The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 01, 2020
Filed:
Apr. 27, 2018
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (US);
Jeffrey Ian Lipton, Medford, MA (US);
Robert MacCurdy, Belchertown, MA (US);
Lillian Chin, Cambridge, MA (US);
Daniela Rus, Weston, MA (US);
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (US);
Abstract
Non-planar shearing auxetic structures, devices, and methods are provided herein. In some embodiments, a non-planar shearing auxetic structure can include a mathematically compact surface with an auxetic pattern of repeating unit cells. The shearing auxetic structure can have a contracted configuration and an expanded configuration, and, when in the compact configuration, can be configured to move to the expanded configuration while generating a net shear on the surface. Shearing auxetic structures can have handedness and, in some embodiments, multiple handed shearing auxetic structures can be joined to create rigid or semi-rigid composite structures, e.g., by arranging differently-handed structures concentrically wherein two or more structures lock against each other. Handed shearing auxetic structures can also provide actuators to convert rotation or other motion to translation, volume expansion, bending, twisting, etc. These structures have many applications, e.g., deployable structures such as pressure vessels, space habitats, fluid carrying vessels, soft robotics, toys, etc.