JP6164305B2 - Multiple actuator - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a multiple actuator including a plurality of actuators, and more particularly to a multiple actuator that is suitably used for a manipulator or the like and can perform a three-dimensional operation.

  In recent years, movable devices such as manipulators are required to move more precisely. However, it is difficult for conventional manipulators to realize three-dimensional movement, and even if it can be realized, for example, when a spherical motor is used, these are structurally complicated. End up. In addition, when an actuator is used, the tip portion is moved to an arbitrary position in the three-dimensional space by combining rotational motion, turning motion, and expansion / contraction motion. However, there is a problem that the actuator itself becomes heavy and difficult to use. Therefore, a bending motion apparatus using a shape memory alloy wire has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 6-11475

  However, in the technique of Patent Document 1, it is necessary to heat in order to deform the wire, and it takes time to heat. The wire only has a property of contracting when heated. Therefore, in consideration of the movement of the entire apparatus, when a certain wire is heated and contracted, it is necessary to deform the wire disposed on the opposite side of the apparatus to be stretched, and thus a large driving force is required. . Furthermore, at this time, when the wire arranged on the opposite side is heated immediately before that, the wire is cooled and sufficiently cooled down (until the wire returns from the contraction). Requires a greater force to obstruct the movement of another wire to be deformed.

  The present invention solves the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a multiple actuator that can be bent in an arbitrary direction while improving responsiveness.

In order to achieve the above object, a multiple actuator according to the present invention includes a plurality of actuators each having a base material on which an electrostrictive material is disposed, and a connecting portion that connects the plurality of actuators along a reference axis. with the door, the electrostrictive material is arranged to deform in a longitudinal direction of the reference axis, said connecting portion, said plurality of actuators to bend rotatably about the direction of the reference axis, wherein The plurality of actuators are characterized in that the directions of adjacent surfaces are different .

  In the multiple actuator of the present invention, it is preferable that the base material and the connection portion are integrally formed.

  The electrostrictive material preferably includes a laminate in which polymer electrostrictive materials formed in a film shape are laminated.

  In the multiple actuator of the present invention, it is preferable that the plurality of actuators include an actuator having a unimorph structure.

  Further, it is preferable that at least one of the plurality of actuators includes an actuator having a bimorph structure.

  In the multiple actuator of the present invention, it is preferable that the deformation direction of each of the plurality of actuators forms an angle of 90 degrees with the deformation direction of the adjacent actuator.

  In the multiple actuator of the present invention, it is preferable that the plurality of actuators include actuators having different lengths in the reference axis direction. Here, among the actuators having different lengths, it is more preferable that an actuator having a short length is disposed and used on the operation fixed end side.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, while improving responsiveness, the multiple actuator which can be bent in arbitrary directions can be provided.

  The above object, other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a multiple actuator 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1A shows a multiple actuator in an undeformed state, and FIG. 1B shows a multiple actuator in a deformed state. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating bending of the flexible substrate in the multiple actuator 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2A shows a flexible substrate before bending, and FIG. 2B shows a flexible substrate after bending. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the actuator having a bimorph structure. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an electrode pattern formed on a flexible substrate in the multiple actuator according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a view for explaining bending of the flexible substrate in Modification 20 of the multiple actuator according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5A shows a flexible substrate before bending, and FIG. 5B shows a flexible substrate after bending. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating bending of the flexible substrate in the multiple actuator 30 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6A shows a flexible substrate before bending, and FIG. 6B shows a flexible substrate after bending. FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the effect of different actuator lengths in the multiple actuator according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited or limited to the following examples.
(First embodiment)

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a multiple actuator 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1A shows a multiple actuator in an undeformed state, and FIG. 1B shows a multiple actuator in a deformed state. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating bending of the flexible substrate (base material) 2 in the multiple actuator 10 according to the present embodiment. 2A shows the flexible substrate 2 before bending, and FIG. 2B shows the flexible substrate 2 after bending.

  In FIG. 1, the multiple actuator 10 includes a plurality of actuators 3 (3 </ b> A, 3 </ b> B) and a connection portion 4. In the illustrated embodiment, a multiple actuator composed of two actuators is shown as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. The plurality of actuators 3 </ b> A, 3 </ b> B are connected along the reference axis L direction by the connection portion 4. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the connection portion 4 is formed integrally with the base material 2. The base material 2 is provided with a notch for bending. Then, by bending the base material 2 at the position of the broken line shown in FIG. 2A and bending the connecting portion 4, the two actuators 3A and 3B are moved along the reference axis L as shown in FIG. It is possible to turn in the surrounding direction to face a predetermined direction. By bending at three broken lines as shown in FIG. 2, the direction in which the adjacent portions face each other can be made 90 degrees different.

