Load-dependent Variable Gearing Mechanism of Muscle-like Soft Actuator  

作　　者：Yingjie Wang Chunbao Liu Luquan Ren Lei Ren 

机构地区：[1]School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering,Jilin University,Changchun,130022,China [2]Key Laboratory of Bionic Engineering,Ministry of Education,Jilin University,Changchun,130022,China [3]School of Mechanical,Aerospace and Civil Engineering,University of Manchester,Manchester,M139PL,UK

出　　处：《Journal of Bionic Engineering》2022年第1期29-43,共15页仿生工程学报（英文版）

基　　金：supported by the projects of National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.52075216,No.91948302 and No.91848204).

摘　　要：Pennate muscle is characterized by muscle fibers that are oriented at a certain angle(pennation angle)relative to the muscle’s line of action and rotation during contraction.This fiber rotation amplifies the shortening velocity of muscle,to match loading conditions without any control system.This unique variable gearing mechanism,which characterized by Architecture Gear Ratio(AGR),is involves complex interaction among three key elements:muscle fibers,connective tissue,and the pennation angle.However,how three elements determine the AGR of muscle-like actuator is still unknown.This study introduces a Himisk actuator that arranges five contractile units at a certain pennation angle in a flexible matrix,the experiment and simulation results demonstrated that the proposed actuator could vary AGR automatically in response to variable loading conditions.Based on this actuator,we present a series of actuators by simulations with the varying pennation angle(P),elastic modulus of the flexible matrix(E),and number of contractile units(N)to analyze their effects on AGR,and their interaction by three-factor analysis of variance.The results demonstrated that P and N effect on the AGR significantly,while E effects on AGR slightly,which supported the idea that the P is the essential factor for the AGR,and N is also an important factor due to the capability of force generation.This provides a better understanding of mechanical behavior and an effective optimizing strategy to muscle-like soft actuator.

关 键 词：BIOINSPIRED ACTUATOR Pennate muscle Gearing mechanism 

分 类 号：Q81[生物学—生物工程]