The Design of a Test Stand for the Shape Memory Alloys Control at High Current and Low Voltage

SMA-based (Shape Memory Alloy) actuators with thermal activation are widely implemented in a large area of equipments and devices, but they have an important limitation in the low force produced. The force increases with the dimension, which gives new issues in the control of the requested energy for activation. This happens more often when the SMA actuator is driven by electrical current intensity. Here, a solution for SMA control at low voltage and high intensity is proposed, involving pretty usual devices in handy schematics. The solution was tested and proved as effective in such cases.