Design and Fabrication of a Test Rig for Performance Analysis of a Pneumatic Muscle Actuator

Abstract

Artificial pneumatic muscle actuator (PMA) is used to convert pneumatic power to mechanical force. These actuators are like biological muscles, hence its name. PMAs have a wide range of applications ranging from robotics, industrial to the medical applications, as a result of its high power-to-weight ratio, nonhazardous, and compliant nature. The PMA, like any other actuator, has to be tested and validated before using it in any real-world application. An experimental procedure is set up to allow the designer to predict, analyze, and optimize PMA performance before its use in sensitive applications. To achieve this, a rigid experimental test rig needs to be designed to test properties of PMA such as displacement, force, and load capacity. Result of the experiment conducted on the standard PMA by using developed test rig has 5% variation with the values of the manufacturer’s datasheet. © 2021, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.