Patents Examined by Emily P Pham
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Patent number: 11302861Abstract: A hybrid actuator is provided in which a piezoelectric element and an actuator are incorporated with each other. The hybrid actuator includes: a housing; a stator secured to the housing and having a coil; a vibrator having a permanent magnet configured to vibrate due to a mutual electromagnetic force with the stator; an elastic member configured to elastically support the vibrator relative to the housing; a piezoelectric element attached to one surface of the housing; and an F-PCB (flexible printed circuit board) applying an electric current to the piezoelectric element and the coil inside the housing. A part of the F-PCB extends outside the housing. Input terminals are formed on the part of the F-PCB which extends outside the housing. The input terminals are configured to receive a vibration signal and an audio signal so that the hybrid actuator can reproduce both the vibration signal and the audio signal.Type: GrantFiled: April 25, 2019Date of Patent: April 12, 2022Assignee: EM-TECH. CO., LTD.Inventors: Cheon Myeong Kim, Ji Young Lee, Byung Ho Jung
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Patent number: 11303228Abstract: A driving device includes a vibrator; a friction member; a first guide portion that guides the vibrator or the friction member in a first direction when the vibrator vibrates so that the vibrator and the friction member move relative to each other, the first guide portion enabling rotation of the vibrator and the friction member around an axis in the first direction; a moving member that moves when the vibrator and the friction member move relative to each other, the moving member being connected to the member to be driven; and a second guide portion that guides the member to be driven in a second direction when the moving member moves. The moving member is connected to the member to be driven such that the moving member is rotatable and movable in a direction orthogonal to the first direction with respect to the member to be driven.Type: GrantFiled: July 24, 2019Date of Patent: April 12, 2022Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Yasufumi Yamamoto, Ryo Yamasaki, Shunsuke Ninomiya, Mai Nakabayashi
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Patent number: 11290029Abstract: The present disclosure provides a biomimetic mobile legged robot, which includes a body formed to extend in one direction and having a piezoelectric element, and a leg connected to intersect the body and having a piezoelectric element. Here, a power is supplied to the body and the leg, respectively, and the piezoelectric elements of the body and the leg are operated with the supplied power to cause a full body motion so that the legged robot moves.Type: GrantFiled: December 12, 2019Date of Patent: March 29, 2022Assignee: Korea Institute of Science and TechnologyInventor: Youngsu Cha
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Patent number: 11290030Abstract: The disclosure relates to a drive means for non-resonant linear and/or rotary positioning of an object, comprising at least two piezoelectric or electrostrictive actuator groups, where-in a first actuator group moves a first runner portion relative to a stationary base of the drive means according to the principle of an inertia drive, and by means of the second actuator group a second runner portion is moved relative to the first runner portion with a limited range of movement in the high-resolution scan mode, wherein a common electrical control signal is applied to the first and second actuator groups.Type: GrantFiled: June 11, 2020Date of Patent: March 29, 2022Assignee: Picofine GmbHInventors: Axel Kortschack, Eike Oliver Schäfer-Nolte
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Patent number: 11290031Abstract: A vibration-type actuator that can suppress variation in pressing force and reaction force on vibration bodies and contact bodies includes vibration body units, each including a vibration body including an elastic body and an electro-mechanical energy conversion element, and a contact body contacting with the vibration bodies, with the contact body and the vibration bodies moving relatively in a predetermined direction. A first vibration body unit, from among the vibration body units, includes a restriction unit configured to fix the first vibration body unit and restrict a degree of freedom in the predetermined direction, and a second vibration body unit, from among the vibration body units, includes a supporting guide unit configured to support the second vibration body unit while the second vibration body unit is movable in a direction orthogonal to the predetermined direction.Type: GrantFiled: May 27, 2020Date of Patent: March 29, 2022Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Yasumichi Arimitsu, Kosuke Fujimoto
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Patent number: 11283371Abstract: A rotating piezoelectric motor including a piezoelectric actuator including a resonator having a pair of arms connected at one of their ends in a connection area, the other two ends being referred to as ‘free’, a passive element able to be driven in rotation by the friction of the free ends on the passive element, the passive element including a disc and a rim extending from the periphery of the disc, the rim passing between the free ends of the arms.Type: GrantFiled: February 14, 2019Date of Patent: March 22, 2022Assignee: ETA SA Manufacture Horlogere SuisseInventors: Pascal Lagorgette, Pascal Meyer
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Patent number: 11277080Abstract: In a vibration type motor, a vibrator unit including a vibrator configured to vibrate, and a friction member unit including a friction member which the vibrator contacts relatively moving in a first direction. The vibrator unit is displaceable relative to the friction member unit in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction, and presses the vibrator against the friction member in the second direction. The friction member unit includes a stopper that contacts the vibrator unit so as to restrict the vibration unit from displacing, by an amount exceeding a predetermined amount, in the second direction. The stopper extends in the first direction, a distance greater than a length, in the first direction, of an area of the friction member which the vibrator contacts, and the stopper projects from the friction member toward the vibrator in the second direction when viewed from the first direction.Type: GrantFiled: November 16, 2020Date of Patent: March 15, 2022Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventor: Kazuharu Osawa
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Patent number: 11271496Abstract: A piezoelectric drive device includes a vibrating part which has a piezoelectric element, and drives a driven part using the piezoelectric element, and a first plate spring part configured to bias the vibrating part in a first direction from the vibrating part toward the driven part. The first plate spring part extends toward a second direction crossing the first direction, the first plate spring part is disposed so as to be opposed to the vibrating part in a third direction perpendicular to the first direction and the second direction, and when dividing the first plate spring part into a first portion and a second portion farther from the vibrating part than the first portion so that a length along the third direction is equally divided, a volume of the second portion is larger than a volume of the first portion.Type: GrantFiled: August 26, 2020Date of Patent: March 8, 2022Inventor: Daisuke Nakanishi
