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AssigneeTyco Electronics AMP GmbH
InventorsMartin Hanke, Matthias Kroeker, Thomas Haehnel, Joerg Schultheis
Estimating the term…
The invention relates to a bi-stable electric switch comprising a spring (101) that is configured as a bi-stable snap-action spring and carries contact elements (114, 116) on the carrier strip (104) of the spring and comprising at least one drive element made from shape memory material per switch state for actuating the spring, the spring having a plate (110) that is rigidly fixed at one end (102) and that is subjected to a pressure in the direction of its linear extension and evades this by bulging towards one side into one of two stable final states, the regions of the spring in the stable final states taking up different lateral positions and the drive elements (118, 119) acting upon the free end of the plate and as a result of the tilting of free end (104) cause it to snap into the second stable final state.
Bi-stable electric switch comprising a spring (1, 1′, 101, 201) that is configured as a bi-stable snap-action spring and carries at least one contact element (14, 114, 115, 116, 214, 216) on a region of the spring and comprising at least one drive element (18, 19, 118, 119, 218, 219) made from shape memory material per switch state for actuating the spring, characterized in that the spring has at least one plate (10, 110, 210) that is subjected to a pressure in the direction of its linear extension and evades this by bulging towards one side into one of two stable final states, in that the region of the spring in the stable final states takes up different lateral positions and in that the drive elements act upon the plate and as a result of the change of position of the plate at the point of contact cause the plate to snap into the second stable final state.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.