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:
Jul. 13, 2021
Filed:
Jun. 14, 2019
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (US);
The Government of the United States of America, As Represented BY the Secretary of the Navy, Arlington, VA (US);
Emil P. Kartalov, Pacific Grove, CA (US);
Axel Scherer, Barnard, VT (US);
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (US);
The Government of the United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the Navy, Arlington, VA (US);
Abstract
Artificial muscles comprising a body of dielectric elastomer, wherein the body contains a pair of microfluidic networks are presented. Each microfluidic network includes a plurality of channels fluidically coupled via a manifold. The channels of the microfluidic networks are interdigitated and filled with conductive fluid such that each set of adjacent channels functions as the electrodes of an electroactive polymer (EAP) actuator. By using the manifolds as compliant wiring to energize the electrodes, artificial muscles in accordance with the present disclosure mitigate some or all of the reliability problems associated with prior-art artificial muscles.