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“Monolithic Shape Memory Alloy Actuators”: A New Concept for Developing Smart Micro-Devices

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

Y. Bellouard ,
T. Lehnert ,
T. Sidler ,
R. Gotrhardt  and
R. Clavel
Y. Bellouard
Affiliation:
Institut de Systèmes Robotiques (ISR-DMT)
T. Lehnert
Affiliation:
Institut de Génie Atomique (IGA-DP)
T. Sidler
Affiliation:
Institut d'Optique Appliquée (IOA-DMT)Ecole Polytechnique Fiédérale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne EPFL, Switzerland
R. Gotrhardt
Affiliation:
Institut de Génie Atomique (IGA-DP)
R. Clavel
Affiliation:
Institut de Systèmes Robotiques (ISR-DMT)
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Abstract

In micro-robotics and for micro-systems, one cannot simply scale down conventional actuators. Specific difficulties like friction forces between parts and the assembly have to be considered carefully and need a special design strategy adapted to this “micro-world”. Shape Memory Alloys (SMA) have strong potential in micro actuators. So far, most of SMA devices used the SMA material as a part of a mechanical system, which raised several problems when scaling down. In this paper, a concept of monolithic SMA micro-devices, which consists in considering the SMA as a mechanical system by itself, is presented. Several applications are shown to illustrate this concept.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 604: Symposium LL – Materials for Smart Systems III , 1999 , 177
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2000

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References

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