Heat-Activated Artificial Muscle for Heavy Duty
Disciplines
Mechanical Engineering
Abstract (300 words maximum)
When comparing human muscle tissue with traditional robotic artificial muscles, there are apparent disadvantages observed within the artificial muscles, such as lack of flexibility, heaviness, and noise produced. To alleviate these issues, new elastic artificial muscles are being produced and researched. These artificial muscles are made from fishing line and conductive thread coiled together, and are activated by heat stimulation. One of the limitations of these coiled muscles however is the time taken for the muscles to cool down and expand after the heat stimulation has been removed. What is being addressed in this research project is how can the cooling time for the artificial muscles be reduced. The proposed method of reducing cooling time in this project was a graphite based coating over the coiled artificial muscle in order to, in theory increase thermal conductivity. In order to test for cooling time in the artificial muscles, I (in person) stretched the artificial muscle across a digital measuring device, marking and measuring the muscles length before and after being heated by a current (5 volts and 0.8 amperes). Then cooling time was measured (in 5 trials), indicated by how long the muscle took to expand back to the measured original length. Cooling time was compared between an artificial muscle with and without a graphite based coating. While results are currently not substantial, the data so far has indicated that with a graphite solution, the artificial muscles exhibit a faster cooling time. With a graphite coating, cooling time on average was 19.21 seconds, while with no coating, the average cooling time was measured to be 23.07 seconds. By the time of the spring symposium, a broader data pool will exist from testing, and equations will be present in results proving thermal conductivity changes.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
SPCEET - Mechanical Engineering
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Jungkyu Park
Heat-Activated Artificial Muscle for Heavy Duty
When comparing human muscle tissue with traditional robotic artificial muscles, there are apparent disadvantages observed within the artificial muscles, such as lack of flexibility, heaviness, and noise produced. To alleviate these issues, new elastic artificial muscles are being produced and researched. These artificial muscles are made from fishing line and conductive thread coiled together, and are activated by heat stimulation. One of the limitations of these coiled muscles however is the time taken for the muscles to cool down and expand after the heat stimulation has been removed. What is being addressed in this research project is how can the cooling time for the artificial muscles be reduced. The proposed method of reducing cooling time in this project was a graphite based coating over the coiled artificial muscle in order to, in theory increase thermal conductivity. In order to test for cooling time in the artificial muscles, I (in person) stretched the artificial muscle across a digital measuring device, marking and measuring the muscles length before and after being heated by a current (5 volts and 0.8 amperes). Then cooling time was measured (in 5 trials), indicated by how long the muscle took to expand back to the measured original length. Cooling time was compared between an artificial muscle with and without a graphite based coating. While results are currently not substantial, the data so far has indicated that with a graphite solution, the artificial muscles exhibit a faster cooling time. With a graphite coating, cooling time on average was 19.21 seconds, while with no coating, the average cooling time was measured to be 23.07 seconds. By the time of the spring symposium, a broader data pool will exist from testing, and equations will be present in results proving thermal conductivity changes.