IEEE Trans Haptics. 2019 Jul-Sep;12(3):257-268. doi: 10.1109/TOH.2019.2912960. Epub 2019 Apr 23.
A wearable tactile display needs to be compact and lightweight, and ideally should be able to present vibration, force, and temperature information to the hand. In many contexts spatially distributed tactile information is needed such as when identifying the shape of objects. In this paper, a multi-element tactile display is described based on the thermal expansion and contraction of nichrome wire. The device comprises elastic rods that are pulled by nichrome wires (30 μm in diameter). When an electrical current is applied to the wire, displacement of the elastic rod occurs with thermal elongation of the wire. The wire cools quickly and vibration results. The nichrome wire that is the basis of this display overcomes many of the material restrictions associated with shape memory alloys that have often been used for thermally driven tactile displays. Experiments that characterized the performance of the tactile display indicated that perceptible vibrations up to 320 Hz can be presented. Psychophysical studies revealed that both position and movement cues can be displayed effectively with the device. A miniaturized version of this display for wearable applications has been built and undergone preliminary evaluation.
可穿戴触觉显示器需要紧凑且轻便，并且理想情况下应该能够向手部呈现振动、力和温度信息。在许多情况下，需要空间分布的触觉信息，例如在识别物体形状时。在本文中，描述了一种基于镍铬合金丝热膨胀和收缩的多元素触觉显示器。该设备包括由镍铬合金丝（直径 30 微米）拉动的弹性杆。当电流施加到金属丝上时，金属丝的热伸长会导致弹性杆发生位移。金属丝迅速冷却并产生振动。这种显示所基于的镍铬合金丝克服了许多与形状记忆合金相关的材料限制，这些限制通常用于热驱动触觉显示器。用于表征触觉显示器性能的实验表明，可以呈现高达 320 Hz 的可感知振动。心理物理学研究表明，该设备可以有效地显示位置和运动线索。已经为可穿戴应用构建并初步评估了这种显示器的小型化版本。
