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:
Jan. 17, 2012
Filed:
Sep. 28, 2006
Alan L. Browne, Grosse Pointe, MI (US);
Nancy L. Johnson, Northville, MI (US);
Robin Stevenson, Bloomfield, MI (US);
Nilesh D. Mankame, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Alan L. Browne, Grosse Pointe, MI (US);
Nancy L. Johnson, Northville, MI (US);
Robin Stevenson, Bloomfield, MI (US);
Nilesh D. Mankame, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
GM Global Technology Operations LLC, Detroit, MI (US);
Abstract
Remotely engageable and releasable suction cups include a pliable body and an active material in operative communication with the pliable body and configured to create and/or eliminate a partial vacuum through the activation of stiffness or geometry changes in the active material. Suitable active materials include shape memory materials such as shape memory alloys, ferromagnetic shape memory alloys, and shape memory polymers (SMP). A second class of active materials include materials that exhibit a change in at least one attribute when subjected to an applied field but revert back to their original state upon removal of the applied field. Active materials in this category include piezoelectric materials, electroactive polymers (EAP), magnetorheological polymers, and the like.