PMID- 31487858
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
LR  - 20191023
IS  - 1424-8220 (Electronic)
IS  - 1424-8220 (Linking)
VI  - 19
IP  - 18
DP  - 2019 Sep 4
TI  - An Out-of-Plane Operated Soft Engine Driving Stretchable Zone Plate for Adjusting 
      Focal Point of an Ultrasonic Beam.
LID - 10.3390/s19183819 [doi]
LID - 3819
AB  - This paper presents a soft engine which performs up-and-down motion with four 
      planar film-structured ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMC) actuators. This soft 
      engine assembled with a stretchable Fresnel zone plate is capable of tuning the 
      focus of ultrasonic beam. Instead of conventional clamps, we employ 3D printed 
      frame pairs with magnets and a conductive gold cloth to provide an alternative 
      solution for securing the IPMC actuators during assembly. The design and analysis 
      of the zone plate are carefully performed. The zone plate allows the plane 
      ultrasonic wave to be effectively focused. The motion of IPMC actuators stretch 
      the metal-foil-made zone plate to tune the focal range of the ultrasonic beam. 
      The zone plate, 3D frames and IPMC actuators were fabricated, assembled and 
      tested. The stiffness normal to the stretchable zone plate with varied designs 
      was investigated and the seven-zone design was selected for our experimental 
      study. The force responsible for clamping the IPMC actuators, controlled by the 
      magnetic attraction between the fabricated frames, was also examined. The driving 
      voltage, current and resulting displacement of IPMC actuation were characterized. 
      The developed soft engine stretching the zone plate to tune the focal point of 
      the ultrasonic beam up to 10% was successfully demonstrated.
FAU - Feng, Guo-Hua
AU  - Feng GH
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-4322-2255
AD  - Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi 
      621, Taiwan. imeghf@ccu.edu.tw.
FAU - Liu, Hong-Yu
AU  - Liu HY
AD  - Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi 
      621, Taiwan.
LA  - eng
GR  - 106-2221-E-194-035-MY3/Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan/
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20190904
PL  - Switzerland
TA  - Sensors (Basel)
JT  - Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
JID - 101204366
SB  - IM
PMC - PMC6767097
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - actuator
OT  - ionic polymer
OT  - ultrasonic beam
OT  - zone plate
COIS- The authors declare no conflict of interest.
EDAT- 2019/09/07 06:00
MHDA- 2019/09/07 06:01
PMCR- 2019/09/01
CRDT- 2019/09/07 06:00
PHST- 2019/07/18 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2019/09/01 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2019/09/02 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2019/09/07 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2019/09/07 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2019/09/07 06:01 [medline]
PHST- 2019/09/01 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - s19183819 [pii]
AID - sensors-19-03819 [pii]
AID - 10.3390/s19183819 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - Sensors (Basel). 2019 Sep 4;19(18):3819. doi: 10.3390/s19183819.