which describes the operation of Pneumatic Artificial Muscles (PAMs). A modified static force modeling approach is proposed, based on fundamental PAM modeling techniques, while incorporating the geometrical properties that are being affected by the thermal build-up occurring during PAM´s continuous operation. The effects of thermal expansion are documented via experimental studies and the acquired data are utilized for the validation of the proposed modeling method.