Compliant Rotary Actuator Driven by Shape Memory Alloy

This paper presents a compliant rotary actuator composed of a monolithic plastic structure and a shape-memory-alloy (SMA) wire. The plastic structure features a helical shape. The SMA wire can be permanently deformed at ambient temperature. It is first pre-strained in tension, then wrapped on the helical structure and fixed at its two ends. The SMA wire is finally heated by Joule effect, leading to a continuous rotation between the two ends of the plastic structure. The rotation angle is driven by varying the intensity of the electric current. A preliminary prototype has been built and first results are presented.

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