Damped resonant piezoelectric alerting device

Abstract

A damped resonant piezoelectric alerting device (600) includes a motional mass (130), a damping element (136, 156) magnetically coupled to the motional mass (130) and a piezoelectric actuator (100) which is constrained to an actuator mount (132) at a first end and coupled to the motional mass (130) at a second end. The piezoelectric actuator (100) responds to a control signal (108, 110) to generate an alternating out-of-plane movement (812, 814) of the motional mass (130) at an amplitude (412, 414). The alternating out-of-plane movement (812, 814) of the motional mass (130) is transformed into tactile energy to provide a tactile alert about a resonant frequency (608). The amplitude (412, 414) of the out-of-plane movement (812, 814) of the motional mass (130) is controlled by the damping element (136, 156). The alternating out-of-plane movement (812, 814) of the motional mass (130) is also transformed into acoustic energy to provide an audible alert above the resonant frequency (608).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.