  Each of the actuators 3A and 3B has a substrate 2 on which an electrostrictive material 1 that is deformed by an electric field is disposed. The electrostrictive material 1 is deformed in the length direction of the reference axis L (the double arrow direction in the figure) by applying a voltage between the electrodes on the electrode pattern 5 (see FIG. 4) formed on the substrate 2. It is arranged in such a direction as to contract (extend). When the electrostrictive material 1 is deformed, the actuators 3A and 3B are bent, for example, as shown in FIG. In addition, the actuator 3A of FIG.1 (b) is deform | transforming when the electrostrictive material 1 of the surface which does not appear in drawing expands.

  If the actuator 3 is a unimorph structure, it can be bent in one surface direction of the substrate 2, and if it is a bimorph structure, it can be bent in both surface directions of the substrate 2. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the actuator 3 having a bimorph structure. In this actuator, the electrostrictive material 1 </ b> A is disposed on one surface of the substrate 2, and the electrostrictive material 1 </ b> B is disposed on the other surface, and one end of the actuator 3 is fixed at the operation fixed end 7. In FIG. 3, electrostrictive materials 1 </ b> A and 1 </ b> B are each a material that expands when a voltage is applied. In this case, when a voltage is applied to the electrostrictive material 1A, the actuator 3 bends in the direction as shown in the left diagram of FIG. On the other hand, when a voltage is applied to the electrostrictive material 1B, the actuator 3 bends in the direction shown in the right diagram of FIG.

  In the present invention, each actuator can be driven independently, and the plurality of actuators 3A, 3B can be directed in different directions by the connecting portion, so that the tip portion can be bent in an arbitrary direction. It becomes possible. In the case of the actuator having the unimorph structure, each actuator of the multiple actuators can be bent only in one direction, but can be bent in any direction by combining movements. In the case of a multiple actuator including the bimorph actuator, the bimorph actuator can be bent in two directions, so that a large deformation can be realized.

  In addition, since an electrostrictive material is used, responsiveness can be greatly improved as compared with a material such as a shape memory wire that is deformed by heat. In addition, when simultaneously driving actuators facing different directions, it can be bent in the direction of an arbitrary angle of 0 to 90 degrees by changing the applied voltage.

  The deformation directions of the actuators 3A and 3B are preferably arranged so as to form an angle of 90 degrees with each other. In this way, despite the simple structure, when only one of the actuators is driven, the tip of the actuator can be moved in a direction different by 90 degrees.

  As the electrostrictive material 1, a polymer electrostrictive material can be used. The polymer electrostrictive material is not particularly limited as long as it is a polymer material having a permanent dipole. Examples of the polymer electrostrictive material include PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride), a PVDF copolymer, for example, a copolymer such as P (VDF-TrFE) and P (VDF-VF), and P (VDF-TrFE). -CFE), P (VDF-TrFE-CTFE), P (VDF-TrFE-CDFE), P (VDF-TrFE-HFA), P (VDF-TrFE-HFP) and P (VDF-TrFE-VC), etc. A terpolymer may be mentioned. Where P is poly, VDF is vinylidene fluoride, TrFE is trifluoroethylene, CFE is chlorofluoroethylene, CTFE is chlorotrifluoroethylene, CDFE is chlorodifluoroethylene, and HFA is hexafluoroacetone. , HFP means hexafluoropropylene, and VC means vinyl chloride. Among these, P (VDF-TrFE-CFE) is particularly preferable in that a large distortion can be obtained by applying a voltage.

  Although the thickness of the electrostrictive material 1 may be set as appropriate, it can be set to, for example, about several μm to 100 μm. Among the plurality of actuators 3, the electrostrictive material 1 may have a different polymer electrostrictive material and thickness, but is preferably the same. The electrostrictive material 1 is also preferably a laminate in which polymer electrostrictive materials formed in a film shape are laminated. By laminating, the force that can be generated in the unimorph structure can be sufficiently increased.

