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. 03, 2018
Filed:
Oct. 29, 2015
Lining Yao, Cambridge, MA (US);
Wen Wang, Revere, MA (US);
Jifei Ou, Somerville, MA (US);
Chin-yi Cheng, Cambridge, MA (US);
Guanyun Wang, Hangzhou, CN;
Hiroshi Ishii, Cambridge, MA (US);
Daniel Wang, Newton, MA (US);
Helene Steiner, London, GB;
Clark Della Silva, San Francisco, CA (US);
Lining Yao, Cambridge, MA (US);
Wen Wang, Revere, MA (US);
Jifei Ou, Somerville, MA (US);
Chin-Yi Cheng, Cambridge, MA (US);
Guanyun Wang, Hangzhou, CN;
Hiroshi Ishii, Cambridge, MA (US);
Daniel Wang, Newton, MA (US);
Helene Steiner, London, GB;
Clark Della Silva, San Francisco, CA (US);
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (US);
Abstract
A composite film includes a substrate that is not responsive to relative humidity, and also one or more layers of hygromorphic material. The hygromorphic material expands in response to an increase in relative humidity and contracts in response to a decrease in relative humidity. In some cases, the composite film is bi-layer or tri-layer. The composite films are fabricated such that they undergo a desired bending pattern in response to changes in relative humidity. In some cases, these bending patterns are combinations of two bending primitives: a smooth curve and a sharply angled curve. These two primitives are combined to create a variety of shape transformations including 1D linear transformation, 2D surface expansion and contraction, 2.5D texture change and 3D folding. Any type of hygromorphic material may be employed, including living gram positive and gram negative bacterial cells, yeast cells, plant cells, mammalian cells, cell debris, or hydrogel.