scholarly journals Smart materials in architecture for actuator and sensor applications: A review

Author(s):  
Martin Sobczyk ◽  
Sebastian Wiesenhütter ◽  
Jörg Rainer Noennig ◽  
Thomas Wallmersperger

Severe challenges such as depletion of natural resources, natural catastrophes, extreme weather conditions, or overpopulation require intelligent solutions especially in architecture. Built environments that are conceived from smart materials based on actuator and sensor functionality provide a promising approach in order to address this demand. The present paper reviews smart materials-based technologies which are currently applied or developed for application in civil structures, focusing on smart material applications for actuation or sensing. After giving a definition and categorization of smart materials, applications of the investigated materials (i.e. shape memory materials, electro- and magnetostrictive materials, piezoelectric materials, ionic polymer-metal composites, dielectrical elastomers, polyelectrolyte gels as well as magneto- and electrorheological fluids) are presented for the fields of architecture and civil engineering. While some materials are already highly advantageous in the application context, others still need further research in order to become applicable in real-world constructions. Nonetheless this review indicates their large innovation potential which should be consolidated by systematic research efforts in the near future.

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (78) ◽  
pp. 20120666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sina Sareh ◽  
Jonathan Rossiter ◽  
Andrew Conn ◽  
Knut Drescher ◽  
Raymond E. Goldstein

Cilia are used effectively in a wide variety of biological systems from fluid transport to thrust generation. Here, we present the design and implementation of artificial cilia, based on a biomimetic planar actuator using soft-smart materials. This actuator is modelled on the cilia movement of the alga Volvox , and represents the cilium as a piecewise constant-curvature robotic actuator that enables the subsequent direct translation of natural articulation into a multi-segment ionic polymer metal composite actuator. It is demonstrated how the combination of optimal segmentation pattern and biologically derived per-segment driving signals reproduce natural ciliary motion. The amenability of the artificial cilia to scaling is also demonstrated through the comparison of the Reynolds number achieved with that of natural cilia.


Author(s):  
Yi-chu Chang ◽  
Won-jong Kim

Smart materials have been used in various applications. In this paper, a walking robot with six two-degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) legs made of ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) is designed and implemented. Each leg can work as both a supporter and a driver, closely mimicking a real insect. To support and drive the robot, thicker (around 1 mm in thickness) IPMC strips were fabricated and used, and a 0.2-rad/s square wave is given as an input signal. The IPMC strips exhibit better performance in response to the square wave (8 mm) than sawtooth (4 mm) and sinusoidal (6 mm) waves in deflection. By applying this input signal in sequence, all the IPMC strips bend and walk in the form of six legs. In addition, thin magnet wires were used to supply power to each strip to prevent from confining the motion of our robot. Six lower legs are divided into two groups that work in the opposite directions to move the robot forward by turns. Upper legs are also divided into two groups to lift up their lower legs from making the robot to move back to the same place. The sizes of the IPMC strips and our robot (102 mm × 80 mm × 43 mm) were decided to exhibit better performance (0.5 mm/s) according to our tests.


2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (17) ◽  
pp. 1973-1985
Author(s):  
Hojat Zamyad ◽  
Nadia Naghavi ◽  
Reza Godaz ◽  
Reza Monsefi

The high application potential of ionic polymer–metal composites has made the behavior identification of this group of smart materials an attractive area. So far, several models have been proposed to predict the bending of an ionic polymer–metal composite actuator, but these models have some weaknesses, the most important of them are the use of output data (in autoregressive models), high complexity to achieve a proper precision (in non-autoregressive models), and lack of compatibility with the behavioral nature of the material. In this article, we present a hybrid model of parallel non-autoregressive recurrent networks with internal memory cells to overcome existing weaknesses. The validation results on experimental data show that the proposed model has acceptable accuracy and flexibility. Moreover, simplicity and compatibility with the behavioral nature of the material promote using the proposed model in practical applications.


Author(s):  
Zakai Olsen ◽  
Kwang Jin Kim

Abstract Ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMCs) are functional smart materials that exhibit both electromechanical and mechanoelectrical transduction properties, and the physical phenomenon underlying the transduction mechanisms have been studied across the literature extensively. Here we use a new modeling framework to conduct the most comprehensive dimensional analysis of IPMC transduction phenomena, characterizing the IPMC actuator displacement, actuator blocking force, short-circuit sensing current, and open-circuit sensing voltage under static and dynamic loading. The information obtained in this analysis is used to construct nonlinear regression models for the transduction response as univariant and multivariant functions. Automatic differentiation techniques are leveraged to linearize the nonlinear regression models in the vicinity of a typical IPMC description and derive the sensitivity of the transduction response with respect to the driving independent variables. Further, the multiphysics model is validated using experimental data collected for the dynamic IPMC actuator and voltage sensor. With data collected from physical samples of IPMC materials in-lab, the regression models developed under the new computational framework are verified.


