阅读说明：本技术 一种人工肌肉 (Artificial muscle ) 是由 王宏强 张瀚文 丁梓钧 陈诺 张一鸣 郭上堃 徐国杰 于 2021-07-22 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明公开了一种人工肌肉,其中,包括：驱动单元,多个所述驱动单元堆叠设置；其中,所述驱动单元包括多个元胞,所述元胞的中部设有一活动空间,相邻的所述元胞的首尾相连接,或/和相邻所述驱动单元之间的元胞相连接。本发明通过将具有活动空间的多个元胞连接形成驱动单元,并将多个驱动单元堆叠设置,使得各个元胞均可以单独控制收缩运动,也可同时控制不同层级的元胞收缩运动,或者控制整个驱动单元中的元胞同时进行收缩运动。本发明实施例中的人工肌肉具有堆叠设置的结构方式,同一层级的元胞可以实现独立控制,从而使得人工肌肉更具有灵活性,控制更加简单,扩展了人工肌肉的使用场景。(The invention discloses an artificial muscle, which comprises: a driving unit, a plurality of which are stacked; the driving unit comprises a plurality of cells, the middle of each cell is provided with a moving space, and the adjacent cells are connected end to end or/and the adjacent cells between the driving units are connected. The driving unit is formed by connecting a plurality of cells with the moving space, and the driving units are stacked, so that each cell can independently control the contraction motion, and can also control the contraction motion of the cells at different levels simultaneously, or control the cells in the whole driving unit to simultaneously perform the contraction motion. The artificial muscle in the embodiment of the invention has a structural mode of stacking arrangement, and the cells at the same level can be independently controlled, so that the artificial muscle has more flexibility and simpler control, and the use scene of the artificial muscle is expanded.)

1. An artificial muscle, comprising:

a driving unit, a plurality of which are stacked;

wherein, the driving unit comprises a plurality of cells, the middle part of each cell is provided with a movable space, the adjacent cells are connected end to end, or/and

the cells between the adjacent driving units are connected.

2. The artificial muscle according to claim 1, wherein the unit cell comprises:

the two movable elements are symmetrically arranged, two ends of each movable element are connected with each other, and the middle parts of the two movable elements form the movable space.

3. An artificial muscle as claimed in claim 2, wherein the active element comprises:

a power-on sheet;

the insulating layer is arranged on the outer side of the electrified piece;

and the electric wire penetrates through the insulating layer and is connected with the electrified piece.

4. The artificial muscle according to claim 3, further comprising cover plates provided on the top of the driving unit of the uppermost layer and on the bottom of the driving unit of the lowermost layer.

5. An artificial muscle according to claim 4, wherein the drive units are arranged in an endless loop, end to end.

6. An artificial muscle according to claim 5, wherein a single said drive unit comprises at least three cells.

7. The artificial muscle according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the unit cells are linearly connected to form the driving unit.

8. The artificial muscle according to claim 7, wherein the plurality of superimposed layers of drive units are arranged in a criss-cross pattern.

9. An artificial muscle as claimed in claim 2, wherein the active element is U-shaped.

10. The artificial muscle according to claim 3, wherein the electric conducting sheet is a carbon steel sheet, and the insulating layer is made of polyvinyl chloride.

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of bionics, in particular to an artificial muscle.

Background

The structural diversity can reflect the functional diversity, but the existing artificial muscle has single structural function and complex control system, so the environmental adaptability is poor, and the artificial muscle is difficult to use in complex environment.

Thus, the prior art has yet to be improved and enhanced.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above-mentioned shortcomings of the prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide an artificial muscle that provides a way to manufacture structures with topological complexity, thereby solving the problem of limited application range of the artificial muscle in the prior art.

The technical scheme adopted by the invention for solving the technical problem is as follows:

the embodiment of the invention provides an artificial muscle, wherein the artificial muscle comprises:

a driving unit, a plurality of which are stacked;

wherein, the driving unit comprises a plurality of cells, the middle part of each cell is provided with a movable space, the adjacent cells are connected end to end, or/and

the cells between the adjacent driving units are connected.

As a further improvement, in the artificial muscle, the unit cells include:

the two movable elements are symmetrically arranged, two ends of each movable element are connected with each other, and the middle parts of the two movable elements form the movable space.

As a further improvement, in the artificial muscle, the movable element includes:

a power-on sheet;

the insulating layer is arranged on the outer side of the electrified piece;

and the electric wire penetrates through the insulating layer and is connected with the electrified piece.

As a further improvement, in the artificial muscle, the artificial muscle further includes a cover plate, and the cover plate is disposed on the top of the driving unit on the uppermost layer and on the bottom of the driving unit on the lowermost layer.

