Dynamic Velocity Response of an Electro-Rheological (ER) Clutch for Robotic Applications

摘要

Electro-rheological (ER) fluid devices offer controllable output dynamics at fast speed of response. This ER performance is examined for robotic applications. Given the rapid speed of response of the clutch, this ER clutch is considered as an alternative actuator for the robot arm. In the present paper, the main objective is to validate a mathematical model that predicts the output velocity response of this ER device. The other aim is to develop a suitable engineering technique to activate and de-activate the output response of the ER clutch rapidly for achieving fast start-stop motions of ER–actuated robot arm. Next, a trend study on the ER output velocity response is conducted to determine suitable input parameters for fast robotic performances and also to identify some preliminary ER problems for feasible ER-robotic applications.