Host: The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers
Name : [in Japanese]
Date : June 01, 2022 - June 04, 2022
This paper presents a design of high force generation efficiency for inflatable bending microactuator with an actuation conversion mechanism. In the inflatable bending microactuator, a balloon expands and bends when pressure is applied. The inflatable bending microactuator has a force conversion mechanism that converts the balloon expansion force into the bending force. The Force transmission rate between the balloon and the force conversion mechanism depends on a contact area between the two components. We increased the contact area by designing a smaller non-bonded space to obtain high-output of the microactuator. As a result, the generated force by improved inflatable bending microactuator achieved 1.15 N at 80kPa of applied pressure, which was 1.7 times higher than the conventional generated force.
