Development of scalable crimp connectors for universal applicability in SMA wire based actuators

While SMA wire-based actuators hold great potential across a range of industries, including medical, automotive, and consumer goods, the system integration of these wires poses a significant challenge, particularly in the context of fully automated mass production. Currently in all known industrial applications, only crimp or splice connectors are employed to connect the wire to its system environment. However, a universally adaptable, application-independent solution for producing these crimp connectors does not exist in any known freely accessible resources. Furthermore, the property rights situation becomes more restrictive, as the protection claim of an expanding number of patents extends beyond the technical design of SMA actuators to their production processes in detail. However, crucial process parameters remain undisclosed and since these documents usually describe specific products, transfer to other applications remains difficult. Therefore, this paper presents the development of a universal crimp connection for contacting SMA wires of varying diameters. A parameter study was conducted to identify the fundamental influences and interactions of the connection, facilitating the determination of optimal process parameters. This approach ensures a robust crimp connection for any application that also minimize both the required crimp force and the crimp connector size on an application-specific basis, enabling the use of filigree crimping tools in actuators with minimal installation space. Endurance tests effectively validated the functionality of these crimp connectors and the method proposed.