Modeling and sensitivity study of the dual-chamber SMART (SMA ReseTtable) lift device

Morphing structures for applications such as impact mitigation is a challenging problem due to the speed and repeatability requirements that limit the viable actuation approaches. This paper examines a promising stored-energy, active-release approach that can be deployed quickly (~40 ms), is reusable/resetable and can be tuned in the field for changing conditions such as additional mass, temperature compensation or platform changes. The Dual-Chamber SMART (SMA ReseTtable) Lift is a pneumatic air spring controlled via an ultra-fast SMA actuated valve. This paper presents the modeling, sensitivity analysis and experimental validation of this new technology. A control-volume based analytical model was derived that employs compressible, sonic flow and thermodynamic relations to provide a set of differential equations that relate the design parameters (cylinder and valve geometry), application parameters (deployed mass), and operational parameters (pressure, temperature and SMA valve actuation profile), to the deployment performance (deploy time, profile, position, etc.). The model was exercised to explore the sensitivity of the performance with regards to these parameters and explore the off-line and on-line adjustability of the device's performance to compensate for cross platform applications and uncontrolled environmental effects such as temperature and added mass. As proof-of-concept, a full-scale prototype was designed via the model, built and experimentally characterized across several of the parameters for the real case-study of automotive pedestrian protection. The prototype performance agreed closely with model predictions and met the rigorous specifications of the case study with in-situ tailoring which is applicable to a wide range of morphing applications beyond this case study.