Electron gun controlled smart structure

The system of 10, further comprising:

• a third electrode disposed on the frontside of the top layer, and located above the second electrode;
• and
• a conductive via that penetrates through the top layer;
• and electrically connects the second electrode to the third electrode.

A system for actively controlling the shape of a structure, comprising:

• a plurality of patches of an electroactive material attached to the frontside of the structure;
• an electrode attached to the frontside of each patch of electroactive material;
• a charged particle generator, disposed so as to direct a beam of charged particles onto at least one electrode;
• a conductive substrate disposed between the structure and the patches;
• and
• a power supply electrically connected to the conductive substrate.

A method for changing the shape of a sheet of an electroactive material, comprising:

• a) providing a sheet of electroactive material having an electrode attached to the frontside of the sheet and having a conductive substrate attached to the backside of the sheet;
• b) applying an electric potential to the conductive substrate;
• c) generating, aiming, and depositing a beam of charged particles onto the frontside electrode;
• and
• d) creating an electric field across the sheet of electroactive material due to the accumulation of electric charge within the frontside electrode.

A method for actively controlling the shape of a sheet of electroactive material, comprising:

• a) providing a sheet of electroactive material comprising a plurality of electrodes attached to the frontside of the sheet and a conductive substrate attached to the backside of the sheet;
• b) identifying a desired shape of the sheet;
• c) applying an electric potential to the conductive substrate;
• d) identifying a selected electrode;
• e) generating, aiming, and depositing a beam of charged particles onto the selected electrode;
• f) locally bending the sheet at the location of the selected electrode, in response to the deposition of electric charge in step e);
• and
• g) repeating steps c) through f) for as many locations as is necessary to achieve the overall desired shape of the sheet.

A method for actively controlling the shape of a sheet of electroactive material in two independent, orthogonal directions, comprising:

• a) providing a sheet comprising a lamination of two preferentially biased electroactive layers, with the preferential bias of the top layer being arranged perpendicular to the preferential bias of the bottom layer, and further wherein the top layer comprises a plurality of top electrodes and further comprising a conductive substrate attached to the backside of the sheet;
• b) identifying a desired shape of the sheet;
• c) identifying a selected top electrode;
• d) applying an electric potential to the conductive substrate;
• e) generating, aiming, and depositing a beam of charged particles onto the selected top electrode,
• f) creating a top layer excitation voltage on the selected top electrode;
• g) bending the sheet locally in the direction of the preferential bias of the top layer, in response to the top layer excitation voltage;
• h) applying an bottom layer excitation voltage to the bottom layer;
• i) bending the sheet locally in the direction of the preferential bias of the bottom layer, in response to the bottom layer excitation voltage;
• and
• j) repeating steps c) through i) for as many locations as is necessary to achieve the overall desired shape of the sheet.

A method of calibrating the response of the shape of a sheet of electroactive material having a plurality of electrodes attached to the frontside of the sheet, and having a conductive substrate attached to the backside of the sheet;

• the method comprising:
• a) applying a first known voltage to a selected frontside electrode;
• b) applying a first known voltage to the conductive substrate;
• c) measuring the local transverse deformation of the sheet at the location of the selected frontside electrode;
• d) repeating steps a) through c), sequentially, for each and every one of the frontside electrodes;
• and
• e) assembling a global sensitivity deflection matrix from the measured deformations, whereby the matrix relates the deformed shape of the sheet to the set of known voltages applied to the frontside electrodes.