Flexible Sheet Actuator That Generates Bidirectional Traveling Waves

This paper presents a flexible sheet actuator that generates bidirectional traveling waves by pneumatics. Thin sheet actuators driven by traveling waves are expected to be used for conveying objects on the fragile environment. To realize these applications, we propose a new configuration for the sheet actuator, which is composed of a laminated structure of urethane sheet by thermal welding, capable of being deformed to withstand high payloads when pressurized. Besides, by sequentially pressurizing three pressure chambers, the sheet enables to generate a traveling sine wave. Experiments on the horizontal plane of the prototype showed that the moving velocity becomes maximum at the sheet thickness of 11 mm and the maximum velocity is 28.5mm/s when the wave frequency is 3.3 Hz and the pressure is 100 kPa. Also, the actuator conveyed an object in both X and Y direction. From these results, we confirmed that the proposed actuator can be applied to a conveying device.