Farla M Russo, 59156 Old Farm Ln, Warren, VT 05674

6404107, Jun 11, 2002

Feb 26, 1999

09/261475

Kenneth B. Lazarus - Concord MA
Mark E. Lundstrom - Seattle WA
Jeffrey W. Moore - Arlington MA
Edward Crawley - Cambridge MA
Farla Russo - Brookline MA
Shoko Yoshikawa - Cambridge MA

Active Control eXperts, Inc. - Cambridge MA

H01L 4108

310328, 310330, 310334, 310366

A modular actuator assembly includes one or more plates or elements of electro-active material bonded to an electroded sheet, preferably by a structural polymer to form a card. The card is sealed, and may itself constitute a practical device, such as a vane, shaker, stirrer, lever, pusher or sonicator for direct contact with a solid or immersion in a fluid, or may be bonded by a stiff adhesive to make a surface-to-surface mechanical coupling with a solid workpiece, device, substrate machine or sample. The structural polymer provides a bending stiffness such that the thin plate does not deform to its breaking point, and a mechanical stiffness such that shear forces are efficiently coupled from the plate to the workpiece. In further embodiments, the card may include active circuit elements for switching, powering or processing signals, and/or passive circuit elements for filtering, matching or damping signals, so that few or no connections to outside circuitry are required. The actuator assembly can be manufactured in quantity, to provide a versatile actuator with uniform mechanical and actuation characteristics, that introduces negligible mass loading to the workpiece.

6427812, Aug 6, 2002

Jan 23, 2001

09/768119

Edward F. Crawley - Cambridge MA
Kenneth B. Lazarus - Concord MA
Jeffrey W. Moore - Arlington MA
Douglas A. Simpson - Cambridge MA
Gerald F. Caron - Andover MA
Farla M. Russo - Cambridge MA

Active Control eXperts, Inc. - Cambridge MA

F16F 932

1882667, 18832213

A valve regulates fluid displacement in a damper assembly, for example, displacement of hydraulic fluid in a sealed shock absorber. The valve is placed between a portion of fluid at one pressure and regulates the passage of fluid through an aperture or passage to a portion of fluid at a lower pressure by a blocking member which moves to obstruct the aperture in accordance with a desired level of damping. The blocking member is, or is driven by, an electroactive device, such as a bimorph actuator formed of ferroelectric material.

6485380, Nov 26, 2002

Jan 12, 2001

09/759855

Ronald Spangler - Somerville MA
David Gilbert - Arlington MA
Carl Prestia - Stow MA
Emanuele Bianchini - Winchester MA
Kenneth B. Lazarus - Concord MA
Jeffrey W. Moore - Arlington MA
Robert N. Jacques - Andover MA
Jonathan C. Allen - Brookline MA
Farla M. Russo - Brookline MA

Active Control eXperts, Inc. - Cambridge MA

A63B 4902

473521, 473546, 310317, 310326

A golf club includes an electroactive assembly attached to the club and electrically tuned to capture energy from one or more vibrational modes with high efficiency. More generally, a sports implement includes an electroactive element, such as a piezoceramic sheet attached to the implement, and a circuit attached to the electroactive element. The circuit may be a shunt, or may include processing such as amplification and phase control to apply a driving signal which may compensate for strain sensed in the implement, or may simply alter the stiffness to affect performance. The electroactive element is located in a region of high strain to apply damping, and may include plural subassemblies mounted to capture energy in different planes, or to capture an asymmetric strain distribution while maintaining structural symmetry. In a ski the element captures between about one and five percent of the strain energy of the ski. The region of high strain may be found by modeling mechanics of the sports implement, or may be located by empirically mapping the strain distribution which occurs during use of the implement.

6781285, Aug 24, 2004

Apr 27, 1999

09/300137

Kenneth B. Lazarus - Concord MA
Mark E. Lundstrom - Seattle WA
Jeffrey W. Moore - Arlington MA
Edward Crawley - Cambridge MA
Farla Russo - Brookline MA
Shoko Yoshikawa - Cambridge MA
Eric Fitch - Medford MA

Cymer, Inc. - San Diego CA

H01L 4108

310332, 310340

A modular actuator assembly includes one or more plates or elements of electro-active material bonded to an electroded sheet, preferably by a structural polymer to form a card. The card is sealed, and may itself constitute a practical device, such as a vane, shaker, stirrer, lever, pusher or sonicator for direct contact with a solid or immersion in a fluid, or may be bonded by a stiff adhesive to make a surface-to-surface mechanical coupling with a solid workpiece, device, substrate machine or sample. The structural polymer provides a bending stiffness such that the thin plate does not deform to its breaking point, and a mechanical stiffness such that shear forces are efficiently coupled from the plate to the workpiece. In further embodiments, the card may include active circuit elements for switching, powering or processing signals, and/or passive circuit elements for filtering, matching or damping signals, so that few or no connections to outside circuitry are required. The actuator assembly can be manufactured in quantity, to provide a versatile actuator with uniform mechanical and actuation characteristics, that introduces negligible mass loading to the workpiece.

