VALVE DEVICE AND FAILURE DETECTOR OF HYDRAULIC CIRCUIT

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a valve device capable of opening and closing a plurality of oil passage at an identical timing.SOLUTION: A valve device includes: a contraction-type polymer gel actuator (10), in which one or more slab-like cathode plates (11) and one or more mesh-like anode plates (13) are alternately layered and a polymer gel (15) is interposed in between each cathode plate (11) and each anode plate (13); and first and a second valve mechanisms (20-1, 20-2) driven by the polymer gel actuator (10). The direction of expansion and contraction deformation of the polymer gel actuator (10) is the same as the driving direction of the first valve mechanism (20-1) and perpendicular to the driving direction of the second valve mechanism (20-2). The valve device is configured to simultaneously switch opening and closing of a first fluid passage (21-1) and a second fluid passage (21-2) by expansion and contraction deformation by controlling a voltage applied to the polymer gel actuator (10).