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US 6,762,378 B1Granted
Liquid metal, latching relay with face contact
AssigneeAgilent Technologies, Inc.
InventorMarvin Glenn Wong
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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AssigneeAgilent Technologies, Inc.
InventorMarvin Glenn Wong
Estimating the term…
An electrical relay using conducting liquid in the switching mechanism. Two electrical contacts are held a small distance apart. The facing surfaces of the contacts each support a droplet of a conducting liquid, such as a liquid metal. A piezoelectric actuator is energized to reduce the gap between the electrical contacts, causing the two liquid metal droplets to coalesce and form an electrical circuit. The piezoelectric actuator is then de-energized and the electrical contacts return to their starting positions. The liquid metal droplets remain coalesced because of surface tension. The electrical circuit is broken by energizing a piezoelectric actuator to increase the gap between the electrical contacts and break the surface tension bond between the liquid metal droplets. The droplets remain separated when the piezoelectric actuator is de-energized because there is insufficient liquid metal to bridge the gap between the contacts. The relay is amenable to manufacture by micro-machining techniques.
An electrical relay, comprising:
A method for switching an electrical circuit between a first contact and a second contact in a relay, the first contact supporting a first conducting liquid droplet and the second contact supporting a second conducting liquid droplet, the method comprising:
A method for switching an electrical circuit between a first contact and a second contact in a relay, the first contact supporting a first conducting liquid droplet and the second contact supporting a second conducting liquid droplet, the method comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.