Patent ID: 6983088

Claim:
A thermal actuator ( 200 ) comprising: a substrate having a surface; a first support and a second support disposed on the surface and extending orthogonally therefrom, a plurality of beams ( 212 a – 212 d ) extending in parallel between the first support and the second support, thus forming a beam array ( 214 ), each beam being agonic and substantially straight; each beam of the beam array having a beam width ( 226 ) with a corresponding beam width value, the beams in the beam array having beam width values that vary based on a predetermined pattern; and an included coupling beam extending orthogonally across the beam array to couple each array beam substantially at its midpoint; wherein the predetermined pattern is characterized in that extending orthogonally, across the beam array ( 214 ) from one side ( 250 ) to the opposite side ( 252 ), the beam width values of successive beam widths ( 226 ) do not decrease and at least sometimes increase.