Effective enhanced model for a large deformable soft pneumatic actuator

Soft pneumatic actuators have been widely used for implementing sophisticated and dexterous movements,due to numerous fascinating features compared with their rigid counterparts.Relatively speaking,modeling and analysis of an entire soft pneumatic actuator considering contact interaction between two adjacent air chambers is extremely rare,which is exactly what we are particularly interested in.Therefore,in order to establish an accurate mechanical model and analyze the overall configuration and stress distribution for the soft pneumatic actuator with large deflection,we consider the contact interaction of soft materials rather than hard materials,to produce an effective enhanced model for soft contact of a large deformable pneumatic actuator.In this article,a multiple-point contact approach is developed to circumvent the mutual penetration problem between adjacent air chambers of the soft actuator that occurs with the single-point contact approach employed in linear elastic rigid materials.In contrast to the previous simplified rod-based model that did not focus on contact interaction which was adopted to clarify the entire deformation of the actuator,the present model not only elaborates nonlinear large deformation and overall configuration variations,but also accurately delineates stress distribution law inside the chamber structure and the stress concentration phenomenon.By means of a corresponding static experiment,a comparison of the simulation results with experimental data validates the effectiveness and accuracy of this model employing a multiple-point contact approach.Excellent simulation of the actual bending deformation of the soft actuator is obtained,while mutual penetration is successfully circumvented,whereas the model with single-point contact cannot achieve those goals.Finally,as compared with the rod-based model,the results obtained using the proposed model are more consistent with experimental data,and simulation precision is improved.     

Compliance characteristic and force control of antagonistic actuation by pneumatic artificial muscles

This paper presents compliance characteristics of antagonistic actuation by the pair of Mckibben pneumatic artificial muscles and force tracking using a sliding control scheme for safe human-robot interaction. The variable stiffness capability of artificial muscles was investigated carefully by resilience tests from a biased initial position and impact tests based on an intended collision between a stationary object and a rotating linkage actuated by pneumatic artificial muscles. Considering the frequency response analysis of a whole pneumatic circuit for artificial muscles, a sliding control system was designed to control contacting force between a linkage actuated by artificial muscles and a rigid environment. Experimental results showed that the proposed force control scheme gave better tracking performance under model uncertainties due to air flow than the conventional PID controller whose feedback gains were well-tuned experimentally.     

Development, modeling and deflection analysis of hybrid micro actuator with integrated thermal and piezoelectric actuation

Micro actuators are irreplaceable part of motion control in minimized systems. The current study presents an analytical model for a new Hybrid Thermo Piezoelectric micro actuator based on the combination of piezoelectric and thermal actuation mechanisms. The micro actuator structure is a double PZT cantilever beam consisting of two arms with different lengths. The presented micro actuator uses the structure of electrothermal micro actuator in which polysilicon material is replaced by PZT. Also the voltage and poling directions are considered in the lengthwise of PZT beams. As a result, the piezoelectric actuation mechanism is based on d ₃₃ strain coefficient. The tip deflection of micro actuator is obtained using Timoshenko beam theory. Analytical results are compared with FEM results along with other reported results in the literature. The effects of geometrical parameters and PZT material constants on actuator tip deflection are studied to provide an efficient optimization of HTP micro actuator.     

A method for the selection of sensor and actuator locations

A new and efficient technique for determining optimal locations of sensors and actuators of intelligent structures is presented. The optimization of sensor and actuator locations is based on the 1st order singular value perturbations of observability and controllability. Using this method the optimal placements of sensors and actuators of the intelligent structurer can be selected. Two numerical examples are given to demonstrate the applications of the method. The impulse responses of structures due to different locations of actuators with the same control law are analyzed in detail. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Mechanical Technique Development Foundation of China     

A model for large electrostrictive actuation in ferroelectric single crystals

A new mode of large electrostrictive actuation, based on 90° domain switching in ferroelectric crystals subjected to combined electromechanical loading, has recently been experimentally demonstrated. In this paper, we develop a model for this phenomenon by assuming a reasonable arrangement of domain walls and formulating equations of motion for these walls. The model captures most of the features observed in the experiments, reveals the significant role of friction at the interfaces between the loading frame and the crystal surfaces, and predicts that a reduction of friction will allow larger strains at lower mechanical loads.     