5866971, Feb 2, 1999

Aug 14, 1996

8/699680

Kenneth B. Lazarus - Boston MA
Edward F. Crawley - Cambridge MA
Farla M. Russo - Brookline MA
Erik Saarmaa - Boston MA

Active Control Experts, Inc. - Cambridge MA

H02H 202
H01L 4108

310328

A hybrid actuator includes strain actuated elements that displace fluid to move a piston, with the elements forming a fluid housing, and being oriented and actuated to optimize force, stroke or bandwidth. In one preferred embodiment the elements are cylinders enclosing the fluid, with radial and axial components of strain-induced dimensional change adding together to enhance displacement. In another preferred embodiment, piezo bender elements produce large stroke, high bandwidth movements. Strokes of up to fifty percent of actuator length, and bandwidths above 500 Hz are achieved in light weight electrically actuated devices free of external piping or hydraulics. The actuator is readily integrated into a gate valve, sub-woofer, or other driven device.

6086490, Jul 11, 2000

Apr 3, 1998

9/054940

Ronald Spangler - Somerville MA
David Gilbert - Arlington MA
Carl Prestia - Stow MA
Emanuele Bianchini - Charlestown MA
Kenneth B. Lazarus - Concord MA
Jeffrey W. Moore - Arlington MA
Robert N. Jacques - Hopkington MA
Jonathan C. Allen - Brookline MA
Farla M. Russo - Brookline MA

Active Control eXperts, Inc. - Cambridge MA

A63B 5900

473564

A baseball bat includes an electroactive assembly attached near the handle and electrically tuned to capture energy from several modes with high efficiency. More generally, a sports implement includes an electroactive element, such as a piezoceramic sheet attached to the implement, and a circuit attached to the electroactive element. The circuit may be a shunt, or may include processing such as amplification and phase control to apply a driving signal which may compensate for strain sensed in the implement, or may simply alter the stiffness to affect performance. In a ski, the electroactive element is located near to the root in a region of high strain to apply damping, and the element captures between about one and five percent of the strain energy of the ski. The region of high strain may be found by modeling mechanics of the sports implement, or may be located by empirically mapping the strain distribution which occurs during use of the implement. In other embodiments, the electroactive elements may remove resonances, adapt performance to different situations, or enhance handling or comfort of the implement.

6093995, Jul 25, 2000

Jan 25, 1999

9/237154

Kenneth B. Lazarus - Boston MA
Edward F. Crawley - Cambridge MA
Farla M. Russo - Brookline MA
Erik Saarmaa - Boston MA

Active Control eXperts, Inc. - Cambridge MA

H02H 202
H01L 4108

310328

A hybrid actuator includes strain actuated elements that displace fluid to move a piston, with the elements forming a fluid housing, and being oriented and actuated to optimize force, stroke or bandwidth. In one preferred embodiment the elements are cylinders enclosing the fluid, with radial and axial components of strain-induced dimensional change adding together to enhance displacement. In another preferred embodiment, piezo bender elements produce large stroke, high bandwidth movements. Strokes of up to fifty percent of actuator length, and bandwidths above 500 Hz are achieved in light weight electrically actuated devices free of external piping or hydraulics. The actuator is readily integrated into a gate valve, sub-woofer, or other driven device.

6196935, Mar 6, 2001

Apr 9, 1998

9/057972

Ronald Spangler - Somerville MA
David Gilbert - Arlington MA
Carl Prestia - Stow MA
Emanuele Bianchini - Charlestown MA
Kenneth B. Lazarus - Concord MA
Jeffrey W. Moore - Arlington MA
Robert N. Jacques - Hopkington MA
Jonathan C. Allen - Brookline MA
Farla M. Russo - Brookline MA

Active Control Experts, Inc. - Cambridge MA

A63B 5300
A63B 5310
H01L 4104

473318

A golf club includes an electroactive assembly attached to the club and electrically tuned to capture energy from one or more vibrational modes with high efficiency. More generally, a sports implement includes an electroactive element, such as a piezoceramic sheet attached to the implement, and a circuit attached to the electroactive element. The circuit may be a shunt, or may include processing such as amplification and phase control to apply a driving signal which may compensate for strain sensed in the implement, or may simply alter the stiffness to affect performance. The electroactive element is located in a region of high strain to apply damping, and may include plural subassemblies mounted to capture energy in different planes, or to capture an asymmetric strain distribution while maintaining structural symmetry. In a ski the element captures between about one and five percent of the strain energy of the ski. The region of high strain may be found by modeling mechanics of the sports implement, or may be located by empirically mapping the strain distribution which occurs during use of the implement.