Design and investigation of a multi-material compliant ratchet-like mechanism

We present the design of a new compliant ratchet mechanism using a multi-material additive manufacturing technology. The design enables the elimination of springs and global movement of the pawl or gear that typically exist in classical ratchets. It is also taking advantage of recent advances in 3D printing technology to replace traditional mechanisms with multi-material mechanisms. This design is evaluated with computational finite element (FE) simulations and verified with physical tests of motion in two opposite directions. We also present a parametric study of the geometric and material properties of our current design and discuss how this basic design concept can be customized for specific applications.