Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.V.

Nxp B.v.

U.S. Philips Corporation

Philips Lighting Holding B.v.

Lumileds LLC

Epcos Ag

Koninlijke Philips Electronics N.v.

Lumileds Holding B.v.

Philips Intellectual Property & Standards Gmbh

Achim Hilgers

Mark Thomas Johnson

Daan Anton Van Den Ende

Cornelis Petrus Hendriks

Eduard Gerard Marie Pelssers

Franciscus Johannes Gerardus Hakkens

Roland Alexander Van De Molengraaf

Eberhard Waffenschmidt

Indra Ghosh

Matthias Wendt

Yannyk Parulian Julian Bourquin

Frank Anton Van Abeelen

Reinder Haakma

Lili-Marjan Brockhuis

Heiko Pelzer

Rebekka Porath

Roland Cornelis Martinus Vulders

Hugo Johan Cornelissen

Hans-Helmut Bechtel

Andries Van Wageningen

Harald Josef Günther Radermacher

Antonius Adriaan Maria Staring

Reinhold Elferich

Bozena Erdmann

Floris Maria Hermansz Crompvoets

Bernd Ackermann

Reinhold Wimberger-Friedl

Rainer Hilbig

Armand Michel Marie Lelkens

Willem Franke Pasveer

Arjen Van Der Horst

Norbertus Antonius Maria Sweegers

Derk Reefman

Dmytro Viktorovych Malyna

Rainer Kiewitt

Thomas Dürbaum

Marinus Johannes Adrianus Maria Van Helvoort

Biju Kumar Sreedharan Nair

Javier Espina Perez

Jozef Hubertus Gelissen

Thomas Falck

Koen Theo Johan De Groot

Bjoern Weissler

Marc Andre De Samber

Milica Kovacevic Milivojevic

Mustafa Ghassan Radha

Lambertus De Vries

Frank Heinrichs

Frederick Maria Boekhorst

Rene Leonardus Jacobus Marie Ubachs

Daiyu Hayashi

Petrus Cornelis Hendriks

Yuanqiang Liu

Pieter Gerrit Blanden

Manfred Müller

Ronald Antonie Hovenkamp

An optical vital signs sensor () is provided, which comprises a PPG sensor (), a force transducer () configured to measure a force applied via the PPG sensor () to a skin () of the user and a processing unit () configured to extract information regarding a blood volume pulse from the output of the PPG sensor () and to map the extracted information to the blood pressure value at a specific force applied to the PPG sensor ().

Optical vital signs sensor

A biological cell preservation or culturing arrangement () comprises a chamber defining a fluid retaining space () for retaining in use a body of fluid () and a deformable membrane () in communication with the fluid retaining space, and being manipulable by an electroactive polymer actuator arrangement () to undergo a defined topology change to induce in the fluid a pattern of fluid flow by which fluid is exchanged between a sub-region () immediately proximal the deformable membrane and a sub-region () removed from the deformable membrane.

Cell preservation or culturing arrangement

The proposed device comprises a plurality of electroactive material actuator units arranged as a set. Control data for driving individual units is transferred over three shared power lines. The electroactive material actuator of each unit is driven depending on control data received from the power lines via a demodulator, a controller, and a driver.

Device with multiple electroactive material actuator units and actuating method

An actuator device has a temperature sensing means and a controller adapted to apply a high frequency AC signal to stimulate internal self-heating to thereby maintain a temperature of an actuator member of the device at a certain fixed temperature, this temperature being elevated with respect to an initial temperature of the actuator member. This ensures that thermal drift may be mitigated or eliminated by compensating for any changes in environmental temperature through raising or lowering the level of the heating signal.

Actuator device and method for limiting thermal drift

A monitoring system includes an implantable intra-vascular support device for positioning against a vessel wall and an implantable sensor-actuator mounted to the support device. The sensor-actuator is drivable between a non-deployed position in which it is against the support device and a deployed position in which it is displaced away from the support device. Sensor signals are generated when in the deployed position. This system is able to monitor flow away from the edge of a vessel by deploying the sensor-actuator towards the center of the vessel. When flow monitoring does not need to take place, it can be non-deployed so that it does not present an occlusion to the flow.

