Patents by Inventor Kenneth B. Lazarus

Kenneth B. Lazarus 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).

  • Patent number: 5866971
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 1996
    Date of Patent: February 2, 1999
    Assignee: Active Control Experts, Inc.
    Inventors: Kenneth B. Lazarus, Edward F. Crawley, Farla M. Russo, Erik Saarmaa
  • Patent number: 5857694
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 1995
    Date of Patent: January 12, 1999
    Assignee: Active Control Experts, Inc.
    Inventors: Kenneth B. Lazarus, Jeffrey W. Moore, Robert N. Jacques, Jonathan C. Allen
  • Patent number: 5687462
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 1994
    Date of Patent: November 18, 1997
    Assignee: Active Control Experts, Inc.
    Inventors: Kenneth B. Lazarus, Mark E. Lundstrom, Jeffrey W. Moore, Edward F. Crawley
  • Patent number: 5656882
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 1996
    Date of Patent: August 12, 1997
    Assignee: Active Control Experts, Inc.
    Inventors: Kenneth B. Lazarus, Mark E. Lundstrom, Jeffrey W. Moore, Edward F. Crawley
  • Patent number: 5415633
    Abstract: A remotely steerable guidewire, catheter or insertable active implement is disclosed. A steerable guidewire or a catheter for coronary and peripheral catheterizations is illustrated, using smart materials such as piezoelectrics for controlling its motions inside the body via control inputs applied from outside the body. A steerable portion of the device, which may be either an active flexible tip or an active region along the length of the implement, controls the shaft position or modifies its stiffness. In one embodiment, manipulation of electrical control inputs permits deflection of the steerable region through a range of motion about the axis of the implement in a single plane. In further embodiments, the tip may deflect in multiple planes about its longitudinal axis, or the catheter may be selectively stiffened to assume an arc shape or to firmly lodge the tip in position in a vessel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 1993
    Date of Patent: May 16, 1995
    Assignee: Active Control Experts, Inc.
    Inventors: Kenneth B. Lazarus, Edward E. Crawley, Richard D. Fish
  • Patent number: 5374011
    Abstract: An adaptive sheet structure with distributed strain actuators is controlled by a dynamic compensator that implements multiple input, multiple output control laws derived by model-based, e.g., Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQG) control methodologies. An adaptive lifting surface is controlled for maneuver enhancement, flutter and vibration suppression and gust and load alleviation with piezoceramic elements located within, or enclosed by sheets of composite material at a particular height above the structure's neutral axis. Sensors detect the amplitudes of lower order structural modes, and distributed actuators drive or damp these and other modes. The controller is constructed from an experimental and theoretical model using conventional control software, with a number of event recognition patterns and control algorithms programmed for regulating the surface to avoid instabilities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 1991
    Date of Patent: December 20, 1994
    Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Kenneth B. Lazarus, Edward F. Crawley
  • Patent number: D404100
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 1996
    Date of Patent: January 12, 1999
    Assignee: Active Control eXperts, Inc.
    Inventors: Kenneth B. Lazarus, Jeffrey W. Moore