Combining flexible mechanisms and solid-state actuators allow to realise compact, high-performance and low-maintenance actuators. These advantages are counteracted by a generally more complex design due to the coupling effects between the active and passive components as well as between the kinematic and structural functions in the system. In addition, geometrical nonlinearities of the flexible mechanism as well as a complex constitutive model for the active material are to be taken into account in the design analysis. In this paper, many relevant design issues are discussed with reference to the so-called fish-mouth actuator developed at DLR in the framework of the Adaptive Wing project (ADIF). It is a compact hybrid actuator based on the interaction of a shape-memory material and a composite flexible mechanism. The actuator offers a high effective strain (ratio between actuator's stroke and mounting dimension in the activation direction) and is therefore particularly interesting for shape control of thin surfaces. In the ADIF project, the actuator development was focused on the realisation of a wind-tunnel model for an adaptive wing with transonic bump. The actuator is designed and tested for a maximum stroke of 2 mm and a maximum force of 200 N. Its thickness (in activation direction) amounts to about 8 mm. If used with a feedback control system, it can reach a displacement precision of less than 1 micro m. More than 400 single actuators were built and tested; 84 of them were integrated in the final system. In the paper, several design issues are discussed which are typical for such fully coupled hybrid systems. The design analysis and procedure used for the actuator development is described and a choice of experimental results is shown and discussed. The reported design philosophy and the related discussion includes many concepts and solutions of general relevance which can be adopted for the development of similar hybrid actuators in the future.
The "fish-mouth" actuator: design issues and test results
'Fischmaul'-Stellglied: Entwürfe und Testergebnisse
2004
14 Seiten, 8 Bilder, 13 Quellen
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Englisch
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