If you quickly search on Baidu, you'll find many different answers. Analyzing the responses reveals a common theme—an actuator is a device that causes an object to move or be manipulated.
Okay... digging a little deeper, we find that actuators receive energy from a source and use it to move objects. In other words, actuators convert energy into physical mechanical motion.
The actuator uses three types of energy to generate physical mechanical motion.
Pneumatic actuators are operated by compressed air.
Hydraulic actuators use various liquids as their energy source.
- Electric actuators operate using some form of electrical energy.
Actuator Example
Let’s look at some typical examples of executors.
The pneumatic actuator receives a pneumatic signal through its top port . This signal applies pressure to the diaphragm. This pressure causes the valve stem to move downwards, thereby moving or impacting the control valve.
This is an example of an electric actuator that operates a butterfly valve. When the motor is running, the butterfly valve will open or close.
Finally, here's an example of a hydraulic actuator on a dump truck. The extended hydraulic actuator lifts the box.
The Importance of Actuators in Manufacturing
As the industry becomes increasingly reliant on automated systems and machines, the demand for more actuators is also increasing.
Actuators are widely used in a variety of manufacturing processes, such as assembly lines and material handling.
With advancements in actuator technology, we can now use a wide range of actuators with different strokes, speeds, shapes, sizes, and capacities to best meet any specific process requirements.
Without actuators, many processes would require human intervention to move or position numerous mechanisms.
Robot Introduction
Now is a good time to introduce you to a device called a robot.
A robot is an automated machine that can perform specific tasks quickly, accurately, and precisely with little or no human intervention.
These tasks are as simple as moving finished products from a conveyor belt to a tray.
The robot is very good at picking and placing tasks, welding, and painting.
They are very good at performing tedious, repeatable tasks that were performed by humans a few years ago.
Robots can be used for more complex tasks, such as manufacturing cars on an assembly line or performing very delicate and precise tasks in a surgical operating room.
Robots come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The type of robot is defined by the number of axes used.
The main component of each robot is the servo motor actuator. For each axis, at least one servo motor actuator moves to support that part of the robot.
For example, a 6-axis robot has 6 servo motor actuators.
A servo motor actuator receives a command to go to a specific location and then takes action based on that command.
New Trends in Actuator Technology
intelligent actuator
We cannot conclude this article without discussing some emerging trends in actuator technology.
A new type of device is emerging, called the smart actuator.
This intelligent actuator includes an integrated sensor . The device is able to provide actuation or motion in response to sensed physical properties such as light, heat, and humidity.
You will see intelligent actuators used in complex applications such as nuclear reactor process control systems , as well as simple applications such as home automation and security systems.
Soft robots
Looking to the near future, we will see a device called a soft robot.
What is a soft robot?
Soft robots have soft actuators integrated and distributed throughout the robot, unlike hard robots which have actuators at every joint.
By incorporating artificial intelligence , biomimetic intelligence provides robots with the ability to learn new environments and make decisions in response to external changes.
