The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel peristaltic motion actuator for an artificial esophagus using shape memory alloys (SMAs). SMAs are known as functional materials having large deformation characteristics and recovery forces which have the advantage of having large specific output energy to weight. Utilizing this characteristic features, the designed artificial esophagus was small enough to be implanted. The artificial esophagus proposed in this study is composed of two SMA micro coils, a silicon tube which simulates an esophagus, and a set of polyvinyl chloride resin and acrylic plastic for sandwiching the silicon tube. Its closing pressure is experimentally measured, and carrying capacity is verified using pseudo masticated food with controlled switching circuit. Based on their results, its feasibility is discussed.