  In the multiple actuator 10, the electrode pattern 5 is formed on the substrate 2, and the edge connector portion 6 is formed at the end of the substrate 2. The electrostrictive material 1 is deformed by applying a voltage from the edge connector portion 6. The electrode pattern 5 and the edge connector portion 6 may be formed of any appropriate conductive material as long as they can function as electrodes. Examples of such conductive materials include metals such as Ni (nickel), Pt (platinum), Pt—Pd (platinum-palladium alloy), Al (aluminum), Au (gold), Au—Pd (gold palladium alloy). Examples thereof include organic conductive materials such as PEDOT (polyethylenedioxythiophene), PPy (polypyrrole), and PANI (polyaniline). Among these, the organic conductive material is preferable because cracks are hardly introduced. In addition, the organic conductive material can be used to form an electrode by a method such as ink preparation and brush coating, spray coating using a mask, or screen printing when the viscosity of the ink is high. Although the thickness of the electrode pattern 5 and the edge connector part 6 may be suitably set according to the electroconductive material etc. to be used, it can be about 20 nm-10 micrometers, for example. Among the plurality of actuators 3, the electrode pattern 5 and the edge connector portion 6 may be different in conductive material and thickness, but are preferably the same.

  Moreover, as long as the base material 2 can be curved following the deformation of the electrostrictive material, the base material 2 may be formed of any appropriate flexible material. Examples of such flexible materials include PET (polyethylene terephthalate), cellophane, vinyl chloride, polyimide, polyester, and the like. Moreover, you may form the base material 2 from the electrostrictive material as mentioned above. Although the thickness of the base material 2 may be set as appropriate, it can be set to, for example, about several μm to 100 μm.

  It is also preferable that the connecting portion 4 is fixed and fixed with a resin or the like after the connecting portion 4 is bent and the directions of the plurality of actuators are set to desired directions. As the resin, an adhesive such as an epoxy resin can be used. Alternatively, it may be fixed with an adhesive tape or the like.

FIG. 5 shows a modification of the multiple actuator according to the present embodiment. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining bending of the flexible substrate 2 in the multiple actuator 20 of the modification. This modified example is a multiple actuator composed of three actuators. FIG. 5A shows the flexible substrate 2 before bending, and FIG. 5B shows the flexible substrate 2 after bending. Thus, the number of actuators constituting the multiple actuator is not limited, and by providing the connection portion 4 by designing the shape of the notch and the position where the bending line is formed in the base material (flexible substrate) 2, An arbitrary number of actuators can be connected to realize an arbitrary driving operation.
(Second Embodiment)

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating bending of the flexible substrate 2 in the multiple actuator 30 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. 6A shows the flexible substrate 2 before bending, and FIG. 6B shows the flexible substrate 2 after bending. The present embodiment is the same as the first embodiment except that the multiple actuator 30 includes two actuators 3C and 3D having different lengths in the reference axis L direction.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the effect of different actuator lengths in the multiple actuator according to the second embodiment. In the same figure, among the actuators having different lengths, an actuator having a short length is arranged on the operation fixed end 7 side, and the direction of the two actuators forms an angle of 90 degrees. Yes.

  Assume that actuators that can be bent at the same angle are arranged at positions A and B. FIG. 7A shows the case where the two actuators have the same length, and FIG. 7B shows the case where the two actuators have different lengths. In the case of FIG. 7A, when the actuator at the position A is bent at a certain angle, the tip portion is at the height of the position P ′. If the actuator at the position A is not bent and the actuator at the position B is bent by the same angle as described above, the tip portion reaches only the height of the position P. Even if the bending is performed at the same angle, the position reached by the bending of the actuator at position B is P, and the reaching position P ′ by the actuator at position A is not reached. That is, even if a voltage is applied so that each actuator bends to the same extent, the magnitude of displacement due to the bending of the actuator near the operation fixed end 7 becomes larger. For this reason, there is a difference in the movement direction between the operation direction of the actuator on the operation fixed end 7 side and the operation direction of the actuator located away from the operation fixed end 7, and the operation tends to be unnatural.

  On the other hand, in the case of FIG. 7B, when the actuator 3D at the position A is bent at a certain angle, the tip end portion is still at the height of the position P ′ as in the case of FIG. However, since the actuator 3C at the position B is longer than the actuator 3D at the position A, if the actuator 3D at the position A is not bent and the actuator 3C at the position B is bent by the same angle as described above, the reaching position P of the tip is Compared with the case of 7 (a), it can be brought closer to the position P ′.

