Publications related to Multi-Output Compliant Shape Memory Alloy Bias-Spring Actuators

Related publications (27)

Modeling and analysis of miniaturized magnetorheological valve for fluidic actuation

Fluidic actuation enables movement in a wide range of mechanical systems, from simple laboratory devices to more complex industrial machinery. Fluids are used to generate motion of mechanical pieces. The term "fluids" encompasses two types of technologies: ...

EPFL2023

Fabrication and Characterization of the Kirigami-Inspired SMA-Powered Actuator

Yves Perriard, Thomas Guillaume Martinez, Sean Thomas, Marjan Ghorbani

This paper presents an innovative approach to creating Shape Memory Alloys (SMA)-based actuators that are lightweight, compact, and capable of providing large strokes. Inspired by the Kirigami structure, an SMA actuator is designed using the Ω -pattern, wh ...

2023

Electrode Impact on the Electrical Breakdown of Dielectric Elastomer Thin Films

Herbert Shea, Fabio Beco Albuquerque

Dielectric Elastomer Actuators (DEAs) enable the realization of energy-efficient and compact actuator systems. DEAs operate at the kilovolt range with typically microampere-level currents and hence minimize thermal losses in comparison to low voltage/high ...

MDPI2023

Synthesis of Novel Integrated Actuators Powered by Shape Memory Alloys

Sean Thomas

In the modern age of miniaturisation, Smart Materials, a type of material that reacts mechanically to a certain stimulus, have become an integral part of this revolution. Among these materials, Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs), which have the highest volumetric ...

EPFL2022

Lifetime of dielectric elastomer actuators under DC electric fields

Fabio Beco Albuquerque

Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are interesting soft actuators compared to other actuation technologies owing to large achievable actuation strains, high energy density and fast actuation. However, because DEAs need to be operated under high electric ...

EPFL2022

High Permittivity Siloxanes as Promising Materials for Dielectric Elastomer Transducers: From Synthesis to Application

Yauhen Sheima

The speed of change in the modern world is impressive. Within the last 50 years, many devices and technologies have significantly transformed their appearance, intrinsic characteristics and improved their performance. Computers have changed from the size o ...

EPFL2022

Effect of post-heat treatment conditions on shape memory property in 4D printed Fe-17Mn-5Si-10Cr-4Ni shape memory alloy

Christian Leinenbach, Irene Ferretto

The influence of post-heat treatment on the microstructure and properties of 4D printed Fe-17Mn-5Si-10Cr-4Ni (wt. %) shape memory alloy (SMA) produced via a laser powder bed fusion process is investigated in this study. It is shown that heat-treatment temp ...

2022

Influence of electric field, temperature, humidity, elastomer material, and encapsulation on the lifetime of dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) under DC actuation

Herbert Shea, Fabio Beco Albuquerque

We present the effect of electric field, temperature, humidity, type of elastomer material, and encapsulation on the lifetime of silicone-based dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) under DC electric fields. DEAs are promising soft actuators, but little ha ...

IOP Publishing Ltd2021

Shape programmable multi-stable polymer actuators

Bekir Aksoy

Recent advances in soft actuators have enabled systems that are safer to interact with, better at handling fragile objects, able to produce complex shapes with fewer components. However, being inherently soft differs these actuators from their rigid counte ...

EPFL2021

An untethered mechanically-intelligent inchworm robot powered by a shape memory alloy oscillator

Yves Perriard, Paolo Germano, Thomas Guillaume Martinez, Sean Thomas

Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) based actuators have become ideal candidates for use in compact and lightweight applications. These smart materials have often been referred to as artificial muscles due to their high work volume density. In this paper, a flexure-b ...

2021

Shape Memory Effect of Benchmark Compliant Mechanisms Designed With Topology Optimization

Yves Perriard, Thomas Guillaume Martinez, Adrien Jean-Michel Thabuis, Sean Thomas

Shape Memory Alloys (SMA) are a class of Smart Materials that are ideal for creating compact actuators. The complex nature of their behavior results in the use of these materials in simple geometries (wires, sheets) limiting their performances. A design me ...

IEEE2020

Sensorless Quasi-static Piezoelectric Actuator for Micro-Robotics

Louis Antoine Masson

Research interest into the miniaturisation of micro-robots has soared in recent years due to the availability of suitable integrated actuators. The reduction in size of these components is achieved through the implementation of Self-Sensing Actuation (SSA) ...

EPFL2020

Design Analysis of a Shape Memory Alloy Bias-Spring Linear Actuator

Yves Perriard, Morgan Almanza, Sean Thomas

This paper aims to adapt the well established Brinson model for the thermoelastic behaviour of the Shape Memory Effect (SME) so as to compare it to a custom shape memory material modelled using an finite element modelling software. In this work, the Brinso ...

IEEE2019

Low voltage fast dielectric elastomer actuators

Xiaobin Ji

This thesis contributes to the field of Dielectric Elastomer Actuators (DEAs). DEAs are electrostatically driven soft actuators that are fast, capable of generating large actuation strains, high forces, and present high power density. A wide range of appli ...

EPFL2019

Behavior of iron-based Shape Memory Alloys under Cyclic Loading Histories

Dimitrios Lignos, Albano António De Abreu E Presa De Castro E Sousa, Alexander Riley Hartloper, Masoud Motavalli, Diego Isidoro Heredia Rosa

Shape memory alloys (SMAs) have gained considerable attention in a broad range of engineering applications. In particular, iron-based SMAs (Fe-SMAs) have been recently developed and used as a cost-effect method for prestressed-strengthening of civil struct ...

2019

Form finding in elastic gridshells

Pedro Miguel Nunes Pereira de Almeida Reis

Elastic gridshells comprise an initially planar network of elastic rods that are actuated into a shell-like structure by loading their extremities. The resulting actuated form derives from the elastic buckling of the rods subjected to inextensibility. We s ...

National Academy of Sciences2018

Stitched shape memory alloy wires enhance damage recovery in self-healing fibre-reinforced polymer composites

Véronique Michaud, Amaël Maximilien Cohades, Nathan Klaus Hostettler

A major issue in composite technology is matrix micro-cracking due to low-velocity impact damage, which may severely limit service lifetimes of composite parts. In a novel approach, remarkable levels of healing of impact damage are obtained using shape mem ...

2018

Flexible Active Skin: Large Reconfigurable Arrays of Individually Addressed Shape Memory Polymer Actuators

Herbert Shea, Samuel Rosset, Juan José Zarate, Nadine Besse

A high-resolution flexible active skin with a matrix of 32x24 individually addressable tactile pixels on a 4 mm pitch is reported, based on shape memory polymer (SMP) actuators. The intrinsic multistable nature of SMPs, and their more than hundred-fold var ...

Wiley2017

High Permittivity Silicones for Dielectric Elastomer Actuators

Simon Johannes Dünki

Many technical advances of modern society sprout from the creation of specially customized polymer materials exhibiting unique combinations of properties uncharted so far. Amid this plurality of highly versatile materials, the class of electroactive polyme ...

EPFL2017

Assessing the degradation of compliant electrodes for soft actuators

Herbert Shea, Samuel Rosset, Alexandre Poulin, Christine Anne de Saint-Aubin

We present an automated system to measure the degradation of compliant electrodes used in dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) over millions of cycles. Electrodes for DEAs generally experience biaxial linear strains of more than 10%. The decrease in elect ...

American Institute of Physics2017