Piezoelectric composite materials

Abstract

A laminated structural device has the ability to change shape, position and resonant frequency without using discrete motive components. The laminate (10) may be a combination of layers (14,16) of a piezoelectrically active, non-conductive matrix material as shown in FIG. 1. A power source (22) selectively places various levels of charge an electrically conductive filaments (18,20) imbedded in the respective layers to produce various configurations shown in FIGS. 2 to 5 in a predetermined manner. The layers may be electrically conductive having imbedded piezoelectrically active filaments. A combination of layers of electrically conductive material may be laminated to layers of piezoelectrically active material.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.