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US 6,439,693 B1Granted
Thermal bend actuator
AssigneeSilverbrook Research Pty Ltd
InventorKia Silverbrook
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A thermal bend actuator (6) is provided with upper arms (23, 25, 26) and lower arms (27, 28) which are non planar, so increasing the stiffness of the arms. The arms (23, 25, 26, 27, 28) may be spaced transversely of each other and do not overly each other in plan view, so enabling all arms to be formed by depositing a single layer of arm forming material.
Claims22
A thermal actuator for micro mechanical or micro electro-mechanical devices, the actuator including:
- a) a supporting substrate,
- b) an actuator extension portion,
- c) at least one elongate first arm attached at a first end thereof to the substrate and at a second end to the extension portion, the first arm being arranged, in use, to be conductively heatable,
- d) at least one elongate second arm attached at a first end to the supporting substrate and at a second end to the extension portion, the second arm being spaced apart from the first arm,
- the at least one first arm being arranged, in use, to undergo thermal expansion, thereby causing the actuator to apply a force to the extension portion, and
- wherein, in transverse cross-section, at least one of the at least one first arm and the at least one second arm are non-planar.
3 more elements
A thermal actuator for micro mechanical or micro electro-mechanical devices, the actuator including:
- a) a supporting substrate,
- b) an actuator extension portion,
- c) at least one first arm attached at a first end thereof to the substrate and at a second end to the extension portion, the first arm being arranged, in use, to be conductively heatable,
- d) at least one second arm attached at a first end to the supporting substrate and at a second end to the extension portion, the second arm being spaced apart from the first arm,
- the at least one first arm being arranged, in use, to undergo thermal expansion, thereby causing the actuator to apply a force to the extension portion, and
- wherein, in plan view, said at least one first arm and said at least one second arm do not overlap.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.