The new high precision rotary actuator design is based on Cambridge Mechatronics’s proprietary, patented SMA actuator platform technology that has already shipped in tens of millions of cameras in smartphones and other consumer electronics products. This is the first of a series of new products being developed by Cambridge Mechatronics to bring the benefits of SMA technology into new markets and applications.
Although not limited to these, target applications include all sorts of miniature robotics, drones, microfluidics, micro medical devices and precision opto-mechanics. Powered by a low voltage power supply and using industry standard I2C communications, the product is very flexible and straightforward to design into new or existing systems.
Full specifications of the rotary actuator are provided in a product datasheet, including details of the new driver IC which has been optimized for this application. This datasheet is available now and an advanced technology demonstrator will be available in January 2022.
Cambridge Mechatronics is a leading developer of mechanical, optical, electrical, silicon and software designs for system level solutions using its Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) platform technology. Solutions such as actuators based on SMA wire (which is as thin as a human hair) can be controlled to the accuracy of the wavelength of light. These actuators are shipping in the 10s of millions of units per year in top tier flagship smartphones, and are particularly suited to applications that require high levels of precision and force, in a fast, compact and lightweight design.
Actuators are mechanical structures typically responsible for moving a system, requiring both a control signal and source of energy. Most traditional actuators use electromagnetic technology first developed over two centuries ago, comprised of strong permanent magnets and long lengths of electrical windings. By virtue of the size of these parts, electromagnetic actuators are large, heavy and require the addition of further complex systems to allow them to move correctly.
In a world being advanced daily by the application and innovations in electronics and software, new products with next generation functionality and miniature form factors arrive constantly. Actuators can be used to augment and complement this technology to further enhance performance. However, the size, weight and complexity of traditional actuators has limited the products and applications where actuators and electronics can be elegantly combined.
The key component of Cambridge Mechatronics's actuators is the shape memory alloy (SMA) material in the form of a wire. The characteristic expansion and contraction of this SMA material is used to create motion, controlled by driver ICs and software algorithms which alter wire length to achieve sub-micron accuracy. Cambridge Mechatronics designs actuators from precision miniature components often produced from thin sheets of materials, which are joined together resulting in compact, slimline, lightweight products.
SMA-based actuators can be used across a range of electronic devices, with applications in wearables, haptics, 3D sensing and augmented reality. These suit SMA actuator characteristics within high volume markets.
Cambridge Mechatronics is a company in expansion, and recently opened offices in Japan and its first office in North America, in the heart of San Francisco, in the Embarcadero Center complex.
www.cambridgemechatronics.com
