A micromotor is created which is three orders of magnitude stronger than a human muscle.
A microactuator based on vanadium oxide with a specific power of 39 kilowatts per kilogram was developed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. This ratio of power to its own mass puts it on par with the most powerful engines ever built by man - less than the main engine of the Space Shuttle spacecraft (153 kW / kg), but more than the Boeing 777 turbojet (10 kW / kg) ). In its “weight category” with a new micromotor, only microactuators based on carbon nanotubes can be compared, but their maximum angular velocity is an order of magnitude less.
The micromotor is a thin V-shaped sandwich strip made of chromium and vanadium dioxide twisted into a spiral in tenths of a millimeter long. When passing an electric current, the spiral tends to turn around, and this happens with tremendous speed and force - the angular speed reaches 200,000 revolutions per minute, the amplitude is from 500 to 2000 degrees per millimeter of length. In the course of the experiments, the scientists used a microactuator as a catapult - he was able to throw the object 50 times heavier than its own weight at a distance of 5 own lengths. The actuator is very reliable - after a million cuts no signs of degradation could be found.
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The principle of the actuator is based on the phase transition, which occurs in vanadium dioxide at a temperature of 68 degrees Celsius - it is greatly reduced in one dimension, increasing the other two. The speed of such a transition is measured by picoseconds, and the ability to perform mechanical work is two orders of magnitude higher than that of piezoceramics, and three orders of magnitude higher than that of muscle fibers. In addition to changing the size, the conductivity also changes dramatically - below 68 degrees vanadium dioxide is a dielectric, and above - a conductor.
Comparison with existing engine types
At the micro level, a vanadium actuator can be used to create miniature robots, in addition, it can act as an approach sensor — if the spiral is heated to a temperature slightly above the phase transition temperature, the object is at room temperature, it cools, and the reverse transition occurs. If the actuator is given the appropriate shape, it will automatically discard too close objects and at the same time signal this increase in resistance. The use of a microactuator as a building block for creating artificial muscles of large-sized robots is not excluded.
The micromotor is a thin V-shaped sandwich strip made of chromium and vanadium dioxide twisted into a spiral in tenths of a millimeter long. When passing an electric current, the spiral tends to turn around, and this happens with tremendous speed and force - the angular speed reaches 200,000 revolutions per minute, the amplitude is from 500 to 2000 degrees per millimeter of length. In the course of the experiments, the scientists used a microactuator as a catapult - he was able to throw the object 50 times heavier than its own weight at a distance of 5 own lengths. The actuator is very reliable - after a million cuts no signs of degradation could be found.
')
The principle of the actuator is based on the phase transition, which occurs in vanadium dioxide at a temperature of 68 degrees Celsius - it is greatly reduced in one dimension, increasing the other two. The speed of such a transition is measured by picoseconds, and the ability to perform mechanical work is two orders of magnitude higher than that of piezoceramics, and three orders of magnitude higher than that of muscle fibers. In addition to changing the size, the conductivity also changes dramatically - below 68 degrees vanadium dioxide is a dielectric, and above - a conductor.
Comparison with existing engine types
At the micro level, a vanadium actuator can be used to create miniature robots, in addition, it can act as an approach sensor — if the spiral is heated to a temperature slightly above the phase transition temperature, the object is at room temperature, it cools, and the reverse transition occurs. If the actuator is given the appropriate shape, it will automatically discard too close objects and at the same time signal this increase in resistance. The use of a microactuator as a building block for creating artificial muscles of large-sized robots is not excluded.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/207074/
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