Modeling and motion control of a liquid metal droplet in a fluidic channel
Modeling and motion control of a liquid metal droplet in a fluidic channel
As an emerging multifunctional material, Gallium-based room temperature liquid metal has attracted a lot of attention for a variety of applications due to its mobility and deformability. However, controlling the motion of a liquid metal droplet accurately still remains unrevealed, which restricts its application in many fields. In this article, we propose a hybrid framework that would control the motion of a liquid metal droplet in a one-dimensional (1-D) fluidic channel. A dynamic model of a liquid metal droplet immersed in the electrolyte when an electrical field is applied to each end of the channel is discussed first, followed by a setpoint controller designed to calculate the current input needed to drive the liquid metal droplet to its destination with vision feedback. To obtain the desired high-resolution current output, a fast and high-resolution current output power supply will be established by integrating a fast PID controller and a simple programmable dc power supply. The effectiveness of this proposed approach will be verified by controlling a liquid metal droplet so that it reaches its destination inside the polymethyl methacrylate channel. In this article, the proposed approach may lead to the development of tiny soft robots, or microfluidic systems that can be driven accurately by the liquid metal droplets.
Dynamic model, liquid metal droplets, setpoint control, soft robotics, surface tension
942-950
Xie, Jie
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Li, Fangxia
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Kuang, Shaolong
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Yang, Hao
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Li, Xiangpeng
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Tang, Shiyang
1d0f15c6-2a3e-4bad-a3d8-fc267db93ed4
Li, Weihua
e2555036-0e48-425a-afeb-db6ffba5238e
Zhang, Shiwu
da008f91-71fa-42fb-879e-68b91429e1d6
April 2020
Xie, Jie
95f5ab65-2bf0-4a5d-b0e5-1bfa27e1cb34
Li, Fangxia
a3d24e25-2342-4b61-92f7-6afc1ae815ce
Kuang, Shaolong
9661f7da-26f6-4d10-85ef-8e0d1204548b
Yang, Hao
6cdeb7bb-81d1-4a45-b3a0-0f0190c01a8a
Li, Xiangpeng
73f32905-ad7c-4ce3-93a4-78237b98f4fb
Tang, Shiyang
1d0f15c6-2a3e-4bad-a3d8-fc267db93ed4
Li, Weihua
e2555036-0e48-425a-afeb-db6ffba5238e
Zhang, Shiwu
da008f91-71fa-42fb-879e-68b91429e1d6
Xie, Jie, Li, Fangxia, Kuang, Shaolong, Yang, Hao, Li, Xiangpeng, Tang, Shiyang, Li, Weihua and Zhang, Shiwu
(2020)
Modeling and motion control of a liquid metal droplet in a fluidic channel.
IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 25 (2), , [8950426].
(doi:10.1109/TMECH.2020.2964387).
Abstract
As an emerging multifunctional material, Gallium-based room temperature liquid metal has attracted a lot of attention for a variety of applications due to its mobility and deformability. However, controlling the motion of a liquid metal droplet accurately still remains unrevealed, which restricts its application in many fields. In this article, we propose a hybrid framework that would control the motion of a liquid metal droplet in a one-dimensional (1-D) fluidic channel. A dynamic model of a liquid metal droplet immersed in the electrolyte when an electrical field is applied to each end of the channel is discussed first, followed by a setpoint controller designed to calculate the current input needed to drive the liquid metal droplet to its destination with vision feedback. To obtain the desired high-resolution current output, a fast and high-resolution current output power supply will be established by integrating a fast PID controller and a simple programmable dc power supply. The effectiveness of this proposed approach will be verified by controlling a liquid metal droplet so that it reaches its destination inside the polymethyl methacrylate channel. In this article, the proposed approach may lead to the development of tiny soft robots, or microfluidic systems that can be driven accurately by the liquid metal droplets.
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Published date: April 2020
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Funding Information:
Manuscript received March 12, 2019; revised July 20, 2019 and October 30, 2019; accepted December 30, 2019. Date of publication January 6, 2020; date of current version April 15, 2020. Recommended by Technical Editor P. Huang. This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 51975550, Grant 61873339, Grant 61503270, and Grant 51828503, and in part by the National Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province under Grant BK20190096. Dr. Shi-Yang Tang is the recipient of the Vice-Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Fellowship funded by the University of Wollon-gong, Australia. (Corresponding authors: Xiangpeng Li; Shiwu Zhang.) J. Xie and S. Zhang are with the CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, Department of Precision Machinery and Precision Instrumentation, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China (e-mail: xiejie@mail.ustc.edu.cn; swzhang@ustc.edu.cn).
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© 1996-2012 IEEE.
Keywords:
Dynamic model, liquid metal droplets, setpoint control, soft robotics, surface tension
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Local EPrints ID: 481722
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/481722
ISSN: 1083-4435
PURE UUID: c65af31d-444f-4826-a804-9ea07c7612ef
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Date deposited: 06 Sep 2023 16:51
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:13
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Author:
Jie Xie
Author:
Fangxia Li
Author:
Shaolong Kuang
Author:
Hao Yang
Author:
Xiangpeng Li
Author:
Shiyang Tang
Author:
Weihua Li
Author:
Shiwu Zhang
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