A top-down multi-scale modeling for actuation response of polymeric artificial muscles

A class of innovative artificial muscles made of high-strength polymeric fibers such as fishing lines or sewing threads have been discovered recently. These muscles are fabricated by a simple “twist-insertion” procedure, which have attracted increasing attention due to their low cost and readily availability, giant tensile stroke, record energy density, and easy controllability. In the present paper, we established a multi-scale modeling framework for the thermomechanical actuation responses by a top-down strategy, spanning from macro-scale helical spring analysis down to molecular level chain interaction study. Comparison between modeling results and experimental results exhibited excellent agreement. The effect of the micro-, meso- and macro-scale parameters on the actuation responses of the artificial muscle was further discussed through a parametric study per the validated model. This work helps understand the physical origin behind the remarkable tensile actuation behavior of the twisted-then-coiled polymeric artificial muscles and also provides inspirations for optimal design of advanced artificial muscles made by twist-insertion procedure.     

Development of a planar multibody model of the human knee joint

The aim of this work is to develop a dynamic model for the biological human knee joint. The model is formulated in the framework of multibody systems methodologies, as a system of two bodies, the femur and the tibia. For the purpose of describing the formulation, the relative motion of the tibia with respect to the femur is considered. Due to their higher stiffness compared to that of the articular cartilages, the femur and tibia are considered as rigid bodies. The femur and tibia cartilages are considered to be deformable structures with specific material characteristics. The rotation and gliding motions of the tibia relative to the femur cannot be modeled with any conventional kinematic joint, but rather in terms of the action of the knee ligaments and potential contact between the bones. Based on medical imaging techniques, the femur and tibia profiles in the sagittal plane are extracted and used to define the interface geometric conditions for contact. When a contact is detected, a continuous nonlinear contact force law is applied which calculates the contact forces developed at the interface as a function of the relative indentation between the two bodies. The four basic cruciate and collateral ligaments present in the knee are also taken into account in the proposed knee joint model, which are modeled as nonlinear elastic springs. The forces produced in the ligaments, together with the contact forces, are introduced into the system’s equations of motion as external forces. In addition, an external force is applied on the center of mass of the tibia, in order to actuate the system mimicking a normal gait motion. Finally, numerical results obtained from computational simulations are used to address the assumptions and procedures adopted in this study.     

Global motion analysis of energy-based control for 3-link planar robot with a single actuator at the first joint

This paper studies nonlinear control of a 3-link planar robot moving in the vertical plane with only the first joint being actuated while the two other revolute joints are passive (called the APP robot below). A nonlinear energy-based controller is proposed, whose objective is to drive the APP robot into an invariant set where the first link is in the upright position and the total mechanical energy converges to its value at the upright equilibrium point (all three links are in the upright position). By presenting and using a new property of the motion of the APP robot, without any condition on its mechanical parameters, this paper proves that if the control gains are larger than specific lower bounds, then only a measure-zero set of initial conditions converges to three strictly unstable equilibrium points instead of converging to the invariant set. This paper presents numerical results for a physical 3-link planar robot to validate the obtained theoretical results and to demonstrate a switch–and–stabilize maneuver in which the energy-based controller is switched to a linear state feedback controller that stabilizes the APP robot at its upright equilibrium point.     

MACCEPA,The mechanically adjustable compliance and controllable equilibrium position actuator: A 3DOF joint with two independent compliances

The MACCEPA is a straightforward and easy to construct rotational actuator in which the compliance can be controlled separately from the equilibrium position. A 3DOF joint with adaptable compliance is presented. The generated torque is a linear function of the compliance and of the angle between the equilibrium position and actual position. This makes this actuator perfectly suitable for dynamic walking, human-robotic interfaces, and robotic rehabilitation devices Published in Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 43, No. 4, pp. 130–142, April 2007.     

