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High-output bending motion of a soft inflatable microactuator with an actuation conversion mechanism
- Source :
- Scientific Reports, Scientific Reports, Vol 10, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2020)
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2020.
-
Abstract
- The improvement of soft inflatable microactuators using an actuation conversion mechanism is presented in terms of high-output generation; a bending inflatable microactuator with the conversion mechanism is designed to generate high-output bending motion. The designed microactuator consists of a pneumatic balloon on a base film and a conversion film over the balloon and ribs on the backside of the base film. A conversion film converts the inflating motion of a pneumatic balloon into a bending motion. The fabricated microactuator with a pneumatic balloon of 13 mm in diameter is 16 mm × 40 mm × 850 μm. A 25 μm thick polyimide film is used as a conversion film over the pneumatic balloon because polyimide film is both non-stretchable and flexible. An array of Si ribs (15 mm × 40 mm × 400 μm) is integrated on the backside of the base film. Analysis of the microactuators with and without the conversion mechanism indicates that the output performance is improved with the addition of the conversion mechanism, as designed. As a result, the microactuator with the conversion film generates a maximum force of 1.72 N at 80 kPa, whereas the microactuator without the conversion film generates a maximum force of 0.15 N at 40 kPa. The improved microactuator can provide 4.2 mN/mm3 as the force density. In addition to fundamental characterization, the performance characteristics of the actuators are examined by combining the fundamental results.
- Subjects :
- 0209 industrial biotechnology
Multidisciplinary
Materials science
Force density
business.industry
lcsh:R
Base (geometry)
lcsh:Medicine
02 engineering and technology
Bending
021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology
Article
Mechanical engineering
Mechanism (engineering)
Microactuator
020901 industrial engineering & automation
Inflatable
Nanoscience and technology
Optoelectronics
lcsh:Q
lcsh:Science
0210 nano-technology
Actuator
business
Polyimide
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 20452322
- Volume :
- 10
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Scientific Reports
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....ed11409a1788f69f2b91764332e5425d