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US 12,060,868 B2Granted
Thermally-powered polymer fiber tensile actuators and articles including same
AssigneeBoard of Regents, The University of Texas System
InventorsNa Li, Carter S. Haines, Marcio D. Lima, Monica Jung DeAndrade, Shaoli Fang, Jiyoung Oh, Mikhail E. Kozlov, Dongseok Suh, Ray H. Baughman
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Abstract
Actuators (artificial muscles) comprising twisted polymer fibers generate tensile actuation when powered thermally. In some embodiments, the thermally-powered polymer fiber tensile actuator can be incorporated into an article, such as a textile or garment.
Claims21
A thermally-powered polymer fiber tensile actuator comprising a twisted polymer fiber or yarn, wherein
- (a) the thermally-powered polymer fiber tensile actuator has a first length at a first temperature;
- (b) the thermally-powered polymer fiber tensile actuator has a second length at a second temperature;
- (c) the first length and the second length are different in length by at least 5%;
- (d) the thermally-powered polymer fiber tensile actuator is operable to reversibly actuate;
- and
- (e) the thermally-powered polymer fiber tensile actuator is a thermally-powered, non-electrochemically-powered, and non-electroactively-powered, polymer fiber tensile actuator.
3 more elements
A thermally-powered polymer fiber actuator comprising a twisted polymer fiber or yarn, wherein
- (a) the thermally-powered polymer fiber actuator is operable to reversibly actuate;
- and
- (b) the thermally-powered polymer fiber actuator is a thermally-powered, non-electrochemically-powered, and non-electroactively-powered, polymer fiber actuator.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.