Energy-Efficient Compliant Structures with Functional Spring-Damper-Characteristics

通常，振动和急动运动在技术系统中是不希望的，这一方面是因为动态载荷的增加，另一方面是因为不同的传输特性。在工程中，特别是医疗和汽车工程中，补偿通常使用具有线性或非线性特性的弹簧、阻尼器和弹簧阻尼器装置来实现。除了补偿之外，假肢、机器、设备和车辆中的这种装置通过偏转和速度提供传输的依赖性。目前，复杂的弹簧阻尼器装置与致动器、传感器和控制算法相结合，以实现偏转和速度依赖性。该研究项目的重点是对具有功能材料的被动柔顺结构进行基础研究，这些结构可以产生类似的挠度和速度依赖行为，例如复杂的主动设备。与智能材料（smart materials）相比，功能材料一词概括了具有被动变化特性的材料，这意味着不需要额外的能量来改变。该项目的目的是设计具有功能性弹簧阻尼器特性的柔性结构，以适应不断变化的环境条件，而无需任何额外的能源，使系统节能并节省资源。这应该通过普通弹簧和柔性结构的组合来完成，这些结构填充有功能材料。因此，将建立新的节能元件，以减少传统设备的复杂性、所需的安装位置、重量和功率需求。这些新的元件和设备仅以机械方式适应不断变化的环境条件，并具有节能性。研究具有负载相关特性（挠度、速度或温度）的功能材料的基本原理和有目的的几何设计是节能元件自适应行为的基础。寄生热（由于摩擦产生的热）或外部热源（改变环境温度）是实现温度相关特征的可能性。第一个项目期间正在进行的工作是对所用功能材料的速度依赖行为进行建模和实验研究，这是对温度依赖特性的建模和研究。为了验证节能、柔顺结构中的功能性弹簧阻尼器特性，将建立并测试演示器。

Usually vibrations and jerky movements are undesirable in technical systems because of an increasing of dynamic loads on the one hand and different transmission properties on the other hand. In engineering, especially medical and automotive engineering, compensation is often achieved using springs, dampers and spring-damper devices with linear or non-linear characteristics. Additionally to compensation, such devices in prostheses, machines, apparatus and vehicles provide a dependency of transmission by deflection and velocity. Currently complex spring-damper devices are combined with actuators, sensors and control algorithms to reach a deflection and velocity dependency. The focus of this research project is the fundamental investigation of passive, compliant structures with functional materials, which yield comparable deflection- and velocity-dependent behavior such as complex active devices. In contrast to intelligent materials (smart materials) the term functional material summarizes materials with passively changing properties, meaning that no additional energy is needed for the change. The purpose of the project is to design compliant structures with functional spring-damper characteristics adapting to changing environmental conditions without the need of any additional energy to make systems energy-efficient and to save resources. This should be done by a combination of normal springs and compliant structures, which are filled with a functional material. Consequently, new energy-efficient elements will be built up to reduce the complexity, the required installation place, the weight and the power demand of conventional devices. These new elements and devices adapt in only a mechanical way and energy-efficient to changing environmental conditions. Investigating in fundamentals of functional materials with load-dependent properties (deflection, velocity or temperature) and purposeful geometrical design is the basis for an adaptive behavior of energy-efficient elements. Parasitic heat (heat due to friction) or external heat sources (changing ambient temperature) are possibilities to realize temperature-dependent features. Ongoing work to the first project period, where the velocity-dependent behavior of the used functional materials was modeled and experimentally investigated, is the modeling and the investigation of the temperature-dependent properties. For verification of functional spring-damper properties in energy-efficient, compliant structures demonstrators will be built up and tested.