Ejector devices, methods, drivers, and circuits therefor
AssigneeEyenovia, Inc.
InventorsJonathan Ryan Wilkerson, Iyam Lynch, Jeffrey Parrott, Charles Eric Hunter
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Abstract
In a piezoelectric ejector assembly, a piezoelectric actuator is attached to an ejector mechanism, while a drive signal generator and a controller are coupled to the actuator. The drive signal generator is configured to generate a drive signal for driving the actuator to oscillate the ejector assembly. The controller is configured to control the drive signal generator to drive the actuator at a resonant frequency of the ejector assembly, and an auto-tuning circuit is provided to define the optimum drive signal frequency.
Claims15
A piezoelectric ejector device for ejecting droplets of fluid, comprising an ejector mechanism including a piezoelectric actuator and a droplet generator plate, and driver electronics for driving the actuator, the electronics including a microcontroller to perform auto-tuning of the ejector mechanism by identifying and setting an optimum spray frequency;
- wherein auto-tuning involves the generation of at least one cycle of each of a range of drive signal frequencies over a predefined frequency range and obtaining time-energy product (TEP) feedback from a decay signal emitted by the actuator following each frequency generation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.