JPS62150087A - Drive device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to facilitate complicated motion of a drive element for a robot or the like by changing the direction of current fed to a thermo- electrical device utilizing a Peltier effect to heat and cool a drive section composed of a shape memory alloy. CONSTITUTION:When switches S2, S3 are closed, and switches S1, S4 are opened, d.c. current I runs from a d.c. source E to ther-moelectric devices M, N, and therefore, a thermal stream Q flows leftward due to a Peltier effect to heat a shape memory alloy A while to cool a shape memory alloy B so that a movable section is shifted to a stationary section (b). When the switches S2, S3 are opened while the switches S1, S4 are closed, a d.c. current in the reverse direction is fed to the thermoelectric elements M, N with the thermal stream flowing rightward to cool the shape memory alloy A which therefore contracts, while to heat the shape memory alloy B which is therefore elongates, thereby the movable section (c) is shifted to a stationary section (a). With the repetition of the above-mentioned operation, the movable part (c) may be reciprocated. Thus, it is possible to easily carry out a low speed motion and a complicated motion.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a drive device for driving a driven body, and more particularly to a drive device constructed by metallizing a shape memory alloy and a hard drive device.

1 Technical long-awaited invention and its problems 1 Conventionally, there have been various types of drive devices for driving driven objects, but among them, electric motors, solenoids, pneumatic cylinders, etc. have been widely used. ing. However, in this type of drive device, mechanisms such as gears are used to perform low-speed drive, or complex mechanisms are used to perform complex movements that are not pure movements such as rotational movement or linear movement. It is extremely difficult to easily perform such operations.

Therefore, in recent years, drive devices constructed using shape memory alloys have been proposed. However, in a drive device using this shape memory alloy, it is possible to easily perform the low-speed operation and complicated operation described above, but the heating side is heated with high-temperature steam and the cooling side is cooled. Because a method of cooling it by soaking it in water is used,
In order to actually use this as a drive device, the device would have to be large and have a hollow gutter, making it extremely difficult to use it in general.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention was made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to provide a small, light and heavy drive device that can easily perform low-speed operations and complex operations. It's about doing.

[Summary of the Invention] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a drive section formed using a shape memory alloy, in which a driven body is connected to a part that becomes a movable section, and a drive section using the Beltier effect. A thermoelectric device that moves the vJ section by heating or cooling the thermoelectric device, a DC power source that supplies current to the thermoelectric device, and a device that changes the direction of the current supplied from the DC power source to the thermoelectric device from normal to reverse. By configuring it with a switching device that alternately switches from the opposite direction to the forward direction, the Bertier effect (by flowing W flow, one side generates heat and the other absorbs heat)
By changing the direction of the current supplied to the thermoelectric device, heating and cooling can be repeated.

It is characterized by:

[Embodiments of the invention] An embodiment of the present invention shown in the drawings will be described below.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show an example of the structure of a drive #J device that combines a shape memory alloy and a thermoelectric device according to the present invention. In FIGS. 1 and 2, A and B are shape memory alloys, with one end a of each.

b is fixed to form a fixed part, and the other ends are connected to each other to form a movable part C to constitute a driving part. Here, the moving part C
A driven body such as a robot (not shown) is connected to the drive body. Further, M and N are thermoelectric devices that move the movable part C in the illustrated coupling direction by heating or cooling the driving part using the well-known Bertier effect. Furthermore, E
81~$4 is a DC power source that supplies DC current to the thermoelectric devices M and N, and 81 to $4 is a DC power source that supplies direct current to the thermoelectric devices M and N.
, N is a switch serving as a switching device that opens and closes the direction of the DC current supplied to the terminals alternately from positive to reverse (from left to right in the figure) or vice versa (from right to left in the figure). be.

Next, the operation of the drive device configured as above will be described.

First, as shown in FIG. 1, when the switches S1 and S4 are open and the switches 82 and 83 are open, the DC power supply E supplies the switch S1.

A direct current I is supplied to the thermoelectric devices M and N via S4 in the forward direction (from left to right as indicated by the solid arrow in the figure). As a result, the heat flow Q flows from left to right as indicated by the dotted arrow in the figure, so that the shape memory alloy A is cooled and the shape memory alloy B is heated. At this time, shape memory alloy A is in a compressed state, and shape memory alloy B is in an elongated state. Strange on the side.

Next, in this state, switches 82 and 83 are closed as shown in FIG. 2, and switches S, 1. When S4 is opened, a DC current I is supplied from the DC power supply E to the thermoelectric devices M and N via the switches 82 and 83 in the opposite direction to that described above, that is, from right to right as shown by the solid line arrow.

As a result, the heat flow Q also flows from right to left as indicated by the dotted line arrow in the figure, so that the shape memory alloy A is heated and the shape memory alloy B is cooled. And at this time,
Shape memory alloy B is in a compressed state, and shape memory alloy A is in an elongated state, so that each shape memory alloy A,
The movable part C to which B is coupled comes closer to the fixed part of the shape memory alloy B.

By alternately repeating the above states shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the movable part C repeats reciprocating motion between the fixed part a of the shape memory alloy A and the fixed part A of the shape memory alloy B. In response to the reciprocating motion of the movable portion C, a robot, which is a driven body (not shown) connected thereto, is driven.

As described above, the drive device according to this embodiment includes a drive section that is formed using shape memory alloys A and B, and a driven body such as a robot is connected to a portion that becomes a movable section C, and a drive section that uses the Beltier effect. thermoelectric devices M and N that move the movable portion C by heating or cooling the drive portion; and this heat main device M.
, a DC power supply E that supplies DC current to the thermoelectric devices M and N, and a direction of the current I supplied from the DC power supply E to the thermoelectric devices M and N, which is alternately switched from positive to reverse direction or from passing power 1 to positive direction. Switches 81 to S as switching devices that open and close
It is composed of 4.

Therefore, we adopted thermoelectric devices M and N that utilize the Beltier effect as a thermal energy source for a drive device that uses shape G111 alloy, which was difficult to implement in the past, to heat and cool shape memory alloys A and B. It becomes possible to perform repetition easily. As a result, unlike conventional drive devices (electric motors, solenoids, air cylinders, etc.), the shape memory of shape memory alloys A and B makes it extremely easy to perform low-speed and complex movements that were not possible before. can be done. For example, you can make it into a coil to avoid expansion and contraction, or twist it into a plate, or bend or stretch it into a plate.
Furthermore, these can be combined to perform complex operations. Also, for the above reasons, the heating side is heated with high-temperature steam as in the conventional method.

In addition, there is no need to install equipment such as immersing the cooling side in cold W water to cool it, and thermoelectric equipment M, N, 100-current power supply E, switch 8
Since only the components 1 to S4 are required, the vJ drive device can be extremely small and lightweight, and can be used generally, making it highly versatile. In particular, it is possible to further reduce the size and weight of a device that does not generate vibration or noise due to rotation like conventional drive devices such as electric motors, and requires only a small driving force. This means that when robotization advances in many areas in the future, the drive device with this configuration will be easy to incorporate into robots and can be used as an easy-to-drive device.

Incidentally, in the above embodiment, the case where the driven object is a robot has been described, but it goes without saying that the driven object may be other than this.

In addition, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and can be implemented with various modifications without changing the gist thereof.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, the driving part is formed using a shape memory alloy and the driven body is connected to the part that becomes the movable part, and the Beltier effect is used (X a thermoelectric device that moves the movable portion by heating or cooling the driving portion; a DC power source that supplies current to the thermoelectric device;
The structure is equipped with a switching device that alternately switches the direction of the current supplied from the DC power source to the thermoelectric device from the positive to the reverse direction or from the reverse to the positive direction. It is possible to provide a compact and lightweight drive device that repeatedly performs "heating and cooling" and easily performs low-speed operations and complex operations.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIGS. 1 and 2 are configuration diagrams showing one embodiment of the present invention. A, B... Shape memory alloy, a, b... Fixed part, C.
...Movable part, M, N...thermoelectric device, E...DC power supply, 81-S4...switch. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue→I Figure 1 Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] A driving part formed using a shape memory alloy and having a driven body connected to a part that becomes a movable part, and a thermoelectric device that moves the movable part by heating or cooling the driving part using the Peltier effect. , comprising a DC power source that supplies current to the thermoelectric device, and a switching device that alternately switches the direction of the current supplied from the DC power source to the thermoelectric device from positive to reverse or vice versa. A drive device characterized by: