Hierarchical actuator systems

摘要

Mechanical actuators are integral components of many engineered systems. Many of the presently available actuator systems lack the desired stroke, power, controllability and reliability. The hierarchical actuator is a natural extension of the trend toward improving the performance of actuators through increments in geometric complexity and control. The hierarchical concept is to build integrated actuators out of a combination of smaller actuators. The smaller actuators are arranged geometrically and controlled so as to extend the performance of the total actuator into ranges that are not possible with actuators that are based on a few active elements and levels of control. Precision, speed increase, force output, load sharing, efficiency under smooth load/displacement control, smooth motion, stroke amplification/reduction and redundancy are all possible. Mechanics and mechanisms of hierarchical actuators are examined, along with a few experiments to demonstrate the operating principles.