Lamina Emergent Torsion Joints

General Information

Lamina Emergent Torsion Joints(LET) are compliant elements that behave similar to hinge joints. Compliant joints gain their motion through the deflection of the material, rather than hinge joints that gain their motion by surfaces rotating relative to each other. LET joints are a unique type of compliant joints, where they can be fabricated out of sheet materials and can operate out of the plane of fabrication. More specifically the advantages for using these types of joints are:

• Manufacturing – they can be fabricated from planar sheets of material that allow the use of planar fabrication methods (e.g. stamping, water jet, and laser cutting)
• Operation – they have a relatively large degree of rotation for compliant joints and they operate out of the plane of fabrication
• Wear – since these joints do not have multiple parts, debris and other foreign material are not a great concern
• High Performance – applications that require precision, improved recyclability, reduced weight, and minimal assembly.

The Market

There are many possible applications for a compliant joint that can be fabricated from planar sheets and operate out of that plane. Some of these possible applications include:

• Compact packaging and shipping applications (e.g. high-volume packaging that reduces cost of handling, storing, and shipping products)
• Applications that have spatial constraints for transportation and then can deploy at a specific location (e.g. electronics equipment, aerospace components, and medical implants)
• Applications that have limited manufacturing processes available (e.g. microelectromechanical systems and cost-sensitive applications)
• Cost advantage applications (e.g. disposable, and one-time use)

Patent Information

U.S. patent pending

Licensing Information

For licensing information, contact the BYU Office of Technology Transfer.

Additional Resources

Jacobsen, J.O., Chen, G., Howell, L.L., Magleby, S.P., “Lamina Emergent Torsion (LET) Joint,” Mechanism and Machine Theory, Vol. 44, No. 11, pp. 2098-2109, 2009.

Jacobsen, J.O., Winder, B.G., Howell, L.L., and Magleby, S.P., “Lamina Emergent Mechanisms and Their Basic Elements,” accepted for publication in the ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics.