Actuator and method for manufacturing planar electrode support for actuator
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Accused Products
Abstract
An actuator as a drive source of robots and the like usable for housekeeping assistance, job assistance, and nursing help, in which a drive source itself is small-size, light-weighted, and flexible as well as safe, and a manufacturing method for a planar electrode support therefor are provided. The actuator has an electrolyte layer in contact with a conductive polymer layer disposed in between an electrode having the conductive polymer layer attached thereto and an opposite electrode, for deforming the conductive polymer layer to be swelled and shrunken by application of electric fields to between both electrodes, in which the electrode having the conductive polymer layer attached thereto is a planar electrode which is patterned so that rigidity in a longitudinal direction that is an expansion and contraction direction of the conductive polymer layer is low.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1-15. -15. (canceled)
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16. A flat-plate low-profile actuator, comprising:
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a planar conductive polymer layer;
an electrode in contact with the conductive polymer layer;
an opposite electrode opposite to the electrode; and
an electrolyte layer in contact with the conductive polymer layer, disposed in between the electrode and the opposite electrode, the electrode being a planar electrode patterned to have at least one bent portion along a longitudinal direction that is an expansion and contraction direction of the conductive polymer layer so that rigidity in the longitudinal direction is low while rigidity in a width direction almost orthogonal to the longitudinal direction is high, the conductive polymer layer being deformed to be swelled and shrunken by application of electric fields to between both the electrodes. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A flat-plate low-profile actuator, comprising:
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a planar conductive polymer layer;
an electrode in contact with the conductive polymer layer;
an opposite electrode opposite to the electrode; and
an electrolyte layer in contact with the conductive polymer layer, disposed in between the electrode and the opposite electrode, the electrode being a planar electrode patterned to have at least one bent portion along an output direction of drive force associated with expansion and contraction of the conductive polymer layer so that rigidity in the output direction is low while rigidity in a direction almost orthogonal to the output direction is high, the conductive polymer layer being deformed to be swelled and shrunken by application of electric fields to between both the electrodes so that the drive force is outputted in the output direction.
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27. A manufacturing method for a planar electrode support for a flat-plate low-profile actuator, in which the flat-plate low-profile actuator has an electrolyte layer in contact with a conductive polymer layer disposed in between an electrode having the planar conductive polymer layer attached thereto and an opposite electrode for deforming the conductive polymer layer to be swelled and shrunken by application of electric fields to between both electrodes, and the planar electrode support is composed of the conductive polymer layer and the electrodes, comprising:
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patterning a planar electrode as the electrode through etching or punching to have at least one bent portion along a longitudinal direction that is an expansion and contraction direction of the conductive polymer layer so that rigidity in the longitudinal direction is low while rigidity in a width direction almost orthogonal to the longitudinal direction is high; and
in a state that the patterned planar electrode is in contact with another flat plate, forming the conductive polymer layer on the electrode by electrolytic polymerization or casting method, and then removing the flat plate to manufacture the planar electrode support. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30)
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Specification