As a further improved technical scheme, in the artificial muscle, the driving units are connected end to end and are arranged in a ring shape.

As a further improvement, in the artificial muscle, a single driving unit includes at least three unit cells.

As a further improvement, in the artificial muscle, a plurality of the unit cells are linearly connected to form the driving unit.

As a further improved technical scheme, in the artificial muscle, a plurality of layers of superposed driving units are arranged in a crisscross mode.

As a further improvement, in the artificial muscle, the movable element is U-shaped.

As a further improved technical scheme, in the artificial muscle, the electrified sheet is a carbon steel sheet, and the insulating layer is made of polyvinyl chloride.

Compared with the prior art, the embodiment of the invention has the following advantages:

the driving unit is formed by connecting a plurality of cells with the moving space, and the driving units are stacked, so that each cell can independently control the contraction motion, and can also control the contraction motion of the cells at different levels simultaneously, or control the cells in the whole driving unit to simultaneously perform the contraction motion. The artificial muscle in the embodiment of the invention has a structural mode of stacking arrangement, and the cells at the same level can be independently controlled, so that the artificial muscle has more flexibility and simpler control, and the use scene of the artificial muscle is expanded.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an artificial muscle provided by the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a first embodiment of an artificial muscle according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a first structural diagram of a driving unit in an artificial muscle according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a second structural diagram of a driving unit in an artificial muscle according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a second embodiment of an artificial muscle according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a cell in an artificial muscle according to the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of the structure of an active element in an artificial muscle according to the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a third structure of a driving unit in an artificial muscle according to the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a third embodiment of an artificial muscle provided by the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a fourth embodiment of an artificial muscle according to the present invention;

fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a fifth implementation structure of an artificial muscle provided by the invention.

In the figure: 100. a drive unit; 10. a cellular cell; 20. an activity space; 30. a movable element; 31. a power-on sheet; 32. an insulating layer; 33. an electric wire; 200. and (7) a cover plate.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and effects of the present invention clearer and clearer, the present invention is further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention.

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being "secured to" or "disposed on" another element, it can be directly on the other element or be indirectly on the other element. When an element is referred to as being "connected to" another element, it can be directly connected to the other element or be indirectly connected to the other element.

It should also be noted that the same or similar reference numerals in the drawings of the embodiments of the present invention correspond to the same or similar components; in the description of the present invention, it should be understood that if there is an orientation or positional relationship indicated by the terms "upper", "lower", "left", "right", etc. based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, it is only for convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, but it is not intended to indicate or imply that the referred device or element must have a specific orientation, be constructed in a specific orientation, and be operated, and therefore, the terms describing the positional relationship in the drawings are only used for illustrative purposes and are not to be construed as limiting the present patent, and the specific meaning of the terms may be understood by those skilled in the art according to specific circumstances.

Furthermore, the terms "first", "second" and "first" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. In the description of the present invention, "a plurality" means two or more unless specifically defined otherwise.

The hierarchical organization structure is the inspiration of the hierarchical organization structure (cell-tissue-organ-system-organism) generally existing in nature, the design of the robot is evolved into the topological relation among different hierarchical structures, and the variety and complexity of the robot can be greatly enriched.

The hierarchical organization structure, from the bottom-up perspective, first builds the bottom hierarchical unit: one-dimensional movement of basic functional units (cells), followed by hierarchical organization of higher level units: two-dimensional motion complex function unit: telescoping function, bending function (organization), then building higher level cells: three-dimensional motion compound unit (torsional motion) (organization), give the sensing function of motion unit at last, construct higher level unit: the motor function and the sensing function (organ) are fused, … … is analogized in turn, and a hierarchical tissue structure (cell-tissue-organ-system-organism) is constructed. The jump from the lower level to the upper level enables the crossing of functions. I.e., higher levels can implement functions that lower levels cannot implement, and complexity results therefrom. The units at the same level can realize mutual intersection, and diversity is generated by the mutual intersection.

Example (b):

referring to fig. 1, the artificial muscle includes: a driving unit 100, a plurality of the driving units 100 being stacked; the driving unit 100 includes a plurality of cells 10, a moving space 20 is disposed in the middle of each cell 10, and the adjacent cells 10 are connected end to end or/and the cells 10 between the adjacent driving units 100 are connected.

