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:
Apr. 01, 1997
Filed:
Mar. 25, 1996
Gregory Um, Torrance, CA (US);
Andrei Szilagyi, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA (US);
Aura Systems, Inc., El Segundo, CA (US);
Abstract
An actuator for tilting the plane of an object includes a substrate and a pair of piezoelectric material members. Each of the piezoelectric members has a top surface, a bottom surface, a first side surface and a second side surface. The bottom surface is mounted to the substrate, and the first side surfaces of each of the members are affixed to each other and electrically connected in common. One of the piezoelectric material members further has a polarization selected so that a voltage applied between the first side surface and the second side surface thereof causes the piezoelectric material member to either contract or expand between the top surface and said bottom surface, depending on the polarity of the voltage. The object is mounted to the top surface of each of the piezoelectric material members so that when a voltage is applied to one of the piezoelectric material members, the object either tilts toward or away from that member, depending on the polarity of the voltage.