Abstract
Liquid nitrogen temperature is an important environment in biological and medical scientific areas. An actuator which has a high safety in a low-temperature environment is required. In this study, we fabricated and evaluated a soft film actuator for a liquid nitrogen temperature environment. The actuator was made by using polyimide films. The fabricated actuator generates a bending motion by applying positive pressure. A bending angle and generated torque of the actuator were formulated. Additionally, these characteristics were evaluated at room temperature and liquid nitrogen temperature. A bending deformation of the actuator was generated when a deferential pressure was about 3 kPa. Compared with a driving performance at room temperature, the performance at liquid nitrogen temperature was decreased. We have succeeded in driving the actuator at 78K.
