Open AccessRe-engineering artificial muscle with microhydraulics
Author(s) -
J. Kedzierski,
Eric Holihan,
Rafmag Cabrera,
I. Weaver
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
microsystems and nanoengineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.625
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 2096-1030
pISSN - 2055-7434
DOI - 10.1038/micronano.2017.16
Subject(s) - microscale chemistry , actuator , surface tension , stepper , electrowetting , scalability , power (physics) , artificial muscle , materials science , scaling , computer science , ribbon , nanotechnology , mechanical engineering , electrical engineering , engineering , physics , voltage , artificial intelligence , composite material , mathematics education , mathematics , geometry , quantum mechanics , database
We introduce a new type of actuator, the microhydraulic stepping actuator (MSA), which borrows design and operational concepts from biological muscle and stepper motors. MSAs offer a unique combination of power, efficiency, and scalability not easily achievable on the microscale. The actuator works by integrating surface tension forces produced by electrowetting acting on scaled droplets along the length of a thin ribbon. Like muscle, MSAs have liquid and solid functional components and can displace a large fraction of their length. The 100 μm pitch MSA presented here already has an output power density of over 200 W kg −1 , rivaling the most powerful biological muscles, due to the scaling of surface tension forces, MSA’s power density grows quadratically as its dimensions are reduced.