US Patent Issued to Raytheon on March 25 for "Phase change material (PCM)-based conductive thermal actuator switches and associated stacked and arrayed systems" (Arizona, Massachusetts Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,258,948, issued on March 25, was assigned to Raytheon Co. (Arlington, Va.).

"Phase change material (PCM)-based conductive thermal actuator switches and associated stacked and arrayed systems" was invented by Andrew J. Pitts (Maynard, Mass.) and Adam C. Wood (Oro Valley, Ariz.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An apparatus includes a thermal actuator switch configured to control a transfer of thermal energy through the thermal actuator switch. The thermal actuator switch includes first and second plates and a piston movable laterally between the first and second plates. The thermal actuator switch also includes a phase change material confi...