Design and numerical analysis of a compliant pneumatic motor

ABSTRCATOver the past few years, compliant mechanisms made of flexible parts have presented attractive alternatives to standard mechanical tools that are made by assembling a number of rigid links. In spite of their obvious advantages in manufacturing and usage, little work has been done in employing these compliant mechanisms into designing machines that perform complex set of functions. In this paper, as a first step towards this effort, we design a compliant pneumatic linear motor that can be manufactured into a single part without any assembly using additive manufacturing processes. This linear motor handles multiple functions such as actuation, valve opening, and closing. The design aspects of this motor are discussed in detail, and the performance of the linear motor is analysed for various geometric dimensions using Finite Element Analysis.