A Sodium Azide-Powered Free-Piston Gas Compressor for Mobile Pneumatic Systems

Pneumatic soft robotic technologies promise to revolutionize automation, medicine, human-computer interaction, and beyond. Yet without a sufficiently lightweight, compact, power-dense gas compressor, these wearable and mobile pneumatic devices cannot surpass tethered laboratory demonstrations. In this article, we introduce a gas compressor that converts the gas and energy release of sodium azide propellant mixtures into pressure-volume work. By integrating high-energy density solid fuels and compressor components into one piston-cylinder apparatus, we reduce system complexity, size, and weight. Our experiments provide initial thermodynamic propellant characterization and single-stroke compressor demonstrations.