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US 2005/0140317 A1Published application
Rotary actuator and method of controlling an actuator
AssigneeMitsuba Corporation
InventorsMichio Tsukui, Kenji Sutou, Yuko Kawakura
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AssigneeMitsuba Corporation
InventorsMichio Tsukui, Kenji Sutou, Yuko Kawakura
Estimating the term…
A piezoelectric drive body is secured to a shaft that is rotatably supported by a holder. A leaf spring is fastened to the upper end of the holder and is in resilient contact with the upper end of the shaft. Friction between the shaft and the leaf spring acts as a rotation-suppressing force on the shaft. When a sawtooth-waveform voltage is applied to the drive body, the drive body vibrates to the right and left. The drive body rotates around the shaft in a specific direction, due to the difference in inertial force resulting from the difference in the deforming speed of the body. The voltage linearly rises and falls repeatedly or has a sinusoidal waveform. In either case, the voltage rises from a minimum to a maximum for time T1 and falls from the maximum to the minimum for time T2 that is different from time T1.
A method of controlling an actuator which is driven by a vibration of an electromechanical transducer generated by a change of a voltage applied to the electromechanical transducer, said voltage linearly rising from a minimum value to a maximum value for time T1, and linearly falling from the maximum value to the minimum value for time T2 that is different from time T1.
A method of controlling an actuator which is driven by a vibration of an electromechanical transducer generated by a change of a voltage applied to the electromechanical transducer, said voltage having a sinusoidal waveform, rising from a minimum value to a maximum value for time T1, and falling from the maximum value to the minimum value for time T2 that is different from time T1.
A method of controlling an actuator which is driven by a vibration of an electromechanical transducer generated by a change of a voltage applied to the electromechanical transducer, said voltage having a trapezoidal waveform and remaining at a minimum value for a predetermined time and at a maximum value for a predetermined time.
A method of controlling an actuator which is driven as a voltage of a changing value applied to an electromechanical transducer to vibrate the transducer, said voltage changing along a curve near a maximum value and a minimum value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.