With significant research focused on integrating robotics into medical devices, sanitary control of pressurizing fluids in a precise, accurate, and customizable way is highly desirable. Current sanitary flow control methods include pinch valves which clamp the pressure line locally to restrict fluid flow; resulting in damage and variable flow characteristics over time. This article presents a sanitary compression valve based on an eccentric clamping mechanism. The proposed valve distributes clamping forces over a larger area, thereby reducing the plastic deformation and associated influence on flow characteristic. Using the proposed valve, significant reductions in plastic deformation (up to 96\%) and flow-rate error (up to 98\%) were found, when compared with a standard pinch valve. Additionally, an optimization strategy presents a method for improving linearity and resolution over the working range to suit specific control applications. The valve efficacy has been evaluated through controlled testing of a water jet-propelled low-cost endoscopic device. In this case, use of the optimized valve shows a reduction in the average orientation error and its variation, resulting in smoother movement of the endoscopic tip when compared to alternative wet and dry valve solutions. The presented valve offers a customizable solution for sanitary control of fluid-driven actuators.
%0 Journal Article
%1 calo2020compression
%A Calo, Simone
%A Chandler, James H.
%A Campisano, Federico
%A Obstein, Keith L.
%A Valdastri, Pietro
%D 2020
%J IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics
%K Hydraulic/Pneumatic actuation actuation,medical robotics,soft robotics,waterjet
%N 2
%P 1005--1015
%R 10.1109/TMECH.2019.2960308
%T A Compression Valve for Sanitary Control of Fluid-Driven Actuators
%V 25
%X With significant research focused on integrating robotics into medical devices, sanitary control of pressurizing fluids in a precise, accurate, and customizable way is highly desirable. Current sanitary flow control methods include pinch valves which clamp the pressure line locally to restrict fluid flow; resulting in damage and variable flow characteristics over time. This article presents a sanitary compression valve based on an eccentric clamping mechanism. The proposed valve distributes clamping forces over a larger area, thereby reducing the plastic deformation and associated influence on flow characteristic. Using the proposed valve, significant reductions in plastic deformation (up to 96\%) and flow-rate error (up to 98\%) were found, when compared with a standard pinch valve. Additionally, an optimization strategy presents a method for improving linearity and resolution over the working range to suit specific control applications. The valve efficacy has been evaluated through controlled testing of a water jet-propelled low-cost endoscopic device. In this case, use of the optimized valve shows a reduction in the average orientation error and its variation, resulting in smoother movement of the endoscopic tip when compared to alternative wet and dry valve solutions. The presented valve offers a customizable solution for sanitary control of fluid-driven actuators.
@article{calo2020compression,
abstract = {With significant research focused on integrating robotics into medical devices, sanitary control of pressurizing fluids in a precise, accurate, and customizable way is highly desirable. Current sanitary flow control methods include pinch valves which clamp the pressure line locally to restrict fluid flow; resulting in damage and variable flow characteristics over time. This article presents a sanitary compression valve based on an eccentric clamping mechanism. The proposed valve distributes clamping forces over a larger area, thereby reducing the plastic deformation and associated influence on flow characteristic. Using the proposed valve, significant reductions in plastic deformation (up to 96{\%}) and flow-rate error (up to 98{\%}) were found, when compared with a standard pinch valve. Additionally, an optimization strategy presents a method for improving linearity and resolution over the working range to suit specific control applications. The valve efficacy has been evaluated through controlled testing of a water jet-propelled low-cost endoscopic device. In this case, use of the optimized valve shows a reduction in the average orientation error and its variation, resulting in smoother movement of the endoscopic tip when compared to alternative wet and dry valve solutions. The presented valve offers a customizable solution for sanitary control of fluid-driven actuators.},
added-at = {2023-05-10T16:23:27.000+0200},
author = {Calo, Simone and Chandler, James H. and Campisano, Federico and Obstein, Keith L. and Valdastri, Pietro},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2a5f6c432adc7b984df4102e11e5a9a9e/sassw},
doi = {10.1109/TMECH.2019.2960308},
interhash = {aa8953965ae25b3899f4e73640240b69},
intrahash = {a5f6c432adc7b984df4102e11e5a9a9e},
issn = {1941014X},
journal = {IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics},
keywords = {Hydraulic/Pneumatic actuation actuation,medical robotics,soft robotics,waterjet},
number = 2,
pages = {1005--1015},
timestamp = {2023-05-10T16:23:27.000+0200},
title = {{A Compression Valve for Sanitary Control of Fluid-Driven Actuators}},
volume = 25,
year = 2020
}