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Actuators
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Multifunctional Active Materials and Structures Based Actuators
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Multifunctional Active Materials and Structures Based Actuators

A special issue of Actuators (ISSN 2076-0825). This special issue belongs to the section "Actuator Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (29 February 2024) | Viewed by 10080

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Kamran Behdinan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute for Multidisciplinary Design and Innovation (IMDI), University of Toronto, Toronto ON M5S 3E3, Canada
Interests: multidisciplinary engineering design; multiscale analysis and design of multifunctional lightweight structures

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Active materials such as piezoelectric materials with the ability to convert electrical pulse/charge from thermal/mechanical excitations or vice versa have received growing attention in research communities due to their wide use in diverse applications including as actuators/sensors.

Moreover, given the fast developments in low-energy-consumption microelectronic systems such as implantable and wearable devices, these active materials can generate efficient and sustainable electrical energy to introduce ecofriendly, miniaturized, and self-powered devices.

However, the field of multifunctional active materials and structures still encounters various fundamental and practical challenges. Therefore, this Special Issue is being established to compile high-quality scientific works on the following topics:

  • Multifunctional Actuator/Sensors;
  • Piezoelectrically Actuated Devices;
  • Active Nanocomposites;
  • Energy Harvesters;
  • Nanogenerators;
  • Biomedical Self-Controlled Devices;
  • Wearable and Implantable Devices;
  • Ecofriendly Energies;
  • Biocompatible Materials and Structures;
  • Smart Materials and Structures.

Prof. Dr. Kamran Behdinan
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Actuators is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • multifunctional actuator/sensors
  • piezoelectrically actuated devices
  • active nanocomposites
  • energy harvesters
  • nanogenerators
  • biomedical self-controlled devices
  • wearable and implantable devices
  • ecofriendly energies
  • biocompatible materials and structures
  • smart materials and structures

