Lintec of America, Inc.

Other

Randy B Allen

Marcio Dias Lima

Marilu Guerrero

Yang Yang

Luis Plata

Franklin Le

Sergey Li

Anthony Hingeley

An actuator device that includes a first fiber, a conducting material, and a coating. The coating coats the first fiber or the conducting material. The coating may also provide moisture protection, UV protection, thermal insulation and thermal conductivity.

Artificial muscle actuators

A linear displacement device includes at least one artificial muscle actuator, an arm attached to the at least one artificial muscle, a body that is restricted to move along a line, and a stationary channel that restricts the motion of the body to linear motion. The at least one artificial muscle actuator causes the body to move along the line. The body is further restricted to move along a surface of the arm and the at least one artificial muscle actuator is a rotational muscle actuator. Additionally, the arm rotates in concert with the at least one artificial muscle actuator.

A hinge-type actuator device in accordance with the present disclosure may include a first and second paddle, a first and second artificial muscle actuator segment, and a plurality of contacts, where the first and second artificial muscle actuator segments are actuated via the contacts, actuation of the first artificial muscle actuator segment causes the first and second paddle to open the hinge-type actuator, and actuation of the second artificial muscle actuator segment causes the first and second paddle to dose the hinge-type actuator.

Methods, system, and apparatus for producing an actuator device are disclosed. The method may include twisting a muscle fiber; coiling the twisted muscle fiber about a mandrel; securing the muscle fiber onto the mandrel using a securing means; heating the muscle fiber to a predetermined temperature using a heating means; and removing the coiled muscle fiber from the mandrel. The twisting, coiling, securing, heating, and removing is a process that is continued until the muscle fiber is a desired length.

Continuous production of muscle fibers

An actuator includes a plurality of artificial muscle fibers and at least one conducting material. The at least one conducting material electrically stimulates the plurality of artificial muscle fibers during activation of the actuator. An actuator device includes at least one artificial muscle fiber and at least one high-strength creep-resistant fiber.

An actuating device and a method for manufacturing an actuating device, where the method includes wrapping a conductive wire () around a polymer fiber () at a set tension, and heating the polymer fiber and wire to a temperature that exceeds the glass transition temperature of the polymer fiber for a predetermined amount of time to partially embed the conductive wire into the polymer fiber. The method also includes cooling the polymer fiber and wire to below the glass transition temperature resulting in a wired polymer fiber wherein at least part of the conductive wire is embedded in the polymer fiber.

Embedded conductive wires in polymer artificial muscle actuating devices

A hinge-type actuator device in accordance with the present disclosure may include a first and second paddle, a first and second artificial muscle actuator segment, and a plurality of contacts, where the first and second artificial muscle actuator segments are actuated via the contacts, actuation of the first artificial muscle actuator segment causes the first and second paddle to open the hinge-type actuator, and actuation of the second artificial muscle actuator segment causes the first and second paddle to close the hinge-type actuator.

Stair tread

An actuator device that includes a conducting material and at least one fuse incorporated into the conducting material is disclosed. The at least one fuse may stop current flow for temperatures above a specific temperature. The actuator device may also include a series of electronics that determine whether the actuating device has blown the at least one fuse.

Growing community of inventors

Houston, TX, United States of America

Randy B Allen