Modeling of pneumatic muscle with shape memory alloy and braided sleeve

Pneumatic muscle (PM) of flexible actuators used in bionic robot is an active area of recent research. A novel PM with shape memory alloy (SMA) braided sleeve is proposed in this paper, and SMA is used to improve PM working characteristics. Based on the principle of virtual work, output force model of PM and relationship with braided wire inner-stress are established, and analysis of PM deformation has shown that braided wire length is the key factor of output force characteristic. Based on the crystal structure transitions, the relationship of temperature with wire shrinkage is derived. Then, the synthetic dynamics of novel PM is established. A physical prototype of PM with SMA braided sleeve is developed, and test platform that is built for the experiment. Experiment and simulation test of static isometric-length, static isobaric-pressure, and dynamic characteristics are done. The experimental results are compared with the simulation of theoretical model. Moreover, based on experiment, model of output force was improved by adding a correction factor to deal with the elastic force of rubber tube. The results analysis demonstrates that the established models are correct, and SMA wires can reinforce PM and make PM working characteristics adjustable. PM proposed in this paper has greater output force and is beneficial to achieve more accurate control that is useful for manipulating fragile things.