Design construction of beam structured vertical drive SMA thin film actuator for small tactile display

Abstract

This paper presents a novel shape memory alloy (SMA) thin film actuator that has capability of vertical driving, miniaturization, and generating both large force and large displacement. We targeted a small tactile display which can reproduce a texture of an object to a fingertip, termed Smart Button, as a device for utilizing the proposed actuator performance effectively. An actuator for Smart Button has to achive displacement of dozens micron, output force of mN, output frequency of dozens Hz and an actuator pitch of less than 1 mm. The actuator structure of TiNi/SiO2 bi-material beam structure with flexible fixed ends is proposed for performing the requirements. The structural dependences of the displacement and generating force of the actuator were analyzed by FEM. As a result, the validity of the proposed design concept and the configuration of the actuator for Smart Button was successfully confirmed. © 2008 The Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan.