Micro Actuators with Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) Coil Springs and their Application to Active Fiberscopes (Special Issue on Micromachine Technology)

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概要

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• Recently, torque-transmission one-way tip articulated fiberscopes with a working channel have been developed. With this type of scopes, force is transmitted from the operator's hands to the tip of the fiberscope to obtain an adequate field of view. Micro actuators are expected to increasingly replace the operator's hands. Shape memory alloy (SMA) coil spring actuators are well suited to this purpose because of their large displacement compared with conventional actuators. In the fabrication of SMA coil springs, we examined fabrication conditions such as the tension and pitch of the SMA wire. As a result, we have successfully fabricated coil springs with a minimum outer diameter of 76μm. SMA wire 25μm in diameter and stainless steel wire 30μm in diameter were used. As an application using SMA actuators, an active fiberscope (using an image guide fiber with 4200 pixels and light guide fibers) 2mm in outer diameter with SMA actuators was designed and fabricated. We investigated the mechanical properties of the bending part in designing the SMA actuators. The specifications of the SMA coil springs are determined by the displacement and the force required of the pull wire. The relationship between the displacement of the pull wire and the number of windings of the SMA coil spring was calculated. The effective number of windings of SMA coil spring was found to be seventeen when using wire of 0.3mm in diameter. The tip of the fiberscope was bent approximately 60 degrees and returned to the straight position when a current was applied to each of the SMA coil springs. A clear picture of the fiberscope which followed the tip bending operation could be received on the monitor. This SMA actuator can be easily extended for bending in many directions by configuring several of these mechanisms.

• 社団法人電子情報通信学会の論文
• 1997-02-25

著者

• Ito Hirotaka

  Central Research Laboratory Mitsubishi Cable Industries Ltd.

• Tohyama O

  Mitsubishi Cable Ind. Ltd. Itami‐shi Jpn

• MAEDA Shigeo

  Central Research Laboratory, Mitsubishi Cable Industries, LTD.

• TOHYAMA Osamu

  Central Research Laboratory, Mitsubishi Cable Industries, LTD.

• Maeda S

  Mitsubishi Cable Ind. Ltd. Itami‐shi Jpn

関連論文

• Micro Actuators with Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) Coil Springs and their Application to Active Fiberscopes (Special Issue on Micromachine Technology)
• Fiber-Optic Sensors and Actuators for Environmental Recognition Devices (Special Issue on Optical Fiber Sensors)

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