Electrorheological Valves for Flexible Fluidic Actuators

This article proposes multilayer valves based on electrorheological fluids (ERFs) for controlling flexible fluidic actuators with a simplified circuit. ERFs are used both as actuation fluid and as control medium: The pressure drop in the miniature fast-response electrorheological (ER) valves is caused by the viscosity change in ERFs, and it is obtained directly by an electrical signal. We tested the ER valves with several flow channel dimensions in different conditions of flow and pressure, some of them reaching pressures up to 1 MPa with no leakages. We successfully integrated eight ER valves (four inlet and four discharge valves) in a flexible fluidic system made of four fluidic chambers to perform motions in 3D environments.