22nd Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, Harrogate, UK, 28 August - 1st September, 2000
Paper ICAS 2000-4.9.1

THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON SHAPE MEMORY ALLOY TORSION ACTUATOR

K. Xiong, B. Tao, J. Jin
Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics , PRC

Keywords: sma , torsion actuator, analyses

Shape memory alloy (SMA) torsion actuator is one of the key issues in actuator technologies for adaptive wings. Nickel-Titanium alloy wire is sort of SMA in common use, and it possesses special mechanical property. SMA torsion actuator has been made up of NiTi wires and a thin-walled tube, and it can yield torsion deformation and moment, thus can manage the wing spanwise torsion. In this paper, the primary mechanical model of SMA torsion actuator is established, the relationship between torsion angle of the tube and the temperature is analyzed theoretically and verified by experiments, and optimum parameters for SMA actuators are discussed. In an experimental system, the AOA of a wing model connected with SMA torsion actuator can be changed continuously up to 15°, and good agreement is obtained between analytical and experimental data. The research is important for adaptive wing design, adaptive airfoil control and structural analysis in the future.

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