IP Library Granted Patent US 12,725,595
Granted Patent B2
US 12,725,595 · App. 16/922,535 · Granted Sep 1, 2026

Anisotropic elastic metamaterials

Inventors: Ercan Mehmet Dede (Ann Arbor, MI); Yuqing Zhou (Ann Arbor, MI); Tsuyoshi Nomura (Novi, MI)
Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.
G10K11/002G06F30/23G10K11/162G16C20/30B33Y70/00B33Y80/00
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,725,595
App. No.
16/922,535
Granted
Sep 1, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

Elastic metamaterial designs are provided, such as an acoustic radiator or sound partition, with non-spherical shapes or apertures defined in unit cells of an elastic medium. A method for making the same includes determining a set of boundary conditions for a plurality of non-spherical shapes/apertures defined in the elastic medium, and using a gradient-based algorithm to optimize a porous media model domain for the elastic medium, where porosity is related to size dimensions of the non-spherical shape/aperture and an anisotropic elastic modulus is related to an angle of orientation of the non-spherical shape/aperture. The method may include optimizing an objective function, and obtaining a grayscale design that relates to the porosity and the anisotropic elastic modulus. Reaction diffusion equations may be used with the grayscale design to obtain a pattern for the non-spherical shapes/apertures. Methods of manufacturing may include multi-material additive manufacturing techniques.

Claims (32)

1 . A method for manufacturing an elastic metamaterial for an acoustic radiator, the method comprising:

defining an array of unit cells that form the acoustic radiator, the array including an elastic medium comprising a solid phase material;

determining a set of boundary conditions for a plurality of non-spherical apertures defined in the elastic medium of the array, with each non-spherical aperture disposed within a boundary defined by a single respective unit cell of the array;

using a gradient-based algorithm to optimize a porous media model domain for the elastic medium, where porosity is related to size dimensions of the plurality of non-spherical apertures and an anisotropic elastic modulus is related to an angle of orientation of the non-spherical aperture;

optimizing an objective function, and obtaining a grayscale design that relates to the porosity and the anisotropic elastic modulus;

using reaction diffusion equations to de-homogenize the grayscale design to obtain a pattern for the non-spherical apertures; and

manufacturing the elastic metamaterial by forming the pattern for the non-spherical apertures in the solid phase material such that the non-spherical apertures extend through the solid phase material.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the gradient-based algorithm comprises a topology optimization problem solved according to constitutive laws associated with a linearly elastic medium.

3 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the topology optimization problem is solved maximizing or minimizing a spectral displacement variable or set of variables of the elastic medium.

4 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the spectral displacement variable is proportional to a structure root mean square velocity at one or both of a predetermined point and predetermined frequency.

5 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the gradient-based algorithm comprises at least one of a method of moving asymptotes (MMA) optimizer for the topology optimization problem and a globally convergent method of moving asymptotes (GCMMA) optimizer for the topology optimization problem.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , comprising using an anisotropic diffusion tensor with two-component reaction diffusion equations.

7 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein the step of using reaction diffusion equations with the grayscale design to obtain a pattern of non-spherical apertures comprises extracting a unit cell porosity magnitude plus a tensor-expression of the anisotropic elastic modulus.

8 . The method according to claim 6 , comprising repeatedly solving the reaction diffusion equations for a time period and alternatively using weakly anisotropic and strongly anisotropic diffusion tensors.

9 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein a frequency response of the acoustic radiator is variable based on a single-material or multi-material selection design of the acoustic radiator.

10 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of determining a set of boundary conditions for the plurality of non-spherical apertures comprises using at least one look-up table mapping grayscale design information and unit cell designs to a size and orientation of the non-spherical apertures.

11 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein the x-axis of the mapping corresponds to a width dimension of the non-spherical aperture in the unit cell, the y-axis corresponds to a height dimension of the non-spherical aperture, and the z-axis is an elastic modulus tensor component.

12 . The method according to claim 11 , wherein the at least one look-up table is based on data obtained from varying the width dimension and the height dimension of the non-spherical aperture in the unit cell over a range of values and calculating the tensor component.

13 . A method for manufacturing an elastic metamaterial for an acoustic radiator, the method comprising:

defining an array of unit cells that form the acoustic radiator, the array including an elastic medium comprising a solid phase material selected from the group consisting of polymers, polymer-based materials, metals, and composite materials, and having an x-axis defining a longitudinal direction, a y-axis defining a transverse direction with respect to the x-axis, and a z-axis perpendicular to both the x-axis and the y-axis;

determining a set of boundary conditions for a plurality of non-spherical apertures defined in the elastic medium of the array, with each non-spherical aperture disposed within a boundary defined by a single respective unit cell of the array;

using a gradient-based algorithm to optimize a porous media model domain for the elastic medium, the gradient-based algorithm comprising a topology optimization problem solved according to constitutive laws associated with a linearly elastic medium, and where porosity is related to size dimensions of the non-spherical aperture and an anisotropic elastic modulus is related to an angle of orientation of the non-spherical aperture;

optimizing an objective function, and obtaining a grayscale design that relates to the porosity and the anisotropic elastic modulus;

using reaction diffusion equations to de-homogenize the grayscale design to obtain a pattern for the non-spherical apertures; and

manufacturing the elastic metamaterial by forming the pattern for the non-spherical apertures in the solid phase material such that the non-spherical apertures extend through the solid phase material.

14 . The method according to claim 13 , wherein the topology optimization problem is solved maximizing or minimizing a spectral displacement variable or set of variables of the elastic medium.

15 . The method according to claim 14 , wherein the spectral displacement variable is proportional to a structure root mean square velocity at one or both of a predetermined point and predetermined frequency.

16 . The method according to claim 13 , wherein the gradient-based algorithm comprises at least one of a method of moving asymptotes (MMA) optimizer for the topology optimization problem and a globally convergent method of moving asymptotes (GCMMA) optimizer for the topology optimization problem.

17 . The method according to claim 13 further comprising using an anisotropic diffusion tensor with two-component reaction diffusion equations.

18 . The method according to claim 17 , wherein the step of using reaction diffusion equations with the grayscale design to obtain a pattern of non-spherical apertures comprises extracting a unit cell porosity magnitude plus a tensor-expression of the anisotropic elastic modulus.

19 . The method according to claim 17 further comprising repeatedly solving the reaction diffusion equations for a time period and alternatively using weakly anisotropic and strongly anisotropic diffusion tensors.

20 . The method according to claim 13 , wherein a frequency response of the acoustic radiator is variable based on a single-material or multi-material selection design of the acoustic radiator.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 3, 2026
From: TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA, INC.
To: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOYOTA CHUO KENKYUSHO
Reel/Frame 075893/0022 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jul 13, 2020
From: DEDE, ERCAN MEHMET; ZHOU, YUQING; NOMURA, TSUYOSHI
To: TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA, INC.
Reel/Frame 053184/0942 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20220013098A1 · Jan 13, 2022
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