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US 2003/0140627 A1Published application
Thermal bend actuator
AssigneeSilverbrook Research Pty Ltd
InventorKia Silverbrook
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A thermal bend actuator (6) is provided with upper arms (23, 25, 26) and lower arms (27, 28) which are non planar, so increasing the stiffness of the arms. The arms (23, 25, 26,27,28) may be spaced transversely of each other and do not overly each other in plan view, so enabling all arms to be formed by depositing a single layer of arm forming material.
Claims31
A thermal actuator for micro mechanical or micro electromechanical devices, the actuator including:
- a) a supporting substrate,
- b) an actuator extension portion,
- c) at least one elongate first arm attached at a first end thereof to the substrate and at a second end to the extension portion, the first arm being arranged, in use, to be conductively heatable,
- d) at least one elongate second arm attached at a first end to the supporting substrate and at a second end to the extension portion, the second arm being spaced apart from the first arm,
- the at least one first arm being arranged, in use, to undergo thermal expansion, thereby causing the actuator to apply a force to the extension portion, and
- wherein, in transverse cross-section, at least one of the at least one first arm and the at least one second arm are non-planar.
3 more elements
A thermal actuator for micro mechanical or micro electromechanical devices, the actuator including:
- a) a supporting substrate,
- b) an actuator extension portion,
- c) at least one first arm attached at a first end thereof to the substrate and at a second end to the extension portion, the first arm being arranged, in use, to be conductively heatable,
- d) at least one second arm attached at a first end to the supporting substrate and at a second end to the extension portion, the second arm being spaced apart from the first arm,
- the at least one first arm being arranged, in use, to undergo thermal expansion, thereby causing the actuator to apply a force to the extension portion, and
- wherein, in plan view, said at least one first arm and said at least one second arm do not overlap.
3 more elements
A method of forming a thermal actuator including the steps of:
- a) depositing a first layer of sacrificial material;
- b) depositing at least a second layer of sacrificial material on a selected part or parts of the first layer;
- c) depositing an actuator forming layer of material over the first and second layers of sacrificial layers;
- and
- d) selectively removing portions of the actuator forming material to form at least one first arm deposited on the first layer and at least one second arm deposited on at least part of the second layer
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.