Design, modeling, and evaluation of a slim haptic actuator based on electrorheological fluid

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (17) ◽  
pp. 2521-2533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Mazursky ◽  
Jeong-Hoi Koo ◽  
Tae-Heon Yang

Realistic haptic feedback is needed to provide information to users of numerous technologies, such as virtual reality, mobile devices, and robotics. For a device to convey realistic haptic feedback, two touch sensations must be present: tactile feedback and kinesthetic feedback. Although many devices today convey tactile feedback through vibrations, most neglect to incorporate kinesthetic feedback. To address this issue, this study investigates a haptic device with the aim of conveying both kinesthetic and vibrotactile information to users. A prototype based on electrorheological fluids was designed and fabricated. By controlling the electrorheological fluid flow via applied electric fields, the device can generate a range of haptic sensations. The design centered on an elastic membrane that acts as the actuator’s contact surface. Moreover, the control electronics and structural components were integrated into a compact printed circuit board, resulting in a slim device suitable for mobile applications. The device was tested using a dynamic mechanical analyzer to evaluate its performance. The device design was supported with mathematical modeling and was in agreement with experimental results. According to the just-noticeable difference analysis, this range is sufficient to transmit distinct kinesthetic and vibrotactile sensations to users, indicating that the electrorheological fluid–based actuator is capable of conveying haptic feedback.

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hooman Barati Sedeh ◽  
Mohammad Hosein Fakheri ◽  
Ali Abdolali ◽  
Fei Sun

Abstract Coordinate transformation (CT) theory has shown great potentials in manipulating both time-varying and static fields for different physics ranging from electromagnetism and acoustics to electrostatic and thermal science. Nevertheless, as inhomogeneous and anisotropic materials are required to be realized for the implementation of CT-based devices, the applicability of this method is restricted due to difficulties in the fabrication process. In this paper, based on transformation electrostatic (TE) methodology, the design principle of an arbitrary shape dc electric concentrator is established which yields the enhancement of static electric fields in a predefined region with only one homogeneous conductivity, named as dc null medium (DNM). It is shown that one constant DNM is sufficient for localizing steady electric current in any arbitrary shape region, which in turn obviates the tedious mathematical calculations that conventional methods suffer from. In other words, the same DNM can be used for different concentrators regardless of their cross-section geometries, which makes the presented approach suitable for scenarios where reconfigurability is of utmost importance. Several numerical simulations are performed in order to demonstrate the capability of the proposed dc electric concentrator in localizing steady electric fields into the desired region. Moreover, by utilizing the analogy between electrically conducting materials and resistor networks, the attained DNM is realized with low-cost resistors and then exploited for fabricating a square shape dc electric concentrator on a printed circuit board (PCB). It is demonstrated that the measurement results agree well with the theoretical predictions and numerical simulations, which corroborate the effectiveness of the propounded method. The presented idea of this paper could find applications in scenarios where highly confined electric fields/currents are of critical importance such as electronic skin devices and electrical impedance tomography.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Tao Zeng ◽  
Yan Liu ◽  
Enshan Ouyang

The finger skin contains a variety of receptors, which provide multiple tactile sensing channels. When a finger touches the surface of an object, people can simultaneously perceive curvature, texture, softness, temperature, and so on. However, in most of research activities, the designed haptic feedback devices can only focus on a certain channel. In this paper, the rendering of curved and periodic textured surfaces involving two channels, i.e., curvature and texture, was studied. Two psychophysical experiments were conducted to investigate whether the coupling of kinesthetic feedback of curvature and tactile feedback of texture could reproduce curved and textured surfaces with high fidelity. The results showed a deviation of the point of subjective equality values in terms of curvature and roughness, indicating that the curvature rendering and texture rendering have an impact on each other. Therefore, it is necessary to correct the bias when making virtual rendering. The influence of curvature on texture rendering is reduced by recalculating and adjusting the spatial period of the synthesized texture in real-time; the influence of texture on curvature rendering is eliminate by compensating the force difference between touch on physical strip and artificial stimulus.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (16) ◽  
pp. 7723
Author(s):  
Alex Mazursky ◽  
Jeong-Hoi Koo ◽  
Taylor Mason ◽  
Sam-Yong Woo ◽  
Tae-Heon Yang

We present a miniature haptic module based on electrorheological fluid, designed for conveying combined stiffness and vibrotactile sensations at a small scale. Haptic feedback is produced through electrorheological fluid’s controllable resistive force and varies with the actuator’s deformation. To demonstrate the proposed actuator’s feedback in realistic applications, a method for measuring the actuator’s deformation must be implemented for active control. To this end, in this study, we incorporate a sensor design based on a bend-sensitive resistive film to the ER haptic actuator. The combined actuator and sensor module was tested for its ability to simultaneously actuate and sense the actuator’s state under indentation. The results show that the bend sensor can accurately track the actuator’s displacement over its stroke. Thus, the proposed sensor may enable control of the output resistive force according to displacement, which may lead to more informed and engaging combined kinesthetic and tactile feedback.


