access icon free Wire rod linear actuator seals inspired by earthworm: tube seal

This Letter presents a flexible wire-driven linear actuator using a bio-inspired sealing method that allows to replace a rigid rod by a flexible one and reduce the size of a robot link containing pneumatic or hydraulic linear actuators. Conventional pneumatic or hydraulic linear actuator sealing hinders the use of flexible wires as actuator rods. In contrast, the proposed tube sealing resembles a long balloon wrapping around the wire and stretching or contracting with the wire rod motion. Therefore, the wire is separated from the chamber and prevents fluid leakage through the flexible wire rod. This sealing method is inspired by earthworm which has slippery skin and stretching or contracting motion. The authors fabricated a prototype wire rod pneumatic linear actuator using the proposed tube seal and conducted leakage tests. In addition, the authors evaluated linearity between the input pressure and output force to determine the linear actuator performance.

Inspec keywords: seals (stoppers); pneumatic actuators; electric actuators; hydraulic actuators; rods (structures)

Other keywords: tube seal; bio-inspired sealing method; conventional pneumatic linear actuator; wire rod linear actuator seals; actuator rods; leakage tests; earthworm; flexible wire-driven linear actuator; flexible wire rod; contracting motion; hydraulic linear actuators; slippery skin; wire rod motion; rigid rod; robot link; linear actuator performance; prototype wire rod pneumatic linear actuator; balloon wrapping

Subjects: Control gear and apparatus

References

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      • 4. Neubauer, B.C., Nath, J., Durfee, W.K.: ‘Design of a portable hydraulic ankle-foot orthosis’. 2014 36th Annual Int. Conf. of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, Chicago, IL, USA, August 2014, pp. 11821185.
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http://iet.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1049/el.2020.0497
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