US 12,480,480 B2
Shape memory alloy apparatus
Joshua Carr, Cambridge (GB); Andrew Benjamin Simpson Brown, Cambridge (GB); and James Howarth, Cambridge (GB)
Assigned to CAMBRIDGE MECHATRONICS LIMITED, Cambridge (GB)
Appl. No. 17/796,849
Filed by CAMBRIDGE MECHATRONICS LIMITED, Cambridge (GB)
PCT Filed Feb. 5, 2021, PCT No. PCT/EP2021/052840
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Aug. 1, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/156458, PCT Pub. Date Aug. 12, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 2001624 (GB), filed on Feb. 6, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0048232 A1, Feb. 16, 2023
Int. Cl. F03G 7/06 (2006.01); G02B 7/09 (2021.01); G02B 27/64 (2006.01)
CPC F03G 7/06143 (2021.08) [F03G 7/064 (2021.08); G02B 27/646 (2013.01); F03G 7/0665 (2021.08); G02B 7/09 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A shape memory alloy apparatus comprising:
a member comprising a first end portion and a second end portion;
a shape memory alloy component connected to the member and being configured to, on contraction, change the separation between the first end portion and the second end portion of the member, the member being configured to be in tension during contraction of the shape memory alloy component, wherein the said separation changes in a direction that is angled to the direction of contraction;
a support structure, the first end portion of the member being connected to the support structure;
a moveable element, the second end portion of the member being connected to the moveable element such that the changing of the separation between the first end portion and the second end portion of the member is configured to drive movement of the moveable element relative to the support structure along a movement axis in a first direction and/or to drive, in a first rotational direction, rotational movement of the moveable element about a first axis that is perpendicular to the movement axis; and
a second member comprising a first end portion and a second end portion, the member and the second member forming a pair of members, the shape memory alloy component being arranged between the members of the pair of members and being configured to, on contraction, change the separation between the first end portion and the second end portion of each of the members.