A new two-dimensional model for electro-mechanical response of thick laminated piezoelectric actuator

This paper investigates the electro-mechanical behaviour of a thick, laminated actuator with piezoelectric and isotropic lamina under externally applied electric loading using a new two-dimensional computational model. The elastic core is relatively thick and thus it is modelled by Timoshenko thick-beam theory. Although the piezoelectric lamina is a beam-like layer, it is formulated via a two-dimensional model because of not only the strong electro-mechanical coupling, but also of the presence of a two-dimensional electric field. It is shown in this paper that a one-dimensional model for the piezoelectric beam-like layer is inadequate. The piezoelectric model is constructed within the scope of linear piezoelectricity. The actuation response is induced through the application of external electric voltage. Under the strong coupling of elasticity and electricity, the strain energy and work of electric potential are presented. The electro-mechanical response of the laminated Timoshenko beam is formulated and determined via a variational energy principle. Numerical examples presented illustrate convincing comparison with finite element solutions and existing published data. New numerical solutions are also presented to investigate the geometric effect on the electro-mechanical bending behaviour.     

含万向铰偏斜旋转轴的组合共振及其稳定性分析

基于欧拉方程推导出了含万向铰偏斜旋转轴的横向振动模型,利用多尺度方法对该模型进行求解,得出了该偏斜系统可能出现的多种共振模式,进而对含万向铰偏斜轴系横向振动和型组合共振、差型组合共振进行稳定性分析,并对该类偏斜系统横向振动和型组合共振响应进行数值计算与仿真,检验所得稳定性理论分析结果。研究表明:对于和型组合共振而言,其稳定性边界与输入扭矩T0、支撑轴承安装位置l、轴承刚度Kx2和Ky2等因素有关;当轴承安装位置距万向铰中心较近或者轴承弹簧刚度系数较小时,系统在频率(ω10+ω20)/2附近产生和型组合共振的区域减小,即能够抑制系统和型组合共振的产生。该研究可为偏斜轴系振动与噪声抑制提供理论支持。     

Predicting the mode of flow in pneumatic conveying systems-- A review

An initial prediction of the particulate mode of flow in pneumatic conveying systems is beneficial as this knowledge can provide clearer direction to the pneumatic conveying design process. There are three general categories of modes of flow, two dense flows： fluidised dense phase and plug flow, and dilute phase oniy. Detailed in this paper is a review of the commonly used and available techniques for predicting mode of flow. Two types of predictive charts were defined： basic particle parameter based （e.g. particle size and density） and air-particle parameter based （e.g. permeability and de-aeration）. The basic particle techniques were found to have strong and weak areas of predictive ability, on the basis of a comparison with data from materials with known mode of flow capability. It was found that there was only slight improvement in predictive ability when the particle density was replaced by loose-poured bulk density in the basic parameter techniques. The air-particle-parameter-based techniques also showed well-defined regions for mode of flow prediction though the data set used was smaller than that for the basic techniques. Also, it was found to be difficult to utilise de-aeration values from different researchers and subsequently, an air-particle-based technique was developed which does not require any de-aeration parameter in its assessment.     

On the driving force for crack growth during thermal actuation of shape memory alloys

The effect of thermomechanically induced phase transformation on the driving force for crack growth in polycrystalline shape memory alloys is analyzed in an infinite center-cracked plate subjected to a thermal actuation cycle under mechanical load in plain strain. Finite element calculations are carried out to determine the mechanical fields near the static crack and the crack-tip energy release rate using the virtual crack closure technique. A substantial increase of the energy release rate – an order of magnitude for some material systems – is observed during the thermal cycle due to the stress redistribution induced by large scale phase transformation. Thus, phase transformation occurring due to thermal variations under mechanical load may result in crack growth if the crack-tip energy release rate reaches a material specific critical value.     

A bistable rolling joint for multistable structures

In this paper, a concept of using rolling joints for a multistable structure, which deforms elastically into a variety of cylindrical shapes, is presented. A bistable joint is obtained by modifying the geometry of a rolling hinge. The proposed concept can hold the stable state without any continued actuation. Then detailed mathematical derivations are carried out to obtain the wire tensions and joint resultant moment during the motion, which are used to compute the external action that should be applied to move the joint. The effects of some geometric parameters on the mechanical behavior are also investigated. The results show that higher values of the wire tension and joint resultant moments can be obtained by increasing the side included angle φ or the radius of wire wrapped circles R. Moreover, the pretension of wires in the stable configuration also increases the wire tension and the joint resultant moment.     

A load cell for measuring forces in the tempormomandibular joint

Experimental Techniques -