Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Yang Cao, Jingyan Dong
Summary: In this paper, a soft electrothermal actuator capable of twisting deformation was designed and fabricated. The actuator utilized a metallic microfilament heater printed using electrohydrodynamic printing and features a skewed heater pattern that produces a twisted parallelogram-shaped temperature field. The actuator was characterized and analyzed using a theoretical model and finite element analysis. A soft gripper was also designed and fabricated for pick-and-place operations using multiple twisting actuators.
JOURNAL OF MICROMECHANICS AND MICROENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Multidisciplinary
Wenwen Li, Min Sang, Shuai Liu, Bochao Wang, Xufeng Cao, Guanghui Liu, Xinglong Gong, Lingyun Hao, Shouhu Xuan
Summary: In this study, a sandwich structural soft actuator with electrothermal/magnetic coupling actuation is successfully fabricated. The actuator exhibits excellent performance with large deformation and high stability, showing potential importance in biomimetic applications.
COMPOSITES PART B-ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Yun Cao, Haotian Liu, Hao Chen, Hengbo Zhu, Weirong Nie, Zhanwen Xi
Summary: The study comprehensively investigated the dynamic thermal performance of MEMS electrothermal actuators using an infrared thermal microscope system, analyzing temperature distribution, heating and cooling performance, and frequency response under different waveform voltages. The established electro-thermo-structural coupling model showed fairly good agreement with the measured results through qualitative and quantitative comparisons.
IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Salvatore Race, Aron Philipp, Michel Nagel, Thomas Ziemann, Ivana Kovacevic-Badstuebner, Ulrike Grossner
Summary: This article proposes a new step-back-correction technique to reduce computational cost for electrothermal simulations of multichip power modules, while considering the importance of thermal conductivity. The proposed method was validated through COMSOL simulations and infrared camera measurements.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Rituparna Ghosh, Abha Misra
Summary: The hierarchical structure of multiwalled carbon nanotubes, cellulose paper, and the polydimethylsiloxane polymer is achieved, allowing for a low-power-driven actuator that can operate under various humidity conditions. The actuator demonstrates ultrahigh actuation at a much lower power density, with the capability to lift objects significantly heavier than its own weight.
ACS APPLIED ELECTRONIC MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Parham Dadash Pour, Mehdi Ghommem, Abdessattar Abdelkefi
Summary: This study demonstrates the impact of incorporating perforations on the operation of microgrippers, improving their performance in terms of displacement and temperature. A novel design of microgripper using perforated electrothermal actuators was introduced, achieving better operation and lower stress. Computational modeling and experimental verification were conducted to analyze the effects of different perforation shapes and distributions.
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Wonkyeong Son, Jae Myeong Lee, Shi Hyeong Kim, Hyeon Woo Kim, Sung Beom Cho, Dongseok Suh, Sungwoo Chun, Changsoon Choi
Summary: A rapidly recoverable high-power hydro-actuator has been achieved by designing biomimetic carbon nanotube yarns, which demonstrate structural stability and high contractile work, recovery speed, actuation frequency, and power density.
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Pawel Gorecki, Daniel Wojciechowski
Summary: This article presents a novel and improved method for computing the IGBT junction temperature in PLECS simulation software. The method aims to improve accuracy by using a more sophisticated model of transistor losses and accounting for the variability of transistor thermal resistance with temperature. The proposed method is experimentally verified for a dc-dc boost converter, and any discrepancies between simulations and measurements are discussed. It is well-suited for accurate electrothermal circuit-level simulations of power electronics converters.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS
(2023)
Review
Materials Science, Paper & Wood
Sanghun Shin, Sangyeun Park, Anju Toor, Hongyun So
Summary: Cellulose-based electrothermal heaters combine a cellulose substrate with a heat generator to transform electrical energy into heat and offer various benefits. Considering the increasing demand for sustainable materials and clean energy, cellulose-based electrothermal heaters are promising solutions.
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Yue Tang, Jianhua Li, Jeong-Bong Lee, Huikai Xie, Lixin Xu
Summary: In this study, a new LSF bimorph actuator design with non-uniform width segments is proposed to achieve a uniform temperature distribution among multiple bimorph segments.
SENSORS AND ACTUATORS A-PHYSICAL
(2022)
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Qi Wang, Ying-Qiong Yong, Zhi-Ming Bai
Summary: Soft robots have attracted a lot of attention in research due to their high degree of freedom, adaptability to the environment, and safe interaction with humans. Carbon nanotube/polydimethylsiloxane electrothermal composites have been widely studied for flexible actuations because of their large deformation at low voltages. By optimizing the preparation process, electrothermal actuators (ETAs) were fabricated and their deformation performance at different voltages was studied. Two types of electrothermal soft robots (ETSRs) with different structures were fabricated and their inchworm-like motion characteristics were investigated.
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Kexin Wang, Tengjiang Hu, Yulong Zhao, Wei Ren, Jiakai Liu
Summary: This article presents the design and characterization of a double-layer electrothermal MEMS S&A device with a bistable mechanism. The device can stably hold the barrier in the safety or the arming position without energy input.
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Guoning Si, Liangying Sun, Zhuo Zhang, Xuping Zhang
Summary: This paper presents the design, fabrication, and testing of a novel three-dimensional three-fingered electrothermal microgripper with multiple degrees of freedom. Experimental results show that the microgripper can not only pick and place microobjects, but also rotate them in three-dimensional space.
Article
Engineering, Manufacturing
Yang Cao, Jingyan Dong
Summary: Soft electrothermal actuators with twisting deformation have been designed and fabricated using electrohydrodynamic (EHD) printing. The skewed heater pattern allows for the generation of a parallelogram-shaped temperature field and changes the stiffness anisotropy, resulting in coupled bending and twisting deformation. The twisting actuators have been utilized to create a soft gripper for delicate object manipulation.
MANUFACTURING LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Guoning Si, Liangying Sun, Zhuo Zhang, Xuping Zhang
Summary: This paper presents the theoretical thermal-mechanical modeling and parameter analyses of a novel three-dimensional electrothermal microgripper with three fingers. The research focuses on establishing a static theoretical thermal-mechanical model for the 3D U-shaped electrothermal actuator, followed by finite-element analyses and experimental tests for validation. The results demonstrate the high flexibility and versatility of the microgripper for manipulation of various small/micro-objects.