Piezoelectric mems valve for an electronic device
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsGuo-Lun Luo, Gokhan Hatipoglu, Peter C. Hrudey
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A piezoelectric valve comprising: a fixed portion defining an opening; and a number of movable portions extending from the fixed portion over the opening and separated from one another by radially oriented slits, each movable portion of the number of movable portions comprising a first material layer and a second material layer, and at least one of the first material layer or the second material layer comprises a piezoelectric material that is operable to drive a displacement of the movable portion in a direction opposite to an adjacent movable portion sharing a same radially oriented slit upon application of a voltage.
Claims23
A piezoelectric valve comprising:
- a fixed portion defining an opening;
- a number of movable portions extending from the fixed portion over the opening and separated from one another by radially oriented slits, each movable portion of the number of movable portions comprising a first material layer defining a first side and a second side of the movable portion having different lengths and a second material layer, the first material layer comprises an inactive material layer having corrugations formed in a surface of the inactive material layer and the second material layer comprises a piezoelectric material confined to a perimeter portion of the first material layer between the corrugations and that is operable to drive a displacement of the movable portion in a direction opposite to an adjacent movable portion sharing a same radially oriented slit upon application of a voltage;
- and
- a sensor material layer formed on the inactive material layer of each movable portion to sense a position of each movable portion.
A piezoelectric valve comprising:
- a fixed portion defining an opening;
- a number of movable plates extending from the fixed portion over the opening and separated from one another by slits, each movable plate of the number of movable plates comprising a first material layer and a second material layer, the first material layer comprises an inactive material layer and corrugations formed in a surface of the inactive material layer and the second material layer comprises a piezoelectric material confined to a perimeter portion of the first material layer between the corrugations and that is operable to drive a displacement of edges of the movable plates in opposite directions;
- and
- a sensor material layer formed on the inactive material layer of each movable plate to sense a position of each movable plate.
A piezoelectric valve comprising:
- a fixed portion defining an opening;
- a number of movable portions extending from the fixed portion over the opening and separated from one another by radially oriented slits, each movable portion of the number of movable portions comprising a first material layer defining a first side and a second side of the movable portion having different lengths and a second material layer, the first material layer comprises an inactive material layer and the second material layer comprises a piezoelectric material confined to a perimeter portion of the first material layer and that is operable to drive a displacement of the movable portion in a direction opposite to an adjacent movable portion sharing a same radially oriented slit upon application of a voltage;
- and
- a sensor material layer formed within a groove in the inactive material layer of each movable portion to sense a position of each movable portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.