The need for novel, high performance actuators felt in several fields of robotics, such as assistive or rehabilitative robotics, is not fully satisfied by current actuation means. This fosters an intense research on novel energy transduction methods. In particular, propellant-based chemical actuators, able to directly convert chemical energy into mechanical energy, appear very promising, although their potential in robotics has not yet been deeply investigated. This work focuses on H2O2, used as propellant for actuators. This chemical was first used in robotics, with excellent results, by Goldfarb and collaborators, in 2003. H2O 2 dissociation is strongly exothermic, which generates important design issues when the actuated machine operates in close proximity to the human body. In this paper it is shown that: 1) is possible to operate the decomposition process at acceptable temperature, by means of basic solutions of hydrogen peroxide; 2) for basic pH solutions, tin becomes an effective catalyst for H2O2 dissociation. A kinetic model of H 2O2 dissociation in basic solutions is provided, that is in good agreement with experimental data. We show how the model can be used to gather the necessary information for the dimensioning of H2O 2-based actuators. ©2010 IEEE.
Low-temperature H2O2-powered actuators for biorobotics: Thermodynamic and kinetic analysis / Flavia, Vitale; Dino, Accoto; Turchetti, Luca; Stefano, Indini; Annesini, Maria Cristina; Eugenio, Guglielmelli. - (2010), pp. 2197-2202. (Intervento presentato al convegno 2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, ICRA 2010 tenutosi a Anchorage; United States nel 3 May 2010 through 7 May 2010) [10.1109/robot.2010.5509936].
Low-temperature H2O2-powered actuators for biorobotics: Thermodynamic and kinetic analysis
TURCHETTI, Luca;ANNESINI, Maria Cristina;
2010
Abstract
The need for novel, high performance actuators felt in several fields of robotics, such as assistive or rehabilitative robotics, is not fully satisfied by current actuation means. This fosters an intense research on novel energy transduction methods. In particular, propellant-based chemical actuators, able to directly convert chemical energy into mechanical energy, appear very promising, although their potential in robotics has not yet been deeply investigated. This work focuses on H2O2, used as propellant for actuators. This chemical was first used in robotics, with excellent results, by Goldfarb and collaborators, in 2003. H2O 2 dissociation is strongly exothermic, which generates important design issues when the actuated machine operates in close proximity to the human body. In this paper it is shown that: 1) is possible to operate the decomposition process at acceptable temperature, by means of basic solutions of hydrogen peroxide; 2) for basic pH solutions, tin becomes an effective catalyst for H2O2 dissociation. A kinetic model of H 2O2 dissociation in basic solutions is provided, that is in good agreement with experimental data. We show how the model can be used to gather the necessary information for the dimensioning of H2O 2-based actuators. ©2010 IEEE.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.