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 2823 KiB  
Article
Electromechanical Natural Frequency Analysis of an Eco-Friendly Active Sandwich Plate
by Rasool Moradi-Dastjerdi and Kamran Behdinan
Actuators 2022, 11(9), 261; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/act11090261 - 09 Sep 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1622
Abstract
In conventional piezoelectric ceramics, their brittle nature and containing lead are two crucial issues that significantly restrict their uses in many applications such as biomedical devices. In this work, we suggest the use of an eco-friendly piezoelectric nanocomposite material to piezoelectrically activate a [...] Read more.
In conventional piezoelectric ceramics, their brittle nature and containing lead are two crucial issues that significantly restrict their uses in many applications such as biomedical devices. In this work, we suggest the use of an eco-friendly piezoelectric nanocomposite material to piezoelectrically activate a cantilever meta-structure plate to be used as a novel actuator/sensor or even energy harvester; this cantilever plate is formed of several polymeric links to create an auxetic core plate that structurally shows a negative Poisson’s ratio. Moreover, the active nanocomposite materials are used as the face sheets on the auxetic plate; these active layers are made of nanowires of zinc oxide (ZnO) that are placed into an epoxy matrix in different forms of functionally graded (FG) patterns. For such active sandwich plates (ASPs) with potential electromechanical applications, a coupled electromechanical analysis has been performed to numerically investigate their natural frequencies as a crucial design parameter in such electromechanical devices. By developing a meshless method based on a higher plate theory, the effects of nanowire volume fraction, nanowire distribution, auxetic parameters, layer dimensions, and electrical terminal set-up have been studied; this in-depth study reveals that ASPs with an auxetic core have much lower natural frequencies than ASPs with honeycomb cores which would be very helpful in designing actuators or energy harvesters using the proposed cantilever sandwich plates. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multifunctional Active Materials and Structures Based Actuators)
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10 pages, 2675 KiB  
Communication
PVDF Energy Harvester for Prolonging the Battery Life of Cardiac Pacemakers
by Christopher Hu, Kamran Behdinan and Rasool Moradi-Dastjerdi
Actuators 2022, 11(7), 187; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/act11070187 - 08 Jul 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2859
Abstract
Patients who have an implantable cardiac pacemaker that survive beyond the operational life of the device require replacement surgeries that increase healthcare costs and may possibly introduce post-operative complications such as infection. In this paper, we propose a piezoelectric energy harvester design for [...] Read more.
Patients who have an implantable cardiac pacemaker that survive beyond the operational life of the device require replacement surgeries that increase healthcare costs and may possibly introduce post-operative complications such as infection. In this paper, we propose a piezoelectric energy harvester design for powering pacemakers to extend their operational life. The design uses a thin strip of piezoelectric PVDF that captures energy from bending of the lead wire. We assemble a prototype to validate a finite element model, and then use the finite element model to characterize the power output of the design based on a cantilever beam loading condition, where displacement at the cantilever tip simulated heart motion. The voltage output from the prototype was compared to the output from the finite element simulation and the finite element simulation provided a good estimate of the voltage output. Further finite element analysis showed that for a 10 cm long section of the proposed design, a 9.1 mm tip displacement provided a power output of 1 μW and a voltage output of ±1.4 V during each cycle. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multifunctional Active Materials and Structures Based Actuators)
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14 pages, 5435 KiB  
Article
Foot Drop Stimulation via Piezoelectric Energy Harvester
by Parham Soozandeh, Ganga Poudel, Morteza Sarkari and Kamran Behdinan
Actuators 2022, 11(7), 174; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/act11070174 - 22 Jun 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1851
Abstract
The design and implementation of a piezoelectric energy-harvesting system, aimed at stimulating the Tibialis anterior muscle to aid patients struggling with a foot drop disability, are investigated. A physical prototype designed to be installed inside a shoe sole, consisting of an energy-harvesting unit [...] Read more.
The design and implementation of a piezoelectric energy-harvesting system, aimed at stimulating the Tibialis anterior muscle to aid patients struggling with a foot drop disability, are investigated. A physical prototype designed to be installed inside a shoe sole, consisting of an energy-harvesting unit along with a power-management circuit and a functional electrical-stimulation circuit, is fabricated. The piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH) incorporated six layers of Polyvinylidene-Fluoride sheets to achieve a mean-charge generation of 65.25 μC/step and a peak power of 10.76 mW/step. A peak voltage of +80.0 V generation was achieved during a stomping motion. The electrical systems store, convert, and deploy 60 mA electric pulses at the desired frequencies to the target muscle. The finalized prototype is best-suited to prolong the duration of the charged batteries whilst in use. In a practical sense, it should be used alongside external-power sources to recharge the batteries installed in a foot drop stimulation device. The PEH in its current state is fully capable of solely powering blood pressure sensors, glucose meters, or activity trackers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multifunctional Active Materials and Structures Based Actuators)
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16 pages, 4086 KiB  
Article
Electromechanical Performance of Biocompatible Piezoelectric Thin-Films
by S. Ranjan Mishra, Soran Hassani Fard, Taha Sheikh and Kamran Behdinan
Actuators 2022, 11(6), 171; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/act11060171 - 19 Jun 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2931
Abstract
The present study analyzed a computational model to evaluate the electromechanical properties of the AlN, BaTiO3, ZnO, PVDF, and KNN-NTK thin-films. With the rise in sustainable energy options for health monitoring devices and smart wearable sensors, developers need a scale to [...] Read more.
The present study analyzed a computational model to evaluate the electromechanical properties of the AlN, BaTiO3, ZnO, PVDF, and KNN-NTK thin-films. With the rise in sustainable energy options for health monitoring devices and smart wearable sensors, developers need a scale to compare the popular biocompatible piezoelectric materials. Cantilever-based energy harvesting technologies are seldom used in sophisticated and efficient biosensors. Such approaches only study transverse sensor loading and are confined to fewer excitation models than real-world applications. The present research analyses transverse vibratory and axial-loading responses to help design such sensors. A thin-film strip (50 × 20 × 0.1 mm) of each sample was examined under volumetric body load stimulation and time-based axial displacement in both the d31 and d33 piezoelectric energy generation modes. By collecting evidence from the literature of the material performance, properties, and performing a validated finite element study to evaluate these performances, the study compared them with lead-based non-biocompatible materials such as PZT and PMN-PT under comparable boundary conditions. Based on the present study, biocompatible materials are swiftly catching up to their predecessors. However, there is still a significant voltage and power output performance disparity that may be difficult to close based on the method of excitation (i.e., transverse, axial, or shear. According to this study, BaTiO3 and PVDF are recommended for cantilever-based energy harvester setups and axially-loaded configurations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multifunctional Active Materials and Structures Based Actuators)
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