Design and fabrication of a fiber-reinforced pneumatic bending actuator

Abstract

Flexible pneumatic actuators have been broadly explored in soft robotic engineering field where large strokes are required to interface with human body in delicate environments. Some of them have successfully demonstrated the capability of contracting, extending, bending, and/or twisting. This paper presents a precise and effective way of designing a pneumatic bending actuator by using finite element analysis (FEA) modelling and pure winding technique. The proposed pneumatic bending actuator (PBA) is capable of generating satisfactory force and bending displacement upon internal air pressurization, and also maintains low profile, light weight, compliant nature and robustness against pressurization. The prototype actuators with a length of 220 mm, internal diameter of 9 mm and a thickness of 2 mm have been verified to achieve an angular displacement of 171° at its free end and produce bending force 7.1 N at an operating pressure of 0.675 MPa. Simulation and experimental results were compared and demonstrated good consistency.