IPMC型柔顺手爪作动器的设计与性能测试

为克服传统手爪机构传动链多,耗能大,结构复杂等缺点,设计并制作了一种应用电致动智能材料(IPMC)的柔顺手爪。运用Pro/E软件设计IPMC手爪的主体结构,并分析其运动过程,最终装配完成IPMC手爪;运用激光位移传感器,精密电子秤和Canon相机测试了研制的4片IPMC驱动薄膜的末端位移,端部力和平均运动速度,并通过Labview测试系统对其进行采样和分析。实验结果表明:IPMC手爪驱动元件的角位移在3V电压激励下超过了180°(-3V电压下负向位移与+3V电压下正向位移之和);其末端位移大小为其自身(除固定部分外)总长;手爪驱动薄膜每片重量约为0.5mg,可抓握质量为1.6g左右的物体。该手爪结构简单、位移大、耗能低;同时,由于IPMC的柔顺特性,在抓取物体时它会贴附在其表面,而不破坏其表面精度。因此,这种手爪适用于抓取表面粗糙度要求高的物体。

Design and performance tests of IPMC flexible grippers

To overcome disadvantages of traditional grippers in more transmission chains, high energy consumption and complex structures, a flexible gripper using a type of smart material called Ionic Polymer-metal Composite（IPMC）was designed and manufactured.By using the Pro/E software to design the main structure of the IPMC gripper and to analyze its movement procedure, the whole IPMC gripper was assembled successfully.Furthermore, utilizing a type of laser displacement sensor, an electronic precision scale and a Canon digital camera, the tip displacement, tip force and average velocity of the four actuating IPMC membranes fabricated by ourselves for the gripper were tested, and then the data were sampled and analyzed by the Labview test system. Experimental results demonstrate that the turning angle of one IPMC actuating sample is over 180° within 3 V (when the voltage changes from -3 V to +3 V), the maximum tip displacement is approximately equal to its own length (except the fixed end),and this gripper can grasp an object whose weight is about 1.6 g (the mass of each sample with water is about 500 mg). These results show that the flexible gripper has advantages in simple structure, large deformation and low energy consumption, etc.. Moreover, due to the flexibility of IPMC strips, the gripper do not damages the precision of the object’s surface because they can attach to the surface completely. Therefore, it is beneficial to grasping the object with high surface precision.