A Study on the Design and Performance of Ultra-light Modular Actuator Using Textile Shape Memory Alloys

Actuator technology using shape memory alloys is used in various fields. It has been used in the medical field, to move small cameras or small parts of medical devices. Furthermore, it has been used to implement the movement functions of various robots in the engineering field. Unlike general mechanical actuators, fabric-type shape memory alloy actuators are flexible and light, and they can utilize the unique characteristics of shape memory alloys. In this study, an ultra-light module actuator using fabric-type shape memory alloy was developed and performance tests were conducted. A comparison experiment was conducted on the cooling performance of the driver depending on whether the cooling fan was running or not, and a force measurement experiment on the modular driver was conducted. Based on the experiments, the superior of cooling performance and driving power was confirmed. Additionally, the SMA actuator developed in this study is expected to be applicable in various fields.