Bistable thermal actuator
AssigneeSangamo Weston, Inc.
InventorDale F. Becker
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A thermal actuator or heat motor employing end-to-end bimetal, bistable strip portions spanning a pair of supports but having a total length greater than the straight-line distance across the supports and capable, upon the selective application of heat to either portion to the exclusion of the other to cause the strip portions to snap back and forth across a centerline representing the straight-line distance across the supports, together with selective heat-applying means and a force-transmitting element connected to the midpoint of the strip portions for supplying mechanical, electro-mechanical, etc., power.
Claims10
A bistable thermal actuator, comprising:
- a pair of spaced apart supports, an elongated composite bimetal element extending across and between the supports and having opposite ends adjacent and connected respectively to the supports, said element having a total length in excess of the distance between the supports so that the element buckles substantially symmetrically in one direction at its central portion substantially midway between the supports to form a pair of end-to-end arcuate halves, said element occupying a first position with its central portion over center at one side of a straight line between its opposite ends and movable over center as respects that line to a second position, whereby, when heat is applied exclusively to one half, the element moves from its first position to its second position and, when heat is applied exclusively to the other half, the element moves back to its first position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.