Fluid-Driven Tensile Actuator With Segmented Chambers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electromechanical actuators that mimic mammalian muscle function are inefficient in terms of cost and ease of production, limiting their availability and effectiveness in applications such as robotics and prosthetics.
Innovation Solution
A tensile actuator system is developed using flexible, inelastic sheets or textile materials with elongate chambers that introduce a medium, such as gas or liquid, to generate tensile force by compressing or expanding the medium within these chambers, allowing for efficient contraction and expansion along a specific axis.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If conventional electromechanical actuators are used to mimic mammalian muscle function, then muscle-like actuation is achieved, but cost and ease of production are poor
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs pneumatic or hydraulic principles by introducing a compressible medium (gas or liquid) into chambers formed within the flexible substrate. This causes the substrate to expand and contract, generating tensile force that mimics muscle function. The use of fluid pressure instead of complex electromechanical components significantly simplifies manufacturing while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses a flexible substrate that can be stretched and deformed to create chambers for the compressible medium. This flexible shell approach replaces rigid electromechanical components with a deformable structure that is easier to manufacture and integrates well with textile or fabric-based applications, improving both ease of production and reliability.
2Force
If a tensile actuator uses a compressible medium in elongate chambers, then tensile force is generated, but medium volume increases
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible substrate is divided into multiple elongate chambers that run along its length. By segmenting the single large chamber into multiple smaller parallel chambers, the actuator generates sufficient tensile force through cumulative pressure on all chambers while reducing the total volume of compressible medium required compared to a single large chamber design.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of increasing chamber length in one dimension to generate more force, the patent distributes multiple chambers across the width of the substrate. This dimensional redistribution allows the actuator to achieve high tensile force through parallel pressure application while keeping the medium volume compact and manageable.
3Force
If the actuator contracts along the traction axis, then tensile force is exerted, but response time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The segmentation of the chamber into multiple elongate sections allows the compressible medium to distribute pressure more efficiently along the length of the actuator. This reduces pressure gradients and enables faster, more uniform contraction across the entire substrate, decreasing response time while maintaining high tensile force output.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system achieves efficient generation of tensile force with reduced medium usage, enabling shorter response times and strong force exertion while maintaining surface area, thus improving the cost-effectiveness and availability of muscle-like actuators.
Implementation Method 1
the medium may be compressed or receive a compressive force that is transferred to generate a tensile force
Implementation Method 2
two sheets of a flexible, inelastic substance are sealed together... An interior reservoir created by the sealing of the two flexible, inelastic sheets
Data Source
AI summary
A method is disclosed wherein two sheets of a flexible, inelastic substance are sealed along a periphery thereof, creating an interior reservoir preferably containing two or more elongate chambers, organized normal to an axis of traction. The disclosed axis of traction is an axis along which the disclosed device reduces length as a medium is introduced into the reservoir. Further disclosed is a method by which one or more bladders of flexible, inelastic substance are woven through two or more preferably parallel strips or strings. The bladders are adapted to receive a preferably gaseous or liquid medium. As the medium is moved into the bladders, the flexible strips or stings are deformed to cause the strips or strings to have a reduced length along the axis of traction.