Compensating for incomplete reversal in mechanisms incorporating shape memory alloy wire

US9021801B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC · US

Inventors

• Xiujie Gao · Troy, US
• Geoffrey P. McKnight · Los Angeles, US
• Guillermo A. Herrera · Calabasas, US
• Christopher B. Churchill · Ventura, US
• Nancy L. Johnson · Northville, US
• Alan L. Browne · Grosse Pointe, US
• Peter Maxwell Sarosi · Ferndale, US
• Paul W. Alexander · Ypsilanti, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Aug 31, 2012
• Grant date: May 5, 2015
• Expiry date: Jun 15, 2033

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y02T10/88
• WIPO field: Engines, pumps, turbines
• WIPO sector: Mechanical engineering

Abstract

Shape memory alloy (SMA) actuating elements are commonly simpler and of lower mass than alternative actuator designs and may find particular application in the transportation industry. Such SMA-powered devices are usually reliable and long-lived but the phase transformations which occur in the SMA alloy and are responsible for its utility are not totally reversible. This irreversibility, a consequence of irrecoverable strain, may progressively degrade the long-term actuator performance as the irrecoverable strain accumulates over many operating cycles. Methods and devices for compensating for these effects and extending the useful cycle life of SMA actuators are described.