2012 ◽  
Vol 132 (6) ◽  
pp. 404-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenichi Nakayama ◽  
Kenichi Kagoshima ◽  
Shigeki Takeda

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 737-741
Author(s):  
Alejandro Dueñas Jiménez ◽  
Francisco Jiménez Hernández

Because of the high volume of processing, transmission, and information storage, electronic systems presently requires faster clock speeds tosynchronizethe integrated circuits. Presently the “speeds” on the connections of a printed circuit board (PCB) are in the order of the GHz. At these frequencies the behavior of the interconnects are more like that of a transmission line, and hence distortion, delay, and phase shift- effects caused by phenomena like cross talk, ringing and over shot are present and may be undesirable for the performance of a circuit or system.Some of these phrases were extracted from the chapter eight of book “2-D Electromagnetic Simulation of Passive Microstrip Circuits” from the corresponding author of this paper.


Author(s):  
Lubica Miková

Urgency of the research. Mechatronics products become more sophisticated and complicated. Mechatronic engineers should be prepared for this complex design process. Practical experimental model helps improve educational process as preparing for practice. Target setting. Miniaturized model of the lift suitable for practical training on subjects focused to microcontrollers, sen-sors, actuators etc. Students have possibility to make practice on laboratory exercises, where they can verify theoretical knowledge obtained on lectures. The arrangement of the model has modular character, because of possibility to rearrange or adding of new function into model. The aim was to create minimized model of real lift with all functions and systems. Actual scientific researches and issues analysis. Many universities are oriented only to finished robotic kits and do not support creativity of students. Open access and open structure model missing in this field. There is a need for fast prototyping model, which allows the creation of new design of product. Uninvestigated parts of general matters defining. The question of the design of printed circuit board are uninvestigated, because they need more time than allows normal exercises. The research objective. The main aim of educational process is to educate engineers with basic knowledge, skills and handicraft. Practical models help as support devices for fulfil of this aim. All mechatronic students can practice a training on these practical models. They become as more skilled and well-oriented engineers.. The statement of basic materials. Construction consist of upper and lower base plate connected with four pillars used as linear guide for moving of lift cage. Lower base plate includes base microcontrollers boards, resistor network, power transis-tor array board, power supply terminals, relay modules, PWM module and signals terminals. Upper base plate consist of DC motor with gearing and screw mechanism for moving the lift cage. Conclusions. The model enables supports the creativity of the students. The starting point of the using of the model can be without any wired connections. Students should connect every part and try functionality of every function. The students receive the defined several problems and they have to analyze it and make any proposal for solution of defined problems.


Author(s):  
Prabjit Singh ◽  
Ying Yu ◽  
Robert E. Davis

Abstract A land-grid array connector, electrically connecting an array of plated contact pads on a ceramic substrate chip carrier to plated contact pads on a printed circuit board (PCB), failed in a year after assembly due to time-delayed fracture of multiple C-shaped spring connectors. The land-grid-array connectors analyzed had arrays of connectors consisting of gold on nickel plated Be-Cu C-shaped springs in compression that made electrical connections between the pads on the ceramic substrates and the PCBs. Metallography, fractography and surface analyses revealed the root cause of the C-spring connector fracture to be plating solutions trapped in deep grain boundary grooves etched into the C-spring connectors during the pre-plating cleaning operation. The stress necessary for the stress corrosion cracking mechanism was provided by the C-spring connectors, in the land-grid array, being compressed between the ceramic substrate and the printed circuit board.


Author(s):  
William Ng ◽  
Kevin Weaver ◽  
Zachary Gemmill ◽  
Herve Deslandes ◽  
Rudolf Schlangen

Abstract This paper demonstrates the use of a real time lock-in thermography (LIT) system to non-destructively characterize thermal events prior to the failing of an integrated circuit (IC) device. A case study using a packaged IC mounted on printed circuit board (PCB) is presented. The result validated the failing model by observing the thermal signature on the package. Subsequent analysis from the backside of the IC identified a hot spot in internal circuitry sensitive to varying value of external discrete component (inductor) on PCB.


Author(s):  
Jun-Xian Fu ◽  
Shukri Souri ◽  
James S. Harris

Abstract Temperature and humidity dependent reliability analysis was performed based on a case study involving an indicator printed-circuit board with surface-mounted multiple-die red, green and blue light-emitting diode chips. Reported intermittent failures were investigated and the root cause was attributed to a non-optimized reflow process that resulted in micro-cracks and delaminations within the molding resin of the chips.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document