Patent ID: 11946461
Assignee: SAES GETTERS S.P.A.
Field: Engines, pumps, turbines (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC F | IPC F

Claim 0:
1. An asymmetric inertial bistable shape memory alloy actuator comprising:
a stationary support,
a slider movably mounted on said stationary support,
a crank-and-rod mechanism mounted on the stationary support and connected to said movable slider, said crank-and-rod mechanism having a, first stable position and a second stable position located on opposite sides with respect to its dead center,
one or more inertial elements of total mass M coupled to or forming part of the crank-and-rod mechanism,
only one shape memory alloy wire acting directly or indirectly on the crank-and-rod mechanism to switch the crank-and-rod mechanism from its first stable position to its second stable position and vice versa,
biasing means to bias said slider towards the first stable position,
wherein a movable pivot connecting the crank and the rod of the crank-and-rod mechanism has a distance d1 from the dead center of the crank-and-rod mechanism in the first stable position that is greater than an analogous distance d2 in the second stable position.