This application is the national phase entry of International Application No. PCT/CN2022/077554, filed on Feb. 24, 2022, which is based upon and claims priority to Chinese Patent Applications No. 2021107124842, filed on Jun. 25, 2021, and No. 202210132722.7, filed on Feb. 14, 2022, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a polymer fiber artificial muscle, and specifically refers to a continuous automatic twisting and winding device and method for the polymer fiber artificial muscle.
The polymer fiber artificial muscle was first proposed by Haines et al. in the article “Artificial Muscles from Fishing Line and Sewing Thread” [J]. (Science, 2014, 343(6173): 868-872). Compared with other helical fiber artificial muscles, polymer fiber artificial muscles have the advantages of large stress, large stroke, high energy density, strong stability, and inexpensive. At present, many researchers are working on their practical applications.
The polymer fiber artificial muscle can be made by twisting a polymer fiber. As mentioned in the Chinese invention patent with the application number of CN202010932284.3, one end of the fiber is fixed on the motor shaft, and the other end is hung with a heavy object. An electric motor is used for twisting the fiber until the fiber completely form a helical structure, so that the helical fiber artificial muscle is successfully fabricated.
The Chinese patent invention with the application number CN201810635660.5 proposes a quantitative preparation and testing device and method for polyamide fiber artificial muscles. The device uses a stepper motor to achieve quantitative and controllable torsion of polyamide fibers; They use an electric heating tube to uniformly and quantitatively heats polyamide fiber artificial muscles, and use a thermal infrared camera for real-time monitoring, and feedback control; uses force sensors to measure the real-time generated force of polyamide fiber artificial muscles. The device can realize the quantitative preparation of polyamide fiber artificial muscle and the correlation measurements of generated force and stroke.
However, the fiber artificial muscle preparation method mentioned in the above patent can only fabricate twist fibers with limited length, and cannot realize continuous twisting of fibers. Therefore, the invention of a device that can continuously and automatically twist and wind polymer fibers is of great significance for the practical application of polymer fiber artificial muscles.
The present invention aims to solve the limitation that the above-mentioned traditional fiber artificial muscle preparation method has low efficiency and can only prepare artificial muscles with limited length. The present invention provides a device that can continuously and automatically twist and wind polymer fibers and can precisely control the twisting load of fiber artificial muscles. The device greatly improves the preparation efficiency of artificial muscles, realizes the automatic production of polymer fiber artificial muscles, and is of great significance to the application of polymer fiber artificial muscles.
In order to achieve the above purpose, the present invention provides a continuous automatic twisting and winding device for polymer fiber artificial muscles. The device includes (1) a wire feeding mechanism, a polymer fiber; (2) a twisting mechanism; (3) a winding mechanism; (4) a translation mechanism and a base plate. The central axis of a rolling bearing I in the wire feeding mechanism is horizontally aligned with a central axis of a spline shaft in the winding mechanism; the polymer fibers are generally nylon fiber filaments, polyester fiber filaments, etc.; the twisting mechanism, the winding mechanism and the translation mechanism are mounted on the base plate; a twisting mechanism articulation seat in the twisting mechanism is fixed on a front support seat in the winding mechanism; a mounted bearing in the translation mechanism is connected with the spline shaft in the winding mechanism by an interference fit. A guide rod in the translation mechanism is mounted on a rear support seat in the winding mechanism and is fixed with a nut.
The continuous automatic twisting and winding device for polymer fiber artificial muscles including the following steps:
As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in step (1): the wire feeding mechanism includes a torque motor, a torque motor mounting support, a spool I, a bottom plate of the wire feeding mechanism, a wire feeding pulley I, a wire feeding pulley II, a rolling bearing I and a wire feeding platform; the torque motor is fixed on the bottom plate of the wire feeding, mechanism through the torque motor mounting support; the spool I is installed on an output shaft of the torque motor; the wire feeding pulley I and the wire feeding pulley II are installed on the wire feeding platform, and the two wire feeding pulleys can prevent a torque of the fiber from being transmitted to the spool I; the rolling bearing I is installed in a hole at a front end of the wire feeding platform, the fiber passing through the rolling bearing can effectively reduce an abrasion of a fiber filament; the wire feeding platform is fixed on the bottom plate of the wire feeding mechanism, and a tension on the fiber filament during a working process can be controlled by adjusting an output torque of the torque motor.
As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in step (2): the twisting mechanism includes a synchronous belt wheel I, a synchronous belt I, a winding rod, a synchronous belt wheel II, a synchronous belt wheel support, rolling bearing II, a twisting mechanism articulation seat a stepper motor mounting support I and a stepper motor I; the synchronous belt wheel I is installed on an output shaft of the stepper motor I, and is limited by set screws to prevent a relative sliding; the stepper motor I is installed on the stepper motor mounting support I; one end of the winding rod is tapped with an external thread to be threadedly connected to the synchronous bell wheel II; the synchronous belt wheel II is installed on one end of the synchronous belt wheel support and set screws are used to prevent a relative rotation; an inner side of the synchronous belt wheel support is installed with the rolling bearing II in the interference fit; an inner hole of the rolling bearing II is the interference fit with a shaft of the twisting mechanism articulation seat; the twisting mechanism articulation seat is installed on the front support seat of the winding mechanism; the synchronous belt is installed on the two synchronous belt wheels; in this way; the stepper motor I rotates the winding rod by means of a belt transmission, and the winding rod rotates the polymer fiber to complete twisting.
