Friction-driven actuator
AssigneeAcademia Sinica
InventorsEn-Te Hwu, Hsien-Shun Liao, Ing-Shouh Hwang
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Abstract
An apparatus for actuating a positioning device includes a housing; a piezoelectric element connected to the housing; a driven element configured to move relative to the housing; and a flexible element connected to the piezoelectric element and configured to transfer a motion of the piezoelectric element to the driven element.
Claims33
An apparatus for actuating a positioning device, said apparatus comprising a housing, a piezoelectric element connected to the housing, a driven element configured to move relative to the housing, and a motion transfer element connected to the piezoelectric element and configured to transfer, to the driven element, a motion caused by elongation of the piezoelectric element along a first direction, wherein said motion transfer element flexes in a second direction perpendicular to said first direction in response to a force perpendicular to said first direction, wherein said first direction is a direction along which said piezoelectric element is actuated, and wherein the driven element is configured to move relative to the housing via stick-slip motion.
An apparatus for actuating a positioning device, said apparatus comprising:
- a housing;
- a piezoelectric element;
- a motion transfer element connected to the piezoelectric element;
- and a driven element configured to move relative to the housing by stick-slip motion in response to a motion of the piezoelectric element, wherein said motion transfer element flexes in response to a force perpendicular to a direction in which said piezoelectric element extends upon actuation thereof.
An apparatus for actuating a positioning device, said apparatus comprising a housing, a piezoelectric element connected to the housing, a driven element configured to move relative to the housing, and a motion transfer element connected to the piezoelectric element and configured to transfer a motion of the piezoelectric element to the driven element, wherein the driven element is configured to move relative to the housing via stick-slip motion, wherein the piezoelectric element is configured to respond to application of a voltage with a first transition between a first length and a second length along a first axis and to respond to removal of the voltage with a second transition back to the first length from the second length along said first axis, wherein in response to the first transition, the driven element is displaced from a first position to a second position, wherein, in response to said second transition, said driven element either remains at the second position or is displaced to a third position between the first and second positions, and wherein said motion transfer element flexes in response to a force perpendicular to said first axis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.