Cambridge Mechatronics Limited

Andrew Benjamin Simpson Brown

James Robert Howarth

Stephen Matthew Bunting

Robin Eddington

Marc-Sebastian Scholz

Robert Langhorne

Peter Van Wyk

Mark Easton

Andreas Flouris

Joshua Carr

Konstantinos Pantelidis

Christopher Avery

Adam South

Dominic George Webber

Oliver Hart

Daniel John Burbridge

Martin McBrien

Thomas James Powell

David Kuan Wei Ooi

Paul Windle

Ian Edward Charles Rogers

Jason Tun

Valerio Polenta

David Ooi

Emily Kwok

Samuel Armstrong

Alexander Doust

Nicolas Heijne

René Kist

An actuator assembly comprises a static part and a movable part. A helical bearing arrangement supporting the movable part on the static part guides helical movement of the movable part with respect to the static part around a helical axis. One or more actuators, that are not shape memory alloy actuators, are arranged to drive movement of the movable part around the helical axis, which thereby includes a component of translational movement along the helical axis. The helical movement increases the force within the actuator assembly allowing actuation of heavier movable parts, and may improve posture.

Actuator assembly

An SMA actuator assembly () comprising: first and second parts () that are movable relative to each other; and an SMA wire () arranged, on contraction, to drive relative movement of the first and second parts; and a heat transfer material () arranged between the first and second parts and around at least a portion of the SMA wire so as to transfer heat between the SMA wire and first and/or second parts, wherein the heat transfer material is configured to deform so as to allow relative movement of the first and second parts.

SMA actuator assembly

A shape memory alloy (SMA) actuator assembly comprising: a support structure (); a moveable part () moveable relative to the support structure; at least one SMA wire () having a first portion and a second portion respectively attached to the support structure and the moveable part, the said SMA wire is configured to, on contraction, drive movement in the moveable part at least in a primary axis along which the shortest side of the SMA actuator assembly extends; an intermediate component () engaging the SMA wire at a location between the first and second portions, the second portion of the SMA wire being arranged at an oblique angle to both the primary axis and the first portion of the SMA wire.

A shape memory alloy apparatus () comprising: a member () comprising a first end portion () and a second end portion (); and a shape memory alloy component () connected to the member (). The shape memory alloy component () being configured to, on contraction, change the separation between the first end portion () and the second end portion () of the member (), the member () being configured to be in tension during contraction of the shape memory alloy component (), wherein the said separation changes in a direction that is angled to the direction of contraction.

Shape memory alloy apparatus

An SMA actuation apparatus () comprising: a plurality of SMA wires (-) arranged, on contraction, to (a) tilt a movable part () relative to a support structure () about a first axis (x) and (b) translationally move the movable part relative to the support structure perpendicular to a primary axis (P); and a control circuit electrically connected to the SMA wires for supplying drive signals thereto, and configured to generate drive signals that combine the tilting and the translational movement to cause the movable element to tilt about a second axis (y) that is perpendicular to the primary axis and spaced from the first axis.

SMA actuation apparatus

An actuator assembly () comprising: a support structure () comprising a first friction surface (); a movable part () comprising a second friction surface () engaging the first friction surface; one or more SMA wires () arranged, on contraction, to move the movable part relative to the support structure to any position within a range of movement; a biasing arrangement () arranged to bias the first and second friction surfaces against each other with a normal force, thereby generating a static frictional force that constrains the movement of the movable part relative to the support structure at any position within the range of movement when the one or more SMA wires are not contracted, wherein the one or more SMA wires are arranged such that the normal force between the first and second friction surfaces remains substantially constant on contraction of the one or more SMA wires.

An actuator assembly comprising: a support structure comprising a first friction surface; a movable part comprising a second friction surface engaging the first friction surface; one or more SMA wires arranged, on contraction, to move the movable part relative to the support structure to any position within a range of movement; a biasing arrangement arranged to bias the first and second friction surfaces against each other with a normal force, thereby generating a static frictional force that constrains the movement of the movable part relative to the support structure at any position within the range of movement when the one or more SMA wires are not contracted; wherein the one or more SMA wires are arranged, on contraction, to reduce the normal force between first and second friction surfaces.

