Pumps and valves made from ultrathin elastomeric films are lightweight and energy efficient

Miniaturized pumps and valves that depend on the movement of dielectric elastomeric silicone movies are being created in Saarland, Germany. Not solely are these units light-weight, compact and energy-efficient, however additionally they work with out the necessity for compressed air, motors or lubricants. They’re cleanroom-compatible and could be constantly managed whereas working.

The analysis workforce led by Professors Stefan Seelecke and Paul Motzki from Saarland College shall be exhibiting a prototype film-based vacuum pump at this yr’s Hannover fair from 31 March to 4 April. Their light-weight, low-energy know-how is ready to pull a vacuum all the way down to 300 millibars of stress (30% of normal atmospheric stress).

Vacuum know-how is ubiquitous, from the house vacuum sealers used to maintain meals more energizing for longer to the brake boosters utilized in automobiles. Vacuum techniques are essential within the medical discipline (surgical suction techniques), within the pharmaceutical and biotech and meals sectors (freeze drying, distillation, and so forth.) and in industrial processing (robotic grippers that kind merchandise on conveyor belts). Making a vacuum conventionally requires the usage of a motor-driven vacuum pump. However along with consuming a whole lot of vitality, these pumps are sometimes cumbersome and noisy, and have to be serviced and lubricated, which is commonly troublesome in cleanrooms or sterile environments.

The pumps and valves being developed by a analysis workforce led by Professors Stefan Seelecke and Paul Motzki at Saarland College and the Heart for Mechatronics and Automation Know-how (ZeMA) function totally with out exterior motors—and devour little vitality within the course of. On the coronary heart of those units are skinny silicone movies that may be moved just by making use of a small electrical voltage.

“Our technology is cost-effective to manufacture. And because the components are lightweight we save space and weight, meaning that the pumps and valves we’re developing are much more energy efficient than equivalent devices that use conventional technology. Compared with a commercially available pneumatic solenoid valve, i.e. one driven by an electromagnet, we can drive the same valve using 400 times less energy,” explains Paul Motzki, Professor of Good Materials Programs for Modern Manufacturing at Saarland College and Scientific Director/CEO at ZeMA gGmbH.

And the Saarbrücken know-how could be manufactured with no need costly or hard-to-source supplies like copper or uncommon earth parts. One other benefit is noise reductionwith film-based pumps considerably quieter than typical compressor-driven pumps.

The silicone movie itself has a thickness of solely about one twentieth of a millimeter and the researchers are capable of management the actions of those ultrathin movies very exactly. It’s because a extremely versatile electrically conducting layer is printed onto all sides of the movie to create what is called a dielectric elastomer. If the engineers apply a voltage to the elastomer movie, the conducting layers appeal to one another, compressing the polymer and inflicting it to increase sideways, thus growing its floor space.

“We’re using these dielectric elastomers to develop novel drive systems that do not need to be equipped with additional sensors,” explains Paul Motzki.

By various the utilized electrical discipline, the researchers could make the elastomeric movie execute constantly variable flexing motions or make it oscillate or flex at some required frequency. Or they’ll maintain the movie in a selected fastened place with out requiring the continual provide of vitality.

“These dielectric elastomer films are self-sensing and are able to act as their own position sensors,” says Motzki.

A exact electrical capacitance worth could be assigned to every deformation or change in place of the movie. Even the slightest motion of the movie leads to a change within the capacitance. Utilizing these capacitance values, the engineers are capable of exactly quantify the spatial deformation of the movie.

By combining the capacitance information and AI-based machine studying, the workforce has developed a control unit that may predict and program movement sequences and thus exactly management how the elastomer movie deforms. By incorporating these dielectric elastomer actuators into appropriately designed gear, the analysis workforce are capable of create motorless pumps that may pull a vacuum, valves that may ship actual portions of liquid, or parts that may act as stepless switches.

The capacitance information additionally reveals if one thing will not be functioning because it ought to, for instance if the vacuum is just too small, or if there’s a international physique blocking the valve or pump. These film-based pumps and valves are self-sensing, which implies that they’ll carry out their very own situation monitoring and report again on the place the issue lies. When issues come up with typical pumps and valves in large-scale industrial vegetation, trouble-shooting is commonly significantly extra difficult.

The Saarbrücken workforce are exhibiting at this years’ Hannover Messe the place they are going to be demonstrating the newest prototype of their film-based vacuum pump, which might create a vacuum of 300 millibar (about 30% of normal atmospheric stress).

“Our technology is scalable. We can increase the pressure and volume flow by connecting our actuators and pump chambers either in parallel, in series or a combination of both,” says Professor Motzki.

To assist guests to the commerce truthful visualize the underlying know-how, the analysis workforce has constructed a demonstrator mannequin, during which the dielectric elastomer movie creates a vacuum inside a bell jar. Because the stress within the jar falls, the guests can observe the balloon “inflate” in dimension—an experimental demonstration that many could bear in mind from their faculty physics class. Because the air is sucked out from across the balloon, the air molecules within the balloon have extra space during which to increase and the balloon grows in dimension—besides that on this case all of it occurs with out a loud compressor working within the background.

The Saarbrücken engineers can incorporate their pump and valve know-how into all kinds of apparatus designs. The know-how is strong and appropriate for mass manufacturing and could possibly be developed into marketable merchandise inside a couple of years. Whereas on the Hannover Messe, the workforce shall be on the lookout for interact with business companions.