SMA actuators for vibration control and experimental determination of model parameters dependent on ambient airflow velocity

Abstract

This article demonstrates the practical applicability of a method of modelling shape memory alloys (SMAs) as actuators. For this study, a pair of SMA wires was installed in an antagonistic manner to form an actuator, and a linear differential equation that describes the behaviour of the actuator’s generated force relative to its input voltage was derived for the limited range below the austenite onset temperature. In this range, hysteresis need not be considered, and the proposed SMA actuator can therefore be practically applied in linear control systems, which is significant because large deformations accompanied by hysteresis do not necessarily occur in most vibration control cases. When specific values of the parameters used in the differential equation were identified experimentally, it became clear that one of the parameters was dependent on ambient airflow velocity. The values of this dependent parameter were obtained using an additional SMA wire as a sensor. In these experiments, while the airflow distribution around the SMA wires was varied by changing the rotational speed of the fans in the wind tunnels, an input voltage was conveyed to the SMA actuator circuit, and the generated force was measured. In this way, the parameter dependent on airflow velocity was estimated in real time, and it was validated that the calculated force was consistent with the measured one.