In the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 1, the driving units 100 are stacked up and down, which total three layers of driving units 100, each layer of driving units 100 has 2 cells 10, and the 2 cells 10 are connected end to end in sequence and transmit motion to each other; the three-layer driving unit 100 has 6 cells 10, each cell 10 can be independently controlled, and the movable space 20 is used for the cell 10 to contract; of course, it is also possible to stack the driving unit 100 into artificial muscles of different shapes, such as a curved shape as shown in fig. 2. Specifically, in actual use, the cells 10 can be controlled to contract by electrifying two end portions of the cells 10 (connecting the two ends to the positive and negative electrodes respectively) and by switching on and off the current, for example, the cells 10 are electrostatically attracted to contract towards the inside of the moving space 20 under the action of a high-voltage electric field when the electricity is electrified, and reset when the electricity is cut off; similarly, when it is necessary to control the operation of one driving unit 100, each cell 10 in the driving unit 100 may be powered on, and the cells 10 at different positions are powered on, so as to make the cells 10 at different positions perform the contraction operation, further, the magnitude of the current flowing into the cells 10 may be controlled according to the magnitude of the required operation, for example, a large current flows to drive the cells 10 to have a larger contraction degree, and the corresponding activity space 20 is also compressed to be smaller, and similarly, a small current flows to drive the cells 10 to have a smaller contraction degree, and the activity space 20 is compressed to be lighter. Of course, all the cells 10 in one driving unit 100 may be powered on at the same time to control the whole driving unit 100 to move simultaneously, and all the cells 10 of one driving unit 100 may be regarded as a small group, so that the grouping control is more convenient.

Specifically, taking fig. 1 as an example, when 2 cells 10 in the driving unit 100 at the uppermost layer of fig. 1 are powered on, the 2 cells 10 at the uppermost layer contract toward the activity space 20, and when the power is off, the 2 cells 10 at the uppermost layer reset, and similarly, any one cell 10 at the uppermost layer can be powered on independently to contract, so that all the cells 10 in the artificial muscle provided in the embodiment of the present invention can be independently controlled, thereby enabling the artificial muscle to have more flexibility, to adapt to a complex environment, and to be controlled more simply, thereby expanding the use scene of the artificial muscle.

Specifically, a driving unit 100 may be formed by stacking the unit cells 10 up and down, the stacked unit cells 10 may be connected by an adhesive, as shown in fig. 3, and 3 unit cells 10 are stacked up and down to form the driving unit 100; further, a driving unit 100 can be formed by a shape matching manner, as shown in fig. 4, 4 unit cells 10 form a driving unit 100 by a shape matching manner; furthermore, a plurality of cells 10 located in different directions may be connected to form a driving unit 100, as shown in fig. 5, there are 3 cells 10 in the up-down, left-right directions, and a total of 12 cells 10 form a driving unit 100.

Further, referring to fig. 6, the cell 10 includes: the two movable elements 30 are symmetrically arranged, two ends of each movable element 30 are respectively connected, and the middle parts of the two movable elements 30 form the movable space 20. Specifically, the two movable elements 30 are thin and have certain flexibility, the two movable elements 30 have the same structure and are oppositely attached to each other, two ends of the two movable elements 30 are oppositely connected, optionally, adhesives (not shown in the figures) are arranged at two ends of the two movable elements 30, the middle parts of the two movable elements 30 are not contacted to form a hollow state, that is, the movable space 20 is formed, optionally, the movable elements 30 are U-shaped, and U-shaped openings on the two movable elements 30 are connected to each other to form the movable space 20. When any one of the movable elements 30 is connected with the positive pole of the power supply and the other one is connected with the negative pole of the power supply, the two movable elements 30 are adsorbed together, the movable space 20 is compressed, and when the two movable elements 30 are powered off, the two movable elements 30 are separated, and the movable space 20 recovers the original size. Specifically, the liquid dielectric medium is located in the moving space 20 and close to the connection position of the two moving elements 30, and optionally, the liquid dielectric medium is silicon oil.

Further, referring to fig. 7, the movable element 30 includes: an energizing sheet 31, an insulating layer 32, and an electric wire 33; wherein, the conducting piece 31 is the core of the movable element 30, the outer shape of the conducting piece 31 is consistent with the outer shape of the whole movable element 30 and is in a U shape, and the outer shape of the whole movable element 30 changes along with the change of the outer shape of the conducting piece 31; of course, the conducting piece 31 may be formed in other shapes in actual use as long as the effect of conducting the current to be resettable is satisfied. The insulating layer 32 is arranged on the outer side of the conducting piece 31, and the insulating layer 32 is used for protecting the conducting piece 31 and playing a role in insulation; the wire 33 is connected with the conducting piece 31 through the insulating layer 32, is sandwiched by the insulating layer 32, and is used for connecting the conducting piece 31 and the positive electrode or the negative electrode of a power supply; optionally, the electrified sheet 31 is a carbon steel sheet, the thickness of the electrified sheet is selected to be 0.01-0.07 mm, the electric conduction sheet has better toughness, and the electric conduction sheet can be contracted when electrified and reset when power is off; the insulating layer 32 is made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and of course, in practical use, the conducting strip 31 and the insulating layer 32 may also be made of other materials, which is not limited in the present invention.

