Study on mechanical behaviors of pneumatic artificial muscle

Nowadays, Pneumatic Artificial Muscle (PAM) has become one of the most widely-used fluid-power actuators which yields remarkable muscle-like properties such as high force to weight ratio, soft and flexible structure, minimal compressed-air consumption and low cost. To obtain optimum design and usage, it is necessary to understand mechanical behaviors of the PAM. In this study, the proposed models are experimentally derived to describe mechanical behaviors of the PAMs. The experimental results show a non-linear relationship between contraction as well as air pressure within the PAMs and a pulling force of the PAMs. Three different sizes of PAMs available in industry are studied for empirical modeling and simulation. The case studies are presented to verify close agreement on the simulated results to the experimental results when the PAMs perform under various loads.