Author(s):  
G. Karthigan ◽  
Sujoy Mukherjee ◽  
Ranjan Ganguli

Ionic polymer metal composites (IPMC) are a new class of smart materials that have attractive characteristics such as muscle like softness, low voltage and power consumption, and good performance in aqueous environments. Thus, IPMC’s provide promising application for biomimetic fish like propulsion systems. In this paper, we design and analyze IPMC underwater propulsor inspired from swimming of Labriform fishes. Different fish species in nature are source of inspiration for different biomimetic flapping IPMC fin design. Here, three fish species with high performance flapping pectoral fin locomotion is chosen and performance analysis of each fin design is done to discover the better configurations for engineering applications. In order to describe the behavior of an active IPMC fin actuator in water, a complex hydrodynamic function is used and structural model of the IPMC fin is obtained by modifying the classical dynamic equation for a slender beam. A quasi-steady blade element model that accounts for unsteady phenomena such as added mass effects, dynamic stall, and the cumulative Wagner effect is used to estimate the hydrodynamic performance of the flapping rectangular shape fin. Dynamic characteristics of IPMC actuated flapping fins having the same size as the actual fins of three different fish species, Gomphosus varius, Scarus frenatus and Sthethojulis trilineata, are analyzed with numerical simulations. Finally, a comparative study is performed to analyze the performance of three different biomimetic IPMC flapping pectoral fins.


Author(s):  
Piqi Hou ◽  
Zhihang Ye ◽  
Zheng Chen

With advances in actuation and sensing, smart materials has drawn a growing attention from researchers in under water robotic fish. In this paper, a compact, noiseless, and untethered biomimetic robotic fish propelled by Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite (IPMC) actuators is developed. The robot fish employs two pectoral fins to generate steering and one caudal fin to generate main propulsion. A passive plastic fin is attached to the IPMC beam to enhance propulsion. With multiple IPMC fins, the fish is capable of 2D maneuvering. One small size programmable circuit board is designed for the 2D controllable fish. The Experimental results have shown that the forward-swimming speed can reach up to 1cm/sec and the both left-turning and right turning speed can reach up to 2 rad/sec.


2003 ◽  
Vol 785 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason W. Paquette ◽  
Kwang J. Kim

ABSTRACTThis paper presents a description of Ionic Polymer-Metal Composites (IPMCs) as an attractive solution for cold operation actuators. This is because of their capability for actuation with relatively low voltages (1 to 5 V), durability and capability of operating within the subzero regime T < 0 °C. The building block material of IPMCs experiences phase changes within the base polymeric material that results in an alteration of the performance of the material in terms of actuator performance. An experimental apparatus is constructed in order to have a controlled temperature environment in which to analyze the material. The overall temperature within the reservoir, the temperature on the IPMC surface electrodes, the conductivity of the membrane and the blocking force were all measured. The phase changes inherent at these low temperatures are investigated further by means of Differential Scanning Calorimeter to obtain the phase change temperatures and characteristics. The results are presented and interpreted to show that there is definite promise for these low temperature polymeric actuators to operate in practical applications.


Author(s):  
Rebecca Histed ◽  
Justin Ngo ◽  
Omar A. Hussain ◽  
Chantel Lapins ◽  
Kam K. Leang ◽  
...  

Abstract In this paper, we examine the development of tailored 3D-structured (engineered) polymer-metal interfaces to create enhanced ionic polymer-metal composite (eIPMC) sensors towards soft, self-powered, high sensitivity strain sensor applications. First, a physics-based chemoelectromechanical model is developed to predict the sensor behavior of eIPMCs by incorporating structure microfeature effects in the mechanical response of the material. The model incorporates electrode surface properties, such as microscale feature thickness, size and spacing, to help define the mechanical response and transport characteristics of the polymer-electrode interface. Second, two novel approaches are described to create functional samples of eIPMC sensors using fused deposition manufacturing and inkjet printing technologies. Sample eIPMC sensors are fabricated for experimental characterization. Finally, experimental results are provided to show superior performance in the sensing capabilities compared to traditional sensors fabricated from sheet-form material. The results also validate important predictive aspects of the proposed minimal model.


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