In some embodiments, referring to fig. 8 and 9, the artificial muscle further includes a cover plate 200, and the cover plate 200 is disposed on the top of the driving unit 100 at the uppermost layer and on the bottom of the driving unit 100 at the lowermost layer.

In a specific embodiment, the cover plate 200 has a circular shape and serves as a fixing support, the cover plate 200 is connected to the driving unit 100 by an adhesive, and the cover plate 200 is made of a hard material, such as an acrylic plate. Two driving units 100 are disposed between the two cover plates 200, each driving unit 100 includes a plurality of cells 10, for example, as shown in fig. 8, a single driving unit 100 at least includes three cells 10, the three cells 10 are connected end to form a driving unit 100, and the driving units 100 are annularly disposed end to end, so that the entire artificial muscle is in a cylindrical shape. Of course, four or more cells 10 may be connected end to form the driving unit 100, and three cells 10 are selected to form a ring structure more easily, and the number of cells 10 in a single driving unit 100 is not limited in the present invention, and the number of layers of the driving unit 100 between two cover plates 200 is not limited. Specifically, as shown in fig. 9, the cylindrical artificial muscle which can be regarded as a simple version is composed of 2 layers of driving units 100, each layer of driving unit 100 has 3 cells 10, and has 6 cells 10, wherein each cell 10 is formed by connecting the positive and negative electrodes of 2 wires 33, and has 12 wires 33. The wires 33 of a single layer may be energized to effect contraction of this layer, and the wires 33 of a single column may be energized to effect contraction of this column (as the other 2 columns are not contracted, looking generally at the curvature of the artificial muscle), and the degree of freedom of curvature of the artificial muscle may be varied depending on the number of cells 10 in each layer.

In other embodiments, referring to fig. 10, a plurality of the unit cells 10 are linearly connected to form the driving unit 100, and a plurality of layers of the driving units 100 are disposed in a crisscross manner.

In a specific embodiment, as shown in fig. 10, it can be regarded as a cubic artificial muscle, wherein three cells 10 are arranged in one driving unit 100, and the three cells 10 are connected in sequence and are in a linear shape; each layer is provided with three driving units 100, the three driving units 100 on each layer are arranged in parallel, and two adjacent driving units 100 in a superposed state are in a criss-cross state. Similarly, two wires 33 are connected to each cell 10, each layer has 9 cells 10, there are 6 layers, and there are 54 wires 33 in total, and when controlling, the wires 33 of a single layer can be electrified to realize the contraction of all the cells 10 of the layer, or the wires 33 of a single column can be electrified to realize the contraction of the cells 10 of the column, in practical use, the plurality of wires 33 can be integrated into a module (for example, the wires 33 corresponding to the cells 10 of a single row, a single column, and one surface can be managed uniformly, and the cells 10 of other positions can be grouped), so that the group control can be realized.

The following will explain the principle of the artificial muscle in detail with reference to a specific use scenario:

taking the structure shown in fig. 11 as an example, the artificial muscle can be regarded as a simple version, and is composed of 4 driving units 100, which are respectively located in four directions, namely front, back, left and right directions, each driving unit 100 has 12 cells 10, and the whole artificial muscle has 48 cells 10; each cell 10 is connected to the positive and negative electrodes by 2 wires 33, and there are 96 wires 33 (not shown in the figure). When the driving unit 100 on the leftmost side needs to be controlled to act, the electric wire 33 on the leftmost side can be electrified to contract all the cells 10 on the layer, and when the driving unit 100 on the rightmost side needs to be controlled to act, the electric wire 33 on the rightmost side can be electrified to contract all the cells 10 on the layer, and similarly, the driving units 100 in the front-back direction are also controlled in the same way; of course, more complex actions may be performed, such as energizing the wires 33 of a single column in one of the drive units 100 to effect contraction of that column, or energizing cells 10 at different positions in different columns to effect more complex movements.

In summary, the present invention provides an artificial muscle, comprising: a driving unit, a plurality of which are stacked; the driving unit comprises a plurality of cells, the middle of each cell is provided with a moving space, and the adjacent cells are connected end to end or/and the adjacent cells between the driving units are connected. The driving unit is formed by connecting a plurality of cells with the moving space, and the driving units are stacked, so that each cell can independently control the contraction motion, and can also control the contraction motion of the cells at different levels simultaneously, or control the cells in the whole driving unit to simultaneously perform the contraction motion. The artificial muscle in the embodiment of the invention has a structural mode of stacking arrangement, and the cells at the same level can be independently controlled, so that the artificial muscle has more flexibility and simpler control, and the use scene of the artificial muscle is expanded.

Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. This invention is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention following, in general, the principles of the invention and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice within the art to which the invention pertains. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims.