Design and Development of NiTi Alloy (SMA) Based Compliant Linear Actuator

Shape memory alloys are a unique class of alloys that can 'remember' their shape and can return to their original undeformed shape even after being plastically deformed. Due to their unique properties, SMAs actuators offer more advantages as compared to a conventional actuator. These actuators are of lightweight, high power-to-weight ratio, and a simple actuation mechanism. SMA-based actuators are the actuators in which SMA are used for the actuation. The advantage of using SMAs as actuators is that by using a small volume of material, a large amount of work can be done. This work introduces the design, as well as analysis of shape memory alloy (SMA), actuated compliant mechanisms. In this research, a NiTi alloy (SMA) based compliant mechanism is developed. In this work, SMA sheets are used as a beam, and their static structural analysis is done using ANSYS software. The deflection of the sheet at various loads is calculated. The deflection analysis of the developed compliant mechanism is carried out. The result obtained from the simulation study could help in further development of the compliant linear actuator and miniaturization of the XY and Theta manipulation stage.