Bundled Wire technology gives Kinitics Automation SMA linear actuators a high strength-to-size ratio.

Kinitics Automation Bundled Wire is a proprietary technology of assembling and connecting shape memory alloy (SMA) wires in a dense array.

For quality control and MTBF testing, Kinitics Automation runs a laboratory that includes several wire dynamometers that have logged more than 2 million cycles on single pieces of SMA wire. Upon application of electricity (heat), the wires shorten and move the actuator rod. The wire arrangement’s direct connection between the cylinder body and rod ensure strength and durability. Kinitics Automation Bundled Wire connects several SMA wires to a piston inside the actuator. Research and testing have yielded quantitative industry-standard information about the linear actuators to allow application to real-world motion designs. The rod is the sole moving part, so the actuator exhibits zero backlash or mechanical slop - regardless of how many times it’s cycled. In fact, this reversible behavior makes SMA-wire-based actuators suitable for an array of motion applications - including those on high-cycling machine axes. On the right, notice how much simpler Kinitics Automation actuator setups are than comparable hydraulic systems.

The actuators satisfy certain applications better than other linear-motion technologies. Kinitics Automation actuators use a nickel-titanium shape memory alloy (the NiTi in Kinitics) in a bundled-wire arrangement.

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