As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in step (3): the winding mechanism includes a front support seat, a rolling bearing III, a rear support seat, a spool II, a spline shaft, a spline shaft sleeve, a rolling bearing IV, a synchronous belt wheel III, a gear ring, a synchronous belt II, a synchronous belt wheel IV, a stepper motor mounting support II, a stepper motor II; wherein the spool II is installed on one end of the spline shaft; the spline shaft sleeve has an interference fit with the inner hole of the rolling bearing IV; the rolling bearing IV is installed in the front support seat and has an interference fit with the inner hole of the front support seat; the spline shaft is installed in the spline shaft sleeve, and can slide relative to the axial direction; the inner hole of the rear support seat is also installed with a rolling bearing, the rolling, bearing is installed with a spline shaft sleeve, and the spline shaft passes through the spline shaft sleeve and it is a clearance fit, and the spline shaft can slide axially relative to the spline shaft sleeve; the spline shaft is sleeved with two of the gear rings and is located between the front support seat and rear support seats; the inner hole of the synchronous belt wheel III is also installed with a spline shaft sleeve and is installed on the splined shaft, which is located between the two gear rings; the synchronous belt wheel IV is installed on the output shaft of the stepper motor II, and is limited by set screws to prevent a relative sliding; the stepper motor II is installed on the stepper motor mounting support II; the synchronous belt II is installed on the synchronous belt wheels III and the synchronous belt wheel IV; The stepper motor II rotated the spline shaft by means of a belt transmission, so as to make the spool II rotate to complete a winding process.
As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in step (4): the translation mechanism includes a guide rod, a mounted bearing, a translation joint seat, a lead screw nut, a trapezoidal lead screw, a coupling shaft, a stepper motor III and a stepper motor mounting support III. One end of the guide rod is installed in the translation joint seat, and the other end is screwed into a nut for limiting; the mounted bearing is installed on the left end of the translation joint seat; the lead screw nut is installed on the right end of the translation joint seat; the trapezoidal lead screw is screwed into the lead screw nut; the stepper motor III is installed on the stepper motor mounting support III; the coupling shaft is connected with the output shaft of the stepper motor III and the trapezoidal lead screw; the stepper motor III drives the translation joint seat to slide on the guide rod.
The present invention has the following beneficial effects:
In the figures: 100-wire feeding mechanism; 200-polymer fiber; 300-twisting mechanism; 400-winding mechanism; 500-translation mechanism; 600-base plate; 101-torque motor; 102-torque motor mounting support; 103-spool I; 104-bottom plate of wire feeding mechanism; 105-wire feeding pulley I; 106-wire feeding pulley II; 107-rolling bearing I; 108-wire feeding platform; 301-synchronous belt wheel I; 302-synchronous belt I; 303-winding rod; 304-synchronous belt wheel II; 305-synchronous belt wheel support; 306-rolling bearing II; 307-twisting mechanism articulation seat; 308-stepper motor mounting support I; 401-front support seat; 402-rolling bearing III; 403-rear support seat; 404-spool II; 405-spline shaft; 406-spline shaft sleeve; 407-rolling bearing IV; 409 gear ring; 410-synchronized belt II; 411-synchronized belt wheel IV; 412-stepper motor mounting support II; 413-stepper motor II; 501-guide rod; 502-mounted bearing; 504-lead screw nut; 505-trapezoidal lead screw; 506-coupling shaft; 507-stepper motor mounting support III; 508-stepper motor III.
In order to fully understand the purpose, features and functions of the present invention, the present invention will be described in detail by means of the following specific embodiments:
The following describes the working process of the continuous automatic twisting and winding device for polymer fiber artificial muscles according to the present invention:
First, the polymer fiber 200 is drawn from the spool I 103, so that the polymer fiber passes around the two wire feeding pulleys, namely the wire feeding pulley I 105 and the wire feeding pulley II 106. Then the polymer fiber 200 passes through the rolling bearing 107, winding rod 303 and is finally tied to the collector cylinder II 404. The torque motor 101 is powered on and adjusted to an appropriate torque T. The stepper motor I 309, the stepper motor II 413, and the stepper motor III 508 start to rotate at the same time. The stepper motor I 309 drives the synchronous belt wheel II 304 in the twisting mechanism 300 to rotate, and the winding rod 303 rotates with the synchronous belt wheel II 304 and the rotation speed is ω1. The winding rod 303 drives the polymer fiber 200 to rotate and starts to twist it; the stepper motor II 413 drives the spline shaft 405 in the winding, mechanism 400 to rotate at ω2, and the spool II 404 rotates together with the spline shaft 405. If ω1≠ω2, the spool II 404 starts to rewind the artificial muscle; the stepper motor III 508 reciprocates at ω3, and the trapezoidal lead screw 505 and the lead screw nut 504 cooperate to drive the translation joint seat 503 to reciprocate on the guide rod 501, the mounted bearing 502 drives the spline shaft 405 and the spool II 404 to reciprocate and translate so that the twisted polymer fibers 200 is evenly wounded on the spool II 404
The following relationship should be satisfied at this time:
Where d is the diameter of polymer fiber, S is the lead of the trapezoidal lead screw.
An important parameter of twisting load F in the process of artificial muscle preparation satisfies the following relationship:
Where, r1 is the radius of the spool I, and T is the output torque of the torque motor.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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202110712484.2 | Jun 2021 | CN | national |
202210132722.7 | Feb 2022 | CN | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/CN2022/077554 | 2/24/2022 | WO |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2022/267501 | 12/29/2022 | WO | A |
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Entry |
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Carter S. Haines, et al., Artificial Muscles from Fishing Line and Sewing Thread, Science, 2014, pp. 868-872, vol. 343, No. 6173. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20240167199 A1 | May 2024 | US |