A Hybrid Actuation System (HYBAS) and Aerospace Applications

摘要

An electroactive polymer-ceramic hybrid actuation system (HYBAS) has been developed at NASA Langley Research Center. The system demonstrates significantly-enhanced electromechanical performance by cooperatively utilizing advantages of a combination of electromechanical responses of an electroative polymer (EAP), and an electroactive ceramic single crystal, PZN-PT single crystal. The electroactive elements are driven by a single power source. Recently, a modification of HYBAS has been made to increase the capability of air driving for synthetic jet devices (SJ) used in aerodynamic control technologies. The dependence of the air driving capability of the modified HYBAS on the configuration of the actuating device has been investigated. For this particular application, the modified HYBAS demonstrated a 50% increase in the volume change in the synthetic jet air chamber, as compared with that of the HYBAS without the modification. The theoretical modeling of the performances of the HYBAS is in good agreement with experimental observation. The consistence between the theoretical modeling and experimental test make the design concept an effective route for the development of high performance actuating devices for many applications. The theoretical modeling, fabrication of the HYBAS and the initial experimental results will be presented and discussed.