US Patent Issued to Ford Global Technologies on Nov. 25 for "Composite panels and system for active flow control on motor vehicles" (Michigan, Indiana Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 25 -- United States Patent no. 12,479,520, issued on Nov. 25, was assigned to Ford Global Technologies LLC (Dearborn, Mich.).

"Composite panels and system for active flow control on motor vehicles" was invented by Kevin Howard (Plymouth, Mich.), Andres Arrieta Diaz (West Lafayette, Ind.), Karthik Boddapati (West Lafayette, Ind.) and Michael Kelley (Southgate, Mich.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A composite panel includes a matrix, actuator elements disposed within the matrix or secured to an exterior surface of the composite panel, a plurality of slits, and an electrical termination area coupled to the shape memory fibers/elements. The plurality of slits are arranged pa...