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US 11,538,980 B2Granted
Electroactive polymer actuator device and driving method
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips N.V.
InventorsAchim Hilgers, Daan Anton Van Den Ende, Mark Thomas Johnson, Roland Alexander Van De Molengraaf
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Abstract
An actuator device has an electroactive polymer actuator (35) and an integrated piezoelectric transformer (30) whose primary side (32) and secondary side (34) are formed from different electroactive polymer materials. At least the secondary side (34) of the transformer shares a piezoelectric electroactive polymer layer (36) with the electroactive polymer actuator, so that lower external voltages can be applied to the device.
Claims20
An actuator device comprising:
- an electroactive polymer actuator;
- a piezoelectric electroactive polymer layer, wherein the piezoelectric electroactive polymer layer comprises a first portion and a second portion;
- and
- a piezoelectric transformer, wherein the piezoelectric transformer has a primary side and a secondary side,
- wherein the first portion of the piezoelectric electroactive polymer layer forms a part of the secondary side of the piezoelectric transformer and the second portion of the piezoelectric electroactive polymer layer forms a part of the electroactive polymer actuator,
- wherein the primary side is formed from a first electroactive polymer material,
- wherein the secondary side is formed from a second electroactive polymer material, and
- wherein the first electroactive polymer material is different from the second electroactive polymer material.
5 more elements
A method of driving an electroactive polymer actuator, comprising:
- applying a drive signal to a piezoelectric transformer,
- wherein the piezoelectric transformer has a primary side and a secondary side,
- wherein the primary side is formed from a first electroactive polymer material,
- wherein secondary side is formed from a second electroactive polymer material, and
- wherein the first electroactive polymer material is different from the second electroactive polymer material;
- coupling the secondary side of the piezoelectric transformer to the electroactive polymer actuator using a common a piezoelectric electroactive polymer layer,
- wherein a first portion of the electroactive polymer layer forms a part of the secondary side and a second portion of the electroactive polymer layer forms a part of the electroactive polymer actuator;
- and
- driving the electroactive polymer actuator using the piezoelectric transformer.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.