Programmable soft valves for digital and analog control.

ABSTRACT: In soft devices, complex actuation sequences and precise force control typically require hard electronic valves and microcontrollers. Existing designs for entirely soft pneumatic control systems are capable of either digital or analog operation, but not both, and are limited by speed of actuation, range of pressure, time required for fabrication, or loss of power through pull-down resistors. Using the nonlinear mechanics intrinsic to structures composed of soft materials-in this case, by leveraging membrane inversion and tube kinking-two modular soft components are developed: a piston actuator and a bistable pneumatic switch. These two components combine to create valves capable of analog pressure regulation, simplified digital logic, controlled oscillation, nonvolatile memory storage, lin

SUBMITTER: Decker CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9546565 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature