Evaluation of thermoelectric characteristics of peltier thermoelectric module for increasing response velocity in shape memory alloy (SMA) steering catheter

Abstract

Actuation using a shape memory alloy (SMA) is considered to be an important technology that will play a leading role in market for next-generation medical devices because an SMA actuator can accurately imitate skillful and delicate hand movements. However, SMA actuators have not been successfully used because of problems in control design caused by the nonlinear hysteresis effect of SMA, which leads to inaccuracies in control systems. In order to overcome the effect, the authors invented a SMA actuator, which could actively and rapidly cool down and heat up, by combining a SMA catheter and a TE module using the Peltier effect. In order to evaluate the TE characteristics of our TE module system, the changes in the temperature with 1) incremental increases in a continuous electric current and 2) the appearance of a discontinuous constant or reverse current are discussed in this paper.