This work demonstrates two strategies to reduce the energy required for actuation of thin film NiTi unimorph actuators with 3D printed polymeric passive layers. First, by taking advantage of 3D printing, a low mass and high stiffness passive layer can be used to achieve faster heating/cooling rates. This ultimately reduces the time and energy required to achieve a threshold temperature. The second approach uses higher currents for shorter periods of time to reach a predefined operational temperature with less energy. Using a well-designed 3D printed passive layer combined with pulsed actuation results in a decrease in the required input energy per cycle of approximately 83% while improving the mechanical work output by about 50% when compared to actuators with a solid passive layer driven at a lower current. The actuators were tested using currents up to 19 mA, aiming for a 95 °C change in the temperature of the NiTi layer. The proposed strategies have been shown to enhance the energy efficiency of the electrothermally heated NiTi unimorph microactuators by up to 803%. [2020-0204]

中文翻译：

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使用 3D 打印无源层提高 NiTi Unimorph 致动器的能效

这项工作展示了两种减少驱动具有 3D 打印聚合物被动层的薄膜 NiTi 单晶致动器所需能量的策略。首先，通过利用 3D 打印，可以使用低质量和高刚度的被动层来实现更快的加热/冷却速率。这最终减少了达到阈值温度所需的时间和能量。第二种方法在较短的时间内使用较高的电流，以使用较少的能量达到预定的工作温度。使用精心设计的 3D 打印被动层与脉冲驱动相结合，与具有固态被动层的致动器相比，每个周期所需的输入能量减少约 83%，同时将机械功输出提高约 50%。较低的电流。致动器使用高达 19 mA 的电流进行测试，旨在使 NiTi 层的温度变化 95 °C。所提出的策略已被证明可以将电热加热的 NiTi 单晶微致动器的能量效率提高高达 803%。[2020-0204]