A new prosthetic hand with a fixed thumb and four fingers actuated by Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) type artificial muscle has been developed in this paper. Different from typical geared motor, SMA actuator is lightweight and silent, however shows a little short stroke and small attracting force per each unit. In order to achieve enough output force and motion range of each finger, multiple SMA type...

Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are widely used in aerospace, automobile, and other fields because of their excellent properties, such as large driving force deformation. A training method with a bidirectional effect is proposed for SMA actuators. The trained units can be heated cooled to change shape (shorten extend). an actuator drive the deformation structure. Due obvious hysteresis characteristi...

This paper presents the development of an Intelligent Mini Robot Fingers by using the Shape Memory Alloy (SMA). Taking into consideration the advantages of the SMA, a prototype of mini robot fingers is developed which will be actuated by the SMA. The mini robot fingers has 4 fingers with 3 degrees of freedom (DOF) in each finger. Hence, 12 DOFs of robot fingers are developed to allow a greater ...

This paper analyses scale effects for actuator types which are strong candidates for micro-actuation: shape memory alloys (SMAS), electrostatic, electromagnetic and piezoelectric actuators. SMA actuators are studied in detail and compared to the other actuator types on a basis of force, response time, and power densi~. Much of the analysis is based on thermal aspects and scaling effects on both...

This paper investigates the seismic response control of a nonlinear benchmark building with a new re-centering variable friction device (RVFD). The RVFD consists of three parts: (i) a friction generation unit, (ii) a piezoelectric actuator, and (iii) shape memory alloy wires. The friction unit and piezoelectric actuator compose the first subcomponent of the hybrid device that is a variable fric...

Most of the current ’applications’ of microelectromechanical systems can be found in the sensor field. The development of micro-actuators is severely hindered by the low power-to-volume ratio of most actuator technologies. Most of the presented micromotors also require reduction gearing and suffer from wear or fatigue problems. Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) actuators offer the advantage of extremely...

Prestrainend shape memory alloys (SMA) change their length when heated above their transformation temperature. Based on this property various micro-technical actuators have been developed in the past. This paper presents the design of novel macroscopic SMA actuators scalable in force and length. Our design approach allows arranging the point of actuation in any direction and ensures a short coo...