Implant device for in-body monitoring

A field-driven electroactive polymer actuator is provided with a current sensor for sensing a current flowing to the actuator. A control circuit is used for driving the actuator which includes a voltage source. The driving of the actuator is controlled in dependence on the sensed current, thereby to provide a predetermined charge delivery for particular changes in actuation level of the actuator. This provides a combined voltage-based and current-based drive scheme for a voltage-driven EAP actuator, and it enables mechanical movements of the actuator to be more reliably repeated.

Actuator device incorporating an electroactive polymer actuator and a driving method

The present application relates to a cold plasma device () for treating skin (). The cold plasma device () comprises a cold plasma generator () adapted to generate cold plasma that produces reactive species for treating said skin (), and a manipulator () adapted to manipulate said skin () to increase exposure of bacteria on said skin to said reactive species during use of the device.

Cold plasma device for treating skin

An actuator device has an electroactive polymer actuator () and an integrated piezoelectric transformer () whose primary side () and secondary side () are formed from different electroactive polymer materials. At least the secondary side () of the transformer shares a piezoelectric electroactive polymer layer () with the electroactive polymer actuator, so that lower external voltages can be applied to the device.

Electroactive polymer actuator device and driving method

An electroactive polymer actuator includes an electroactive polymer structure and a driver for providing an actuation drive signal. In one aspect, a first drive level is used to charge the electroactive polymer structure from a non-actuated state to an actuated state. When or after the electroactive polymer structure reaches the actuated state, a lower second drive level is used to hold the electroactive polymer structure at the actuated state. This temporary overdrive scheme improves the speed response without damaging the electroactive polymer structure. In another aspect, a driving method makes use of several different level segments over time, which compensates for the delayed actuation response of the EAP actuator.

EAP actuator and drive method

A device comprises a plurality of electroactive material actuator units arranged as a linear set. Data for controlling the driving of the individual units is provided on a data line, and data line connections are made between each adjacent pair of electroactive material actuator units. The electroactive material actuator units are controlled in dependence on received data from the data line. This provides a reduced complexity of the wiring when multiple actuators need to be addressed and controlled in small application environments.

Actuator device based on an electroactive material

A field driven electroactive polymer actuator which is actuated using an actuation drive having a profiled portion having a start voltage and an end voltage and a duration of at least 25 ms followed by a steady state drive portion based on a steady state voltage. The profiled portion comprises a voltage curve or a set of voltage points which define a first voltage slope at the beginning of the profiled portion which is steeper than a linear ramp between the start voltage and the end voltage, and a second voltage slope at the end of the profiled portion which is shallower than a linear ramp between the start voltage and the end voltage.

An electroactive material actuator and sensor is actuated with an actuation signal having an activation period for charging the actuator and a de-activation period for discharging the actuator. A parallel resistance of the actuator is determined by sensing a steady state current during the activation period and a series capacitance of the actuator is determined based on a charge flow during charging of the actuator at the beginning of the activation period. A series resistance is obtained by controlling a current through the actuator with an oscillating profile so that a phase relationship of the actuator between current and voltage can be measured. An oscillating current sink is used to enable circuit component measurements, which implement sensing functionality.

Actuator and sensor device based on electroactive polymer

An actuator device comprises an electroactive polymer actuator () and a control circuit for driving the electroactive polymer actuator. The control circuit comprises a voltage boosting circuit including at least a capacitor (; C, C, C). An electroactive polymer layer () forms the electroactive polymer actuator in an active region () as well as a dielectric layer of the capacitor in a passive region (). This provides integration of components to enable cost reductions and miniaturization.

An actuator device has an electroactive polymer actuator and an integrated piezoelectric transformer. At least a secondary side of the integrated piezoelectric transformer shares a piezoelectric electroactive polymer layer with the electroactive polymer actuator, so that lower external voltages can be applied to the actuator device. A diode is connected between the secondary side of the integrated piezoelectric transformer and the electroactive polymer actuator.

The invention provides an electroactive polymer actuator comprising a capacitance compensation means adapted to at least partially offset any changes in the capacitance across the member induced by its deformation. In this way, the electronic control of the device is rendered much simpler, since a varying capacitance across the actuator member does not have to be accounted for when driving the actuator to perform a particular deformation.

Electroactive polymer actator

Growing community of inventors

Alsdorf, Germany

Achim Hilgers