  As described above, among the actuators 3C and 3D having different lengths, when the actuator 3D having a short length is arranged and used on the operation fixed end 7 side, when the same signal (voltage) is applied to each actuator, In the continuous actuator 30, the deformation of the actuator 3 </ b> D on the operation fixed end 7 side and the deformation of the actuator 3 </ b> C in other portions can be handled as being substantially equal. Therefore, when trying to deform the tip part two-dimensionally, it is possible to realize an operation of drawing a smooth trajectory.

  As the electrostrictive material, a laminate of 20 layers of P (VDF-TrFE-CFE) made into a film having a thickness of 10 μm by thermocompression bonding was used. The size is 20 mm wide and 20 mm long. In the film, electrodes were formed on the front and back of each film at the stage before lamination. The electrode was formed by brushing the organic electrode PEDOT ink and then drying at 85 ° C. for 10 minutes.

  Various electrode patterns are conceivable, but if the same electrode pattern is formed on the front and back of the laminated film, the positive and negative electrodes to which voltage is applied are short-circuited. For this reason, usually, the surfaces to be bonded are made to have the same polarity.

  There is also a method of forming positive and negative electrode patterns only on one side of the film, alternately laminating them, and then thermocompression bonding each film. In this case, simply laminating results in the formation of electrode patterns on the front and back of the film, resulting in substantially the same structure as described above.

  In the present embodiment, it is assumed that a film having an electrode pattern formed on both sides is laminated, but a film having an electrode pattern formed on one side may be laminated.

  This laminate was mounted and fixed on a flexible substrate. The flexible substrate was made of polyimide having a thickness of 120 μm, and a solder plating pattern formed on the front and back surfaces as shown in FIG. 4 was used. Although only one side is shown in FIG. 4, an actuator made of an electrostrictive material is mounted on the front and back surfaces of the substrate, and pads for electrical connection are formed, and four actuators (laminated body) are mounted on the front and back sides. did. An edge connector portion is formed at the end of the substrate, from which voltage is applied to the laminated body to deform it.

  This flexible substrate was bent as shown in FIG. 2 (b) so that the directions of the surfaces of the adjacent portions were different by 90 degrees. An electrostrictive material is mounted on both the front and back surfaces of the flexible substrate, whereby a unimorph actuator is formed on each of the front and back surfaces. When an electric field of 80 MV / m was applied to this unimorph, bending of about 20 degrees occurred. In addition, when only one of them was driven, the actuator could be bent in different directions by 90 degrees. Furthermore, when simultaneously driving actuators facing different directions, it was possible to bend in the direction of an arbitrary angle of 0 to 90 degrees by changing the applied voltage applied to each actuator.

10, 20, 30 Multiple actuators 1, 1A, 1B Electrostrictive material 2 Base material (flexible substrate)
3, 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D Actuator 4 Connection part 5 Electrode pattern 6 Edge connector part 7 Operation fixed end

L Reference axis (double arrow: direction of deformation (shrinkage or extension))

Claims (8)

A plurality of actuators each having a substrate with electrostrictive material disposed on the surface;
A connecting portion for connecting the plurality of actuators along a reference axis,
The electrostrictive material is arranged to be deformed in the length direction of the reference axis,
The connecting portion is a multiple actuator in which the plurality of actuators are bent so as to be rotatable around the reference axis, and the plurality of actuators are different in the direction in which adjacent surfaces face .   The multiple actuator according to claim 1, wherein the base material and the connection portion are integrally formed.   The multiple actuator according to claim 1, wherein the electrostrictive material includes a laminate in which polymer electrostrictive materials formed in a film shape are laminated.   The multiple actuator according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the plurality of actuators include an actuator having a unimorph structure.   5. The multiple actuator according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of actuators includes an actuator having a bimorph structure.   6. The multiple actuator according to claim 1, wherein a deformation direction of each of the plurality of actuators forms an angle of 90 degrees with a deformation direction of an adjacent actuator.   The multiple actuators according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the plurality of actuators include actuators having different lengths in the reference axis direction.   The multiple actuator according to claim 7, wherein among the actuators having different lengths, an actuator having a short length is arranged and used on an operation fixed end side.

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