基于Stirling热机原理的微尺度软体驱动器的概念设计、动力学理论及实验研究

With the common needs of autonomous thermal management of flexible electronics and autonomous actuation of soft robots, a novel material and structural design is proposed in this project based on the modern microfabrication technology to achieve a miniaturized flexible and soft Stirling heat engine. It serves as a novel micro and soft thermal actuator, which can output the periodically varying mechanical energy autonomously under a constant heat flux. Based on the above design, a dynamic model and its simplified version for the heat source-actuator-environment system will be established to capture the heat-gas-solid couplings, and to explain the mechanism of energy conversion and heat dissipation. The dynamic response and the thermal distribution will be derived to determine the ratio of energy conversion and heat dissipation. Moreover, both macro and micro samples will be fabricated, and the in-situ fatigue experiments and variable temperature/loading tests will be done for the reliability assessment and the robust analysis, respectively. This project aims at paving a new way to the design, theory and applications of the micro and soft thermal actuators.

本项目面向柔性电子器件自控热管理、微型软体机器人自主热驱动等前沿领域的共性需求，拟结合现有的微加工技术，通过原创性的材料/结构/构造设计，将传统的Stirling热机（一种封闭式外燃型温差发动机）柔性化、微型化、平面化，从而实现一种具有自适应能力的全自动微尺度软体热驱动器。其最大特色是：在稳定热源驱动下自发输出周期性变化的机械能，且动力响应会随热源输入功率的改变而发生自适应变化。基于概念设计，拟建立起热源/驱动器/环境（冷源）大系统的热-气-固耦合动力学模型及其简化理论，阐明气固两相的协同互制关系，揭示驱动器的能量转换与对流散热机制，评估其能量转换与散热效率，以指导和优化设计。基于理论模型，拟制备宏、微尺度实验模型，并通过原位疲劳试验进行可靠性研究、通过变温试验和附加荷载试验进行鲁棒性研究，以改进其工作性能。本项目力图为微尺度软体驱动器的设计、理论和应用开辟一条可行的创新途径。

软体驱动器和软体机器人对外界具有很强的适应能力，因而具有广阔的应用前景。本项目突破传统刚性封闭式热机的惯性运行机制，基于组合双球冠壳在流固耦合相互作用下呈现出来的独特突跳失稳特性，设计出了一款基于弹性运行机制的全自动全软体热驱动器。其最大特色是：在稳定热源驱动下自发输出周期性变化的机械能。在上述概念设计基础上，进行了系统的理论建模和参数分析，从而有效指导了实验研究。本项目为软体驱动器和软体机器人的设计、理论和应用提供了一条可行的创新途径。