Architectures of soft pneumatic actuators for wearable human assistive applications

This thesis presents the design and analysis of two novel fabric-like architectures of soft pneumatic actuators known as Fiber Reinforced Elastomeric Enclosures (FREEs) and studies the implication of wearing them as sleeves around the elbow joint. The first architecture is a helical arrangement of FREEs, which is shown to directionally modulate its stiffness. The second architecture is a nested arrangement of FREEs, which is shown to provide 70% more actuation stroke than a single actuator. The thesis presents an analytical framework, first to accurately capture the behavior of a contracting FREE actuator, and then the model stiffness modulation and stroke amplification functionalities of the two architectures. These models are verified with both benchtop experiments and preliminary human testing. The thesis presents design guidelines to configure these architectures for any functional and size requirements.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Mechanical Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2017

Author dc:creator

• Zhang, Xiaotian

Contributors dc:contributor

• Krishnan, Girish

• Soft robotics
• Assistive device

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2017 Xiaotian Zhang

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/98313

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/98313