A Control System For Achieving Rapid Controlled Motions From Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) Actuator Wires

Acknowledgements There are many who have made contributions, both directly and indirectly to the completion of this thesis. I would like to name a few. First of all, I would like to sincerely thank my supervisor, Dr. Roy Featherstone, whose help has been enormous and whose enthusiasm has sparked my own in this wonderful work. His ideas and suggestions had frequently created jigsaw puzzles with many of the pieces missing throughout the entire project, which had made learning a very steep and difficult process for me. Yet they made all the efforts and time spent worthwhile. I would like to express my gratitude to my parents and family, who have made me the person that I am now and who have given me the opportunity to thread my own path in life, but have never left me without support and love. The staffs of the Research School of Information Sciences and Engineering (RSISE) at ANU had been extremely helpful, especially Jason Chen and Luke Cole whose mechanical and electrical expertise have helped construct the experiment rig and made this project possible. I would also like to acknowledge that this project was undertaken as a Summer Research Project at RSISE during the summer of 2002/03 with significant support and assistance from the Research School. Finally, I would like to thank Aya, Ray and Xiao Wuan who were helpful enough to read my draft thesis, and provide such valuable feedback. This thesis contains no material that has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any University. To the best of my knowledge, this thesis contains no material previously published, or results or any work by any other person, except where due reference is made in text. Abstract III Abstract Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs) are a group of metallic materials that demonstrate the ability to return to some previously defined shape via a phase transformation induced by thermal procedure. Basically, wires made from these alloys can be plastically deformed at some relatively low temperature, and upon heating will return to their shape prior to the deformation. A specially manufactured alloy of nickel and titanium (NiTi), called Flexinol tm , is one of many that can generate significant force upon changing shape and is of commercial interest. A lot of research and commercial work have been conducted on SMAs but only a few truly investigated the application of SMAs …