Patents by Inventor Carl Prestia
Carl Prestia has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Patent number: 6485380Abstract: 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.Type: GrantFiled: January 12, 2001Date of Patent: November 26, 2002Assignee: Active Control eXperts, Inc.Inventors: Ronald Spangler, David Gilbert, Carl Prestia, Emanuele Bianchini, Kenneth B. Lazarus, Jeffrey W. Moore, Robert N. Jacques, Jonathan C. Allen, Farla M. Russo
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Patent number: 6291928Abstract: 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.Type: GrantFiled: December 15, 1999Date of Patent: September 18, 2001Assignee: Active Control Experts, Inc.Inventors: Kenneth B. Lazarus, Jeffrey W. Moore, Erik Saarmaa, Eric Fitch, Carl Prestia, Edward F. Crawley
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Publication number: 20010001770Abstract: 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.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 12, 2001Publication date: May 24, 2001Inventors: Ronald Spangler, David Gilbert, Carl Prestia, Emanuele Bianchini, Kenneth B. Lazarus, Jeffrey W. Moore, Robert N. Jacques, Jonathan C. Allen, Farla M. Russo
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Patent number: 6196935Abstract: 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.Type: GrantFiled: April 9, 1998Date of Patent: March 6, 2001Assignee: Active Control Experts, Inc.Inventors: Ronald Spangler, David Gilbert, Carl Prestia, Emanuele Bianchini, Kenneth B. Lazarus, Jeffrey W. Moore, Robert N. Jacques, Jonathan C. Allen, Farla M. Russo
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Patent number: 6086490Abstract: 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.Type: GrantFiled: April 3, 1998Date of Patent: July 11, 2000Assignee: Active Control eXperts, Inc.Inventors: Ronald Spangler, David Gilbert, Carl Prestia, Emanuele Bianchini, Kenneth B. Lazarus, Jeffrey W. Moore, Robert N. Jacques, Jonathan C. Allen, Farla M. Russo