Programmable soft electrothermal actuators based on free-form printing of the embedded heater
Programmable soft electrothermal actuators based on free-form printing of the embedded heater
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DOI：
10.1039/d0sm02062a
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发表时间：
2021-03-07
期刊：
影响因子：
3.4
通讯作者：
Dong, Jingyan
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Cao, Yang;Dong, Jingyan
近年来，人们对具有复杂可编程变形的软执行器的研究越来越感兴趣。软电热致动器利用电作为刺激产生热量，两层结构层热膨胀之间的不匹配导致致动器弯曲。由于传统制造方法的限制，软电热执行器的复杂可编程变形是困难的。本文报道了一种制造柔性电热执行器的新方法，即利用电流体动力（EHD）打印技术直接打印电热执行器的电阻加热器。EHD打印的直接图案功能允许加热器的自由形式设计。通过改变致动器加热模式的设计，可以实现不同的热量分布，并利用其实现复杂的可编程变形，包括均匀弯曲、定制弯曲、折叠和扭转。采用有限元分析方法验证了不同作动器设计的热分布和变形。最后，给出了几个综合演示，包括由折叠获得的复杂结构、二自由度柔性机械臂和柔性行走器。
In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the research in soft actuators that exhibit complex programmable deformations. Soft electrothermal actuators use electricity as the stimulus to generate heat, and the mismatch between the thermal expansions of the two structural layers causes the actuator to bend. Complex programmable deformations of soft electrothermal actuators are difficult due to the limitations of the conventional fabrication methods. In this article, we report a new approach to fabricate soft electrothermal actuators, in which the resistive heater of the electrothermal actuator is directly printed using electrohydrodynamic (EHD) printing. The direct patterning capabilities of EHD printing allow the free-form design of the heater. By changing the design of the heating pattern on the actuator, different heat distributions can be achieved and utilized to realize complex programmable deformations, including uniform bending, customized bending, folding, and twisting. Finite element analysis (FEA) was used to validate the thermal distribution and deformation for different actuator designs. Lastly, several integrated demonstrations are presented, including complex structures obtained from folding, a two-degree-of-freedom soft robotic arm, and soft walkers.