Faster, Stronger, more powerful, and more efficient large-stroke electrochemical, THERMAL, and fuel-powered YARN AND FIBER muscles based on fundamental understanding
Abstract
The availability of strong, powerful, large-stroke, long-life, energy-efficient yarn and fiber artificial muscles would be game changing for DoD needs, ranging from robots to morphing air vehicles and comfort adjusting textiles. Because of their potential advantages in cycle rate, power generation, and energy conversion efficiency, as well as the existence of a self-latching state, the proposed project focuses, with one exception, on electrochemical muscles. The project thrusts are on (1) fuel powered electrochemical muscles, (2) electrochemically driven shape-memory-alloy muscles, (3) methods for improving the energy conversion efficiencies of all types of yarn and fiber muscles, and (4) a generically applicable new way for making coiled fuel powered and electrically powered muscles (both electrochemical and electrothermal). The proposed work, which is a combined theoretical and experimental effort, will provide novel methods and understanding that are generically applicable for increasing the stroke, work-per-cycle, actuation rate, power generation, and energy efficiency of both electrochemical muscles and electrothermal muscles. This work will use in part our previously reported sheath muscle topologies from our present AFOSR project (Science, 2019), as well other remarkable initial advances from this project that cannot be disclosed in this publicly releasable abstract.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 07, 2023
- Source ID
- FA95502110455
Entities
People
- Ray H. Baughman
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- United States Air Force
- University of Texas at Dallas