Research on hydraulic actuators that utilize the compressibility of air bubbles in hydraulic fluid as a shock absorbing effect

Abstract

In recent years, there has been active development of robots that play a role in people's lives. These robots require actuators that have high responsiveness and high output force in addition to being small. Furthermore, safety and contact affinity are also required for these actuators. An actuator that can balance high responsiveness, high output, and contact affinity is developed in this study. The proposed system is a hybrid system of hydraulic and pneumatic systems. Hydraulic systems are generally used in machines that require large forces, such as construction machinery, because they have high responsiveness and high output force. However, hydraulic systems have poor contact affinity. On the other hand, pneumatic systems are used in machines that come into contact with people, such as power assist suits and massage chairs, because they have high contact affinity, although their output is inferior to that of hydraulic systems. Generally, the mixing of air bubbles into hydraulic oil is a problem. However, as the pressure increases, the rigidity of the working hydraulic oil mixed with bubbles approaches that of pure working hydraulic oil. If this characteristic is appropriately modeled and controlled, bubbles mixed into the working hydraulic oil can create a cushioning effect. Firstly, the relationship between the pressure and rigidity of hydraulic oil mixed with bubbles is demonstrated in this paper. Secondly, the mechanism of the hybrid system and the prototype model are explained. Lastly, the results of performance evaluation through analysis and experiments are presented. From these results, this paper shows that the proposed system has the potential to balance high responsiveness, high output, and contact affinity.