A Variable Stiffness Joint With Electrospun P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE) Variable Stiffness Springs
Raffaella Carloni, Valerie I. Lapp, Andrea Cremonese, Juri Belcari, Andrea Zucchelli
Abstract
This letter presents a novel rotational variable stiffness joint that relies on one motor and a set of variable stiffness springs. The variable stiffness springs are leaf springs with a layered design, i.e., an electro-active layer of electrospun aligned nanofibers of poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene-chlorotrifluoroethylene) [P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE)] surrounded by two electrodes of aluminum and held together by inactive material. To achieve a variable stiffness, different voltages and, therefore, different electric fields, are applied to the springs. The variable stiffness springs are electromechanically analyzed to highlight the voltage-deflection and force-deflection characteristics. Finally, the springs are used in the design of a proof-of-concept variable stiffness joint prototype. Experimental results on the variable stiffness joint confirm the viability of the proposed solution.
BibTeX
@inproceedings{ral2018_avariablestiffne,
title = {A Variable Stiffness Joint With Electrospun P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE) Variable Stiffness Springs},
author = {Raffaella Carloni and Valerie I. Lapp and Andrea Cremonese and Juri Belcari and Andrea Zucchelli},
booktitle = {RA-L 2018},
year = {2018}
}