Mechatronic design and control of singly and doubly curved composite mesoscale actuator systems

Recently, the design of curved mesoscale actuators (deflections from 1 to 15 mm) has been a topic of study for many researchers. The work in this paper deals with the development of a comprehensive modeling technique for dealing with curved actuators. First, the formulation begins with the equations of motion for a general shell surface. Second, relationships for reducing the equations to those for known actuators are given. The technique can be applied to a broad array of curved actuators. These actuators include but are not limited to rainbow actuators, thunder actuators, and basic C-block actuators. Next, the technique is then experimentally verified on a stack of rainbow actuators. Finally, the system is controlled using both classical and intelligent control techniques. In addition, hardware and circuitry issues are explored.