Kinitics Electric Linear Actuator Technology

This page details the technology used in Kinitics Automation products, including the KLA Linear Actuator and KPP Piston Pump.

Why Choose Kinitics?

Kinitics Linear Actuators and Piston Pumps use Shape Memory Alloys and Kinitics’ proprietary Bundled Wire technology, and can fit in a variety of applications. The products offer a number of features and benefits that distinguish them from other types of actuators and pumps.

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Shape Memory Alloys

Shape memory alloys are materials that can respond to temperature changes by changing shape. In wire form the wires will contract when heated and stretch when cooled.

Heating of the SMA wire is readily achieved by passing electric current through it; when heated past an upper transition temperature the atoms inside the wire realign into an alternate crystalline structure.

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Bundled Wire Technology

The Kinitics Bundled Wire is a proprietary technology of assembling and connecting Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) wires into a dense array.

Bundled Wire technology not only gives the Kinitics actuators a high strength-to-size ratio but also retains a high wire surface area. This allows for forward stroke times below 200ms and sub-five second cycle times.

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Case Study 1 : Motorcycle Active Clutch

Biperformance Development Corporation (BDC) manufactures its state-of-the-art transmission control system for OEM motorcycle applications, the ShiftFX Electronic Shift Transmission (EST). The system builds on existing gearbox design, adding a sleek, simple rider interface to provide push-button semi-automatic or fully automatic shifting. One of the main components of the ShiftFX EST is a state-of-the-art Active Clutch with isolation valve, which retains the standard clutch lever for operation by the rider at any time. 

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Test Stand 1

The Kinitics Automation Test Stand 1 consists of a KLA05 actuator repetitively lifting 725 N (160 lb.). The setup is capable of various testing regimens including simple, repetitive lifts at short time intervals to the actuator’s End of Travel for reliability testing, or more elaborate functions.

The Linear Actuator is run via a Kinitics AC controller connected to standard 120 VAC line voltage, with a PLC that can be programmed with more complex control algorithms. Additionally, various parameters such as voltage, current, temperatures are logged for each lift, and this data can be analyzed to detect long-term characteristics in the actuator or controller.

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Watch the test stand in action as the KLA05 Linear Actuator is run through
a sequence of three lifts that showcase various features of the actuator.