Patent ID: 9567984
Date: 2017-02-14
CPC Classifications: D06F,E05B,E05C,F03G,Y10T

Claim:
1. A rotary actuator comprising: a plurality of plate members comprising: a spring providing a biasing force tending to cause the rotatable end plate member to rotate in a biasing direction relative to the non-rotatable end plate member; a SMA wire extending through the plurality of notches so that generally helical wire paths all extend in one of the clockwise or counterclockwise direction from the non-rotatable end plate member to the rotatable end plate member; wherein as the SMA wire is heated, the SMA wire rotates each rotatable plate member from a cold position in a direction opposite the biasing direction to a hot position; and as the SMA wire cools, the spring rotates each rotatable plate member in the biasing direction from the hot position and returns each rotatable plate member to the cold position; and a latch operably moved by the SMA wire.