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Chinese Journal of Engineering Design  2021, Vol. 28 Issue (2): 227-234    DOI: 10.3785/j.issn.1006-754X.2021.00.019
Whole Machine and System Design     
Design and bending performance analysis of three-joint soft actuator
WANG Cheng-jun1,2,3, LI Shuai1,2
1.State Key Laboratory of Mining Response and Disaster Prevention and Control in Deep Coal Mine, Huainan 232001, China
2.School of Mechanical Engineering, Anhui University of Science and Technology, Huainan 232001, China
3.School of Artificial Intelligence, Anhui University of Science and Technology, Huainan 232001, China
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Abstract  In order to solve the problems of low rehabilitation efficiency and easy to cause secondary injury to human body when traditional rigid robots assist human rehabilitation training, a three-joint soft actuator made of silicone material was proposed according to the structure of human fingers and the range of motion of their joints. Firstly, according to the Yeoh hyperelastic material constitutive model and virtual work principle, the nonlinear mathematical relation between the bending angle of the airbag of soft actuator and the input air pressure was established under ideal conditions, and then the influences of different structural parameters of the actuator on its bending performance under certain air pressure were studied; after that, the influences of actuator ‘s wall thickness, bottom layer thickness and chamber external diameter on the bending performance of the actuator were ranked in terms of significance by finite element model simulation; finally, the three-joint soft actuator was fabricated by 3D printing and molding process, and the test platform of bending performance of soft actuator was established to test its bending performance. The results showed that as the input air pressure increased, the relative deviation between theoretical calculation results and experimental results of the bending angle of soft actuator decreased gradually; when the air pressure was higher than 20 kPa, the minimum relative deviation was 1.48%; when the air pressure in the chamber was 50 kPa, the output force of soft actuator was 0.45 N. The software actuator can be applied to human-computer interaction assisted rehabilitation, and is expected to be applied to agriculture and biomedicine in the future.

Received: 20 July 2020      Published: 28 April 2021
CLC:  TH 145.41  
  TP 242  
Cite this article:

WANG Cheng-jun, LI Shuai. Design and bending performance analysis of three-joint soft actuator. Chinese Journal of Engineering Design, 2021, 28(2): 227-234.

URL:

https://www.zjujournals.com/gcsjxb/10.3785/j.issn.1006-754X.2021.00.019     OR     https://www.zjujournals.com/gcsjxb/Y2021/V28/I2/227


三关节式软体驱动器的设计及其弯曲性能分析

针对传统的刚性机器人在辅助人体康复训练时存在康复效率低、易造成人体二次损伤等问题,依据人体手指结构及其关节的运动范围,提出了一种由硅胶材料制成的三关节式软体驱动器。首先,根据 Yeoh 超弹性材料本构模型和虚功原理,在理想条件下建立了软体驱动器气囊的弯曲角度与输入气压之间的非线性数学关系,进而研究在一定气压下驱动器不同结构参数对其弯曲性能的影响;接着,通过有限元模型仿真得出了驱动器壁厚、底层厚度和腔室外直径对驱动器弯曲性能影响的显著性排序;最后,通过 3D 打印及模塑成型工艺,制作了三关节式软体驱动器,搭建了软体驱动器弯曲性能测试平台以测试其弯曲性能。结果表明:随着输入气压的增大,软体驱动器弯曲角度的理论计算结果与实验结果的相对误差逐渐减小,当气压高于20 kPa时,其最小相对误差为1.48%;当腔室内部气压为50 kPa时,软体驱动器输出力为0.45 N。可将软体驱动器应用于人机交互的辅助康复领域,后期有望应用于农业和生物医学领域。
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