Underactive bladder or detrusor underactivity (DU) is defined as a reduction of contraction strength or duration of the bladder wall. Despite the serious healthcare implications of DU, there are limited solutions for affected individuals. A flexible 3D printed implantable device driven by shape memory alloys (SMA) actuators is presented here for the first time to physically contract the bladder...

Shape Memory Alloys (SMA’s) have been employed to enhance structural properties and increase the ability of structures to adapt and conform as desired. Morphing technology has also proven beneficial to space hardware deployment, in addition to satellite antenna design. In this research, Reinforcement Learning is utilized with an antenna model to demonstrate that antenna elements equipped with S...

The purpose of current investigation is to engage two efficient evolvable neuro-evolutionary machines to identify a nonlinear dynamic model for a shape memory alloy (SMA) actuator. SMA materials are kind of smart materials capable of compensating any undergo plastic deformations and return to their memorized shape. This fascinating trait gives them versatility to be applied on different enginee...

Peltier devices, also known as thermoelectric devices (TEDs), are solid state junctions of two dissimilar materials in which heat transfer and electrical conduction are coupled. A current running through a TED causes heat to flow; likewise, the presence of an external temperature gradient will induce an electrical potential across the TED. The former effect is known as the Peltier effect; the l...

The stress created by the austenite transformation of mechanically constrained NiTi shape memory alloys (SMAs) significantly exceeds that required to deform (detwin) its low temperature martensitic phase. The one-way shape memory effect can therefore be used to create antagonistic, fully reversible flexural shape morphing structures by assembling opposing pairs of linear contractile SMA actuato...

This paper describes a new motion control system for actuators based on antagonistic-pair arrangements of electrically-heated SMA elements. Two different controllers have been tested, both of them incorporating a new rapid heating strategy that greatly increases the rate at which the elements can be heated without risk of overheating. Essentially, the current applied to the element is the lesse...

Shape memory alloys (SMA) show a high ratio of work capacity per material volume. This makes the application of SMA especially useful in micron-sized systems. The development of robotic grippers is one important prerequisite for the successful automation of the assembly of micro systems. Therefore the SMA may also play a role, for example, as actuators in micron-sized grippers. This paper prese...

Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are widely used in aerospace, automobile, and other fields because of their excellent properties, such as large driving force deformation. A training method with a bidirectional effect is proposed for SMA actuators. The trained units can be heated cooled to change shape (shorten extend). an actuator drive the deformation structure. Due obvious hysteresis characteristi...

Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are being increasingly applied as thermally driven actuators. The commercially available SMA elements, however, frequently contain stress risers, either due to internal or surface defects the required component shape. Stress risers represent a potential danger for preliminary fatigue failure of such actuators but its actual mechanism is not very clear. This paper pres...