Master’s Thesis Defense

Single Motor-based Bidirectional

Twisted String Actuation with Variable
Radius Pulley
Muhammad Arshad Khan
Supervisor: Professor Jee-Hwan Ryu
Department of Mechanical Engineering

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Contents:
 Introduction
 Motivation
 Problem Definition
 Proposed Solution
 Design Guidelines for Variable Radius Pulley
 Simulation Results
 Experimental Results
 Advantages/Disadvantages of Proposed Actuator
 Proposed CAD Design
 Conclusion and Future Work
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Introduction
Basic Description:
 TSAs are simple, cheap and quite actuators.
 Upon string twisting, the string shortens and helps to lift a load

Bidirectional Actuation using Twisted String Actuation

 TSA a unidirectional actuators.
 For bidirectional actuation, two motors are required in antagonistic
configuration

Reference: Dmitry Popov, Igor Gaponov, and Jee-Hwan Ryu. “Bidirectional elbow exoskeleton based on twisted-string actuators” 3
Introduction
Problems of using Two Motor for Bidirectional Actuation
 Employing two motors results in complex control strategy
 Not optimized with respect to cost and space requirements

Previous efforts of using Single Motor-based Bidirectional Actuation

 Non-circular guide for yoke-pin mechanism
 Suffers from high friction for pin-guide

Reference: Usman Mehmood et al. “Rotational twisted string actuator with linearized output: Mathematical model and experimental evaluation” 4
Motivation
 Use of single motor for bidirectional actuation for
twisted strings
 Results in simple control as well as cost/size/weight
effective solution
 Proposed a compact actuator for bidirectional
actuation (using single motor)

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Problem Definition

 Using the following equation:

𝛼 𝜃 = 𝑋 𝑚𝑎𝑥 − 𝑋𝐴 𝜃𝐴 − 𝑋𝐵 (𝜃𝐵 )
Where:
𝜃𝐴 = 0, 𝜃 𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝜃𝐴 = 𝜃 𝑚𝑎𝑥 , 0

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 Proposed Solution
Variable Radius Pulleys
 Use of a non-linear mechanical component in series with twisted
strings
 This component helps to cancel out the non-linear behavior of
twisted string

Reference: [1] W. Hurst, J. E. Chestnutt, and A. A. Rizzi, “The actuator with mechanically adjustable series compliance”
[2] D. Shin, X. Yeh, and O. Khatib, “Circular pulley versus variable radius pulley: Optimal design methodologies and dynamic characteristics analysis,” 7
Design Guidelines for Variable Radius Pulley
Variable Radius Pulley Profile
 If VRP and twisted strings are connected in series, then:
𝐾𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 = 𝐾𝑇𝑆𝐴 𝐾𝑃𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑦
Where:
𝐿2 − 𝑟 2 𝜃 2
𝐾𝑇𝑆𝐴 =
𝑟2𝜃
𝑅𝑣𝑟𝑝
𝐾𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑦 =
𝑅𝑐𝑟𝑝
𝛿𝜃
𝐾𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 = =𝛾
𝛿𝑌𝐿
Resulting in the following equation:

𝑟2𝜃
𝑅𝑣𝑟𝑝 𝜃 = 𝛾𝑅𝑐𝑟𝑝
𝐿2 − 𝑟 2 𝜃 2

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Maximizing Actuator Stroke
 Stroke of twisted string can not be more than 30% of its original
string length.
 Further twisting cause unpredictable contraction behavior as well
as severely shortens string lifetime.
 Due to customizable variable radius pulley profile, certain design
parameters are independent.
 Larger load/actuator stroke can be achieved under the condition
that:
𝑋= න 𝛿𝑥 2 + 𝛿𝑦 2 𝛿𝛽

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Steps for Pulley Synthesis
Decide TSA Parameters such as Calculate the CRP radius using
initial string length (𝐿𝑠 ), string Calculate the motor angle required 𝑌
for the desired string stroke as 𝑅𝑐𝑟𝑝 = 𝛽𝐿
radius (𝑟𝑠 ) and percentage of
stroke (𝑋 = 30% 𝐿𝑠 ) as well as follow: and motor to load transmission ratio
desired pulley angle (𝛽 < 2𝑝𝑖) and 𝐿2𝑠 − 𝐿𝑠 − 𝑋 2 (𝛾) using
𝜃𝑚 = 𝑑𝜃
load displacement (𝑌𝐿 ) 𝑟𝑠 𝛾 = 𝑑𝑌𝑚
𝐿

The arc-length of the pulley

profile should be equal to stroke of Calculate the VRP profile as Calculate the VRP radius using the
TSA i.e. follow: following equation
𝑥 = 𝑅𝑣𝑟𝑝 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝛽 𝑅𝑐𝑟𝑝 𝑟𝑠2 𝜃𝑚
𝑋 = න 𝑑𝑥 2 + 𝑑𝑦 2 𝑑𝛽 𝑅𝑣𝑟𝑝 𝛽 = 𝛾
𝑦 = 𝑅𝑣𝑟𝑝 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝛽 𝐿2𝑠 − 𝑟𝑠2 𝜃𝑚
2

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Effects of String Parameters on VRP
Effects of String Radius on Variable Radius Pulley
 Radius of variable radius pulley can be derived using:
𝑟2𝜃
𝑅𝑣𝑟𝑝 𝜃 = 𝛾𝑅𝑐𝑟𝑝
𝐿2 − 𝑟 2 𝜃 2

 VRP radius is squared proportional to string radius

 Accurate knowledge of string radius is very important

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Effects of String Parameters on VRP
Effects of String Pre-twist on Variable Radius Pulley
 Zero initial radius due to zero motor angle
 A through-hole is required for pulley axis
 Equation of VRP radius can be augmented as follow:
𝑟 2 (𝜃 + 𝜃𝑝 )
𝑅𝑣𝑟𝑝 𝜃 = 𝛾𝑅𝑐𝑟𝑝
2
𝐿2 − 𝑟2 𝜃 + 𝜃𝑝

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Simulation Results
Values of Parameters for Simulation:
 String Length 𝐿 = 100mm
 String Radius 𝑟 = 0.65mm
 String Pre-twist Angle 𝜃𝑝 = 6rev
 Motor Angle 𝜃 = 6, 18 rev
 Input-Output Transmission Ratio 𝛾 = 0.9 rad/mm
 CRP Radius 𝑅𝑐𝑟𝑝 = 24 mm

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Experimental Setup
Experiment Setup Schematic

Realized Experimental Setup

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Experimental Results
Animation of Unidirectional Experiment

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Experimental Results
Demo of Uni- and Bi-directional Experiments

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Experimental Results – Load Displacement
 Load displacement is linearized with respect to
motor.
 80% of original string length (100mm)

Unidirectional Actuation Test Bidirectional Actuation Test

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Experimental Results – Input Output
Transmission Ratio
 Constant input-output (or motor-to-load) transmission
ratio
 Helpful in design of actuator specification (maximum
load capacity, maximum load-point speed etc.)
 Near-zero Pearson Coefficient shows that input-output
transmission ratio is independent of motor angular
displacement.

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Advantages of Proposed Actuator
 Use of one motor instead of two.
 Simplified control for load displacement
 Do not need to account for slack and in-fighting issues
 A desired and constant input-output transmission ratio
 Maximized load displacement as compare to conventional solution

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Drawbacks of Proposed Actuator
 Use of two pulleys is more complicated than that of two motors
 Extra tensioning mechanism are required to account for on load application
 String installation is complicated
 Depending on how the pulleys are manufactured, the overall system efficiency
may deteriorate considerably

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Proposed CAD Design

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Conclusion and Future Work
Conclusion
 A design methodology was proposed to synthesize a variable radius pulley profile
 This variable radius pulley helps to linearize the input-output behavior of twisted string
 An actuator design for bidirectional actuation using a single motor and twisted string is
proposed
 Different simulations and experimental results were carried out and compared statistically

Future Work
 Design of 3D Pulley either using variable radius or variable pitch
 Comparison of proposed actuator with different linear actuators
 Design optimization for mechanical structure
 Easy string installation method
 Life cycle tests

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Thank you

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