Patent ID: 8746416

Claim:
A linear guide, comprising: a guide carriage having a U-shaped cross-sectional area and being longitudinally movably arranged on a guide rail; and a braking device attached at one end side of the guide carriage and effectively arranged between the guide rail and the guide carriage, wherein the braking device includes a housing and an actuator for actuating the braking device, the actuator being disposed in the housing of the braking device, and wherein the actuator has an electro-active polymer effectively arranged in a longitudinal axis of the linear guide for actuating the braking device, the electro-active polymer being a plurality of planar actuators arranged in a row along the longitudinal axis of the linear guide, each of the planar actuators comprising an elastomeric film having two sides with electrodes on both of the sides of the elastomeric film, and wherein the electro-active polymer is U-shaped so that the electro-active polymer substantially fills the U-shaped cross-sectional area of the guide carriage.