Shape Memory Alloy Actuator Bounce Rotating Control

This is a rotary Nitinol actuator bouncing between end limits. This actuator was designed to move the eyelids in a volume ready toy doll – Baby Bright Eyes. We called her Baby Fright Eyes, because it was so scary to look into her eyeballs, thus the failure of the product. Rotation was 60 degrees back and forth with a couple of ounces of force, using 0.003″ diameter Nitinol wire approximately 6″ long. Realistic eye movement was achieved drawing 2.4 Watts at 3.7 Volts. Our Enhanced Nitinol Actuation Model predicted a stress in the wire of 26 KSI, which closely matched experimental data.