US 12,472,080 B2
Scalable microfluidic double-helix weave architecture for 3D-printable biomimetic artificial muscles
Emil Paskalev Kartalov, Pacific Grove, CA (US)
Assigned to The Government of the United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the Navy, Arlington, VA (US)
Filed by THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AS REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY, Arlington, VA (US)
Filed on Jun. 21, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/845,989.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/213,178, filed on Jun. 21, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2022/0401235 A1, Dec. 22, 2022
Int. Cl. A61F 2/74 (2006.01); A61F 2/50 (2006.01)
CPC A61F 2/741 (2021.08) [A61F 2/74 (2021.08); A61F 2002/5066 (2013.01)] 14 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An artificial muscle comprising:
an artificial muscle fiber comprising a first plurality of microfluidic channels of a first polarity and a second plurality of microfluidic channels of a second polarity, the first plurality of microfluidic channels and the second plurality of microfluidic channels are entwined in a double helix weave;
wherein the first polarity and the second polarity are electrically opposite charges;
a parallel array of artificial muscle fibers that comprises the artificial muscle fiber, the parallel array having the first plurality of microfluidic channels of each of the artificial muscle fibers are fluidically connected and the second plurality of microfluidic channels of each of the N artificial muscle fibers are fluidically connected; and
wherein the parallel array is a power of base 2 so that only a first polarity input and a second polarity input of the artificial muscle fiber and a first polarity output and a second polarity output of the artificial muscle fiber are included in the parallel array.