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US 5,350,966 AGranted
Piezocellular propulsion
AssigneeRockwell International Corporation
InventorGordon W. Culp
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A piezocellular force generating and acoustic interacting device comprising a multiplicity of electrodeformable membranes under semi-autonomous cellular control that directly converts electrical energy into fluid energy by membrane bending, directs thrust by concerted cell actions, and ameliorates friction by passively and actively complying with, and adding fluid to, a boundary layer. The device also provides useful passive and active acoustic fluid interactions.
Claims13
A fluid forcing and acoustical interaction device comprising:
- a support;
- a plurality of membranes, each membrane having a front end, a back end and two opposing surfaces, the front end attached to the support, the membranes having;
- a plurality of electrodeformable cells, each cell having;
- a least one layer of electrodeformable material which changes length in response to an applied electric potential, thereby bending the membrane as a function of the potential applied;
- a means of applying a potential to each cell to produce movement of each cell;
- a means of controlling the potential applied to each cell to yield a coordinated wave motion of the membranes, whereby the membranes are immersed in a fluid and the wave motion of the membrane's opposing surfaces interact with the fluid.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.