An actuation assembly comprising: a support structure; a movable element movable relative to the support structure, the movable element having a principal axis; and an actuator arrangement for driving movement of the movable element with respect to the support structure, wherein said movement includes rotational movement of the movable element about an axis which is perpendicular to said principal axis and does not pass through the centre of the movable element, and wherein said movement also includes translational movement of the movable element in a direction perpendicular to the principal axis. The actuation assembly may be used to perform optical image stabilisation or to improve the performance of a 3D sensing system.

Actuator assemblies and methods of controlling the same

An actuator assembly comprising a support structure; a movable part that is movable relative to the support structure in at least two degrees of freedom; an arrangement of superelastic SMA elements arranged, on actuation, to move the movable part in the at least two degrees of freedom relative to the support structure, wherein the hysteretic properties of the superelastic SMA elements are configured to hold the movable part in position when the superelastic SMA elements are not actuated.

An actuator assembly () comprising: first () and second () parts that are movable relative to each other; and one or more actuating units, each actuating unit comprising: a force-modifying mechanism () connected to the first part (); a coupling link () connected between the force-modifying mechanism () and the second part (); and an SMA wire () connected between the first part () and the force-modifying mechanism () for applying an input force on the force-modifying mechanism () thereby causing the force-modifying mechanism () to apply an output force on the coupling link () and causing the coupling link () to apply an actuating force on the second part (); wherein the coupling link () is compliant in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the actuating force.

A computer-implemented method for providing optical image stabilisation, the computer-implemented method comprising: receiving data indicative of a change in tilt of an optical image stabilisation assembly that comprises an image sensor and a lens element arranged to focus an image on the image sensor; and generating data for moving, relative to the image sensor, the lens element by a distance at least partially dependent on the change in tilt in order to stabilise an image portion of the image to provide a stabilised image; and adjusting a scaling of the distance to the change in tilt.

Method for optical image stabilization based on a change in tilt of an optical image stabilization assembly

Actuator assemblies and methods of operating actuator assemblies are provided, in particular with the aim of reducing bearing jitter. In one approach an actuator assembly () is provided which has: a support element (); a movable element () movable relative to the support element; an SMA component () connected between the movable element and the support element and arranged to cause movement of the movable element relative to the support element; a bearing () arranged to guide the movement of the movable element; and a controller () arranged to control energy supplied to the SMA component to thereby cause contraction and/or relaxation of the SMA component and to control movement of the movable element relative to the support element in a first direction so as to provide an actuation function, wherein the controller is arranged to, at least whilst the movable element starts to move in the first direction, control the movable element to cause it to be moving in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction.

Actuator assemblies

An actuator assembly comprising: a support structure; an image sensor assembly comprising an image sensor having a light-sensitive region, the image sensor assembly being suspended on the support structure in a manner allowing movement of the image sensor assembly relative to the support structure; and at least two flexible printed circuits, each electrically connected at one end to the image sensor assembly, wherein the flexible printed circuits fold around the image sensor assembly such that their other ends are at the same side of the image sensor assembly.

A shape memory alloy actuator assembly comprises a first part, including a surface, a second part which moves relative to the first part across the surface and a resilient biasing element that biases the second part into contact with the first part so as to generate frictional forces therebetween for retaining the second part on the surface. At least one shape memory alloy actuator wire is connected between the first part and the second part and arranged to, on contraction thereof, apply a force to the second part with a component parallel to the surface that drives movement of the second part relative to the first part across the surface. Thus, the second part is retained on the surface when no power is applied to the shape memory alloy wire, and movement is achieved when power is applied.

Broadly speaking, embodiments of the present techniques provide haptic button assemblies in which the haptic button has a low profile while still providing a satisfying tactile response or sensation to a user. Advantageously, the haptic button assemblies may have a profile that, for example, enables the assembly to be incorporated into the free space along an edge of a portable computing device. The haptic assemblies may, for example, be arranged to move the button perpendicularly with respect to the edge of the device.

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Cambridge, United Kingdom

Andrew Benjamin Simpson Brown