Article
Version 1
Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed
Evaluation of a Mesoscale Thermal Actuator in Open and Closed Operating Cycles
Version 1
: Received: 15 September 2019 / Approved: 16 September 2019 / Online: 16 September 2019 (10:56:57 CEST)
How to cite: Burugupally, S. P. Evaluation of a Mesoscale Thermal Actuator in Open and Closed Operating Cycles. Preprints 2019, 2019090162. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints201909.0162.v1 Burugupally, S. P. Evaluation of a Mesoscale Thermal Actuator in Open and Closed Operating Cycles. Preprints 2019, 2019090162. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints201909.0162.v1
Abstract
Thermal-based actuators are known for generating large force and displacement strokes at mesoscale (millimeter) regime. In particular, two-phase thermal actuators are found to benefit from the scaling laws of physics at mesoscale to offer large force and displacement strokes; but they have low thermal efficiencies. As an alternative, a combustion-based thermal actuator is proposed and its performance is studied in both open and closed cycle operations. Through a physics-based lumped-parameter model, we investigate the behavior and performance of the actuator using a spring-mass-damper analogy and taking an air standard cycle approach. Three observations are reported: (1) the mesoscale actuator can generate peak forces of up to 400 N and displacement strokes of about 16 cm suitable for practical applications; (2) an increase in heat input to the actuator results in increasing the thermal efficiency of the actuator for both open and closed cycles; and (3) for a specific heat input, both the open and closed cycle operations respond differently \textemdash different stroke lengths, peak pressures, and thermal efficiencies.
Keywords
thermal actuator; compliant architecture; open and closed operating cycles; mesoscale
Subject
Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Comments (0)
We encourage comments and feedback from a broad range of readers. See criteria for comments and our Diversity statement.
Leave a public commentSend a private comment to the author(s)
* All users must log in before leaving a comment