Patents by Inventor Jeffrey W. Moore
Jeffrey W. Moore 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: 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: 6193029Abstract: 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. In one embodiment, the blocking member is a bimorph which covers the aperture, and is flexibly displaced by passage of pressurized fluid through the aperture. A controller provides an electrical actuation signal to move the bimorph toward or away from the aperture, augmenting or decreasing its closing bias to affect both the threshold flow initiation pressure and the rate of flow once the passage opens.Type: GrantFiled: July 8, 1997Date of Patent: February 27, 2001Assignee: Active Control eXperts, Inc.Inventors: Edward F. Crawley, Kenneth B. Lazarus, Jeffrey W. Moore, Douglas A. Simpson, Gerald F. Caron, Farla M. Russo
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Patent number: 6102426Abstract: A sports implement includes an electroactive element such as a piezoceramic sheet attached to the implement and a shunt circuit attached to the electroactive element to counteract strain or alter stiffness of the implement to affect its performance. In a ski, one shunt circuit is neither a linear nor a highly tuned shunt, but is a low Q resonant inductive shunt tuned to a performance band of the ski to enhance dissipation of energy from of the electroactive element. The performance band includes at least one structural mode of the ski and a neighborhood of that mode. The neighborhood may include variations in the frequency of a first or higher free structural resonance which arise from production variations or size variations of the ski or its components.Type: GrantFiled: February 7, 1997Date of Patent: August 15, 2000Assignee: Active Control eXperts, Inc.Inventors: Kenneth B. Lazarus, Jeffrey W. Moore, Robert N. Jacques, Farla M. Russo, Ronald Spangler
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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
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Patent number: 6069433Abstract: 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, substratesmachine 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.Type: GrantFiled: October 3, 1997Date of Patent: May 30, 2000Assignee: Active Control eXperts, Inc.Inventors: Kenneth B. Lazarus, Mark E. Lundstrom, Jeffrey W. Moore, Edward F. Crawley
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Patent number: 6024340Abstract: A valve assembly includes a flexible sheet actuator in which two piezo sheets are stacked and actuated in opposite senses to form a bending assembly. The inner faces of the first and second sheets of piezoelectric material are laminated to respective conductive lead paths on opposite sides of a two-sided flex circuit, and the outer faces of the sheets of material are each covered by and electrically contacted to another flex circuit to produce a totally enclosed flat bender. At least a portion of the flex circuits extend away from the bender to provide a flexible and robust conductive lead-in thereto. The electrical connection is a flat ribbon-like strip of lesser thickness than the bender, and may pass hermetically between a gasketed or sealed face and cover plate of the valve.Type: GrantFiled: December 4, 1996Date of Patent: February 15, 2000Assignee: Active Control Experts, Inc.Inventors: Kenneth B. Lazarus, Erik Saarmaa, Jeffrey W. Moore, James Newman
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Patent number: 5857694Abstract: A sports implement including 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.Type: GrantFiled: September 29, 1995Date of Patent: January 12, 1999Assignee: Active Control Experts, Inc.Inventors: Kenneth B. Lazarus, Jeffrey W. Moore, Robert N. Jacques, Jonathan C. Allen
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Patent number: 5687462Abstract: 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.Type: GrantFiled: November 18, 1994Date of Patent: November 18, 1997Assignee: Active Control Experts, Inc.Inventors: Kenneth B. Lazarus, Mark E. Lundstrom, Jeffrey W. Moore, Edward F. Crawley
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Patent number: 5656882Abstract: 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.Type: GrantFiled: September 10, 1996Date of Patent: August 12, 1997Assignee: Active Control Experts, Inc.Inventors: Kenneth B. Lazarus, Mark E. Lundstrom, Jeffrey W. Moore, Edward F. Crawley
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Patent number: D404100Type: GrantFiled: September 27, 1996Date of Patent: January 12, 1999Assignee: Active Control eXperts, Inc.Inventors: Kenneth B. Lazarus, Jeffrey W. Moore