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Patent number: 11264922Abstract: A piezoelectric drive device includes a rotor which has an output section for outputting a rotational force and a transmission section disposed on an outer periphery of the output section, and rotates around a rotational axis, and a vibrating part which has a piezoelectric element, and rotates the rotor due to a deformation of the piezoelectric element. The transmission section has a first portion and a second portion different from each other in position in a radial direction from the output section toward the transmission section, the first portion is coupled to the output section, the second portion is higher in Young's modulus than the first portion, the second portion is higher in mass per unit volume than the first portion, and the vibrating part makes contact with the transmission section at a position overlapping the second portion in a plan view from an axial direction of the rotational axis.Type: GrantFiled: August 26, 2020Date of Patent: March 1, 2022Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATIONInventors: Yudai Okamae, Tomohisa Iwazaki, Yutaka Arakawa
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Patent number: 11258377Abstract: The present invention relates to a device which can measure, induce, and correct perturbations acting on an electromagnetic (EM) propagation source. Piezoelectric transducers are used to measure and control perturbations within a system to improve operation of an EM source. Perturbation measurements can be used to determine the environmental and system impacts on the EM source. Moreover, measurements can be used to correct or nullify perturbations applied to the EM source, through active or passive means.Type: GrantFiled: September 19, 2018Date of Patent: February 22, 2022Assignee: The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the NavyInventors: Joseph A. Fiordilino, Subrata Sanyal
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Patent number: 11258378Abstract: A piezoelectric motorization system has a mechanically flexible body that has one or more surfaces for placing piezoelectric actuators. The system has groups of piezoelectric actuators each positioned on one of the surfaces of the mechanically flexible body that is connected to the electronic circuitry. The electronic circuitry controls the driving of the mechanical loads by the mechanically flexible body by injecting sets of control signals into different groups of actuators positioned on the mechanically flexible body. Each control signal operates groups of driving frequencies with an adjustable amplitude ratio and an adjustable phase difference among driving frequencies. And, under a set of boundary conditions exhibited by a set of structural dimensions of the mechanically flexible body, each control signal induces multi-mode resonance of the mechanically flexible body for driving the mechanical loads multi-dimensionally.Type: GrantFiled: May 29, 2019Date of Patent: February 22, 2022Assignee: NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITYInventors: Chih-Kung Lee, Yu-Hsiang Hsu, Wen-Jong Wu, Tsung-Yu Chu, Yu-Min Lin
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Patent number: 11251358Abstract: The present invention relates to a holder (5) for a piezoelectric component (1), having a clamping device (6) and two contact elements (8) which contain a conductive rubber material, wherein the clamping device (6) is designed to clamp the piezoelectric component (1) between the contact elements (8) in a closed state, and wherein the contact elements (8) are in electrical contact with the piezoelectric component (1) in the closed state of the clamping device (6).Type: GrantFiled: June 27, 2016Date of Patent: February 15, 2022Assignee: EPCOS AGInventors: Bernhard Doellgast, Markus Puff, Pavol Kudela
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Patent number: 11251670Abstract: An axial air-gap rotary electric machine includes a stator, a coil, and a bobbin. The bobbin includes a tube and a flange. The coil is wound on the outer periphery of the tube portion with regular winding. A number of turns of each of a plurality of layers wound around an external side of a last layer in contact with the flange is at least one less than a number of turns of each of a plurality of layers wound around an adjacent internal side of the last layer.Type: GrantFiled: April 23, 2014Date of Patent: February 15, 2022Assignee: Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co., Ltd.Inventors: Hirooki Tokoi, Daisuke Kitajima, Tomonori Kawagoe, Katsuyuki Yamazaki, Toru Sakai, Shuuichi Takahashi, Toshifumi Suzuki, Norihisa Iwasaki, Ryousou Masaki, Yuji Enomoto
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Patent number: 11245330Abstract: A converter circuit and related technique for providing high power density power conversion includes a reconfigurable switched capacitor transformation stage coupled to a magnetic converter (or regulation) stage. The circuits and techniques achieve high performance over a wide input voltage range or a wide output voltage range. The converter can be used, for example, to power logic devices in portable battery operated devices.Type: GrantFiled: June 29, 2020Date of Patent: February 8, 2022Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyInventors: David M. Giuliano, David J. Perreault, Robert C. N. Pilawa-Podgurski
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Patent number: 11245343Abstract: A vibration wave motor includes a vibrator, a friction member having a sliding surface, a guide member, a flexible substrate, and a fixing member configured to fix the friction member, the guide member, and the flexible substrate. The vibrator and the friction member move relative to each other in a predetermined direction. The fixing member includes a substrate-fixing portion configured to fix the flexible substrate, which includes a joint portion, an extending portion extending along the predetermined direction, a bent portion configured to reverse and turn back the extending portion, and a fixed portion to be fixed to the substrate-fixing portion. The flexible substrate is fixed on a surface of the substrate-fixing portion provided in a direction opposite to a direction in which the vibrator is brought into pressure-contact with the friction member.Type: GrantFiled: June 13, 2019Date of Patent: February 8, 2022Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Makoto Oikawa, Ryo Yamasaki, Kazuharu Osawa, Shunsuke Ninomiya, Ryo Abe, Kenta Takai
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Patent number: 11237583Abstract: This disclosure discloses a power supply method and a power supply device, and pertains to the field of power supply technologies. The method includes: supplying, by a power supply device, power to a load through a power supply port, where the power supply port is connected to a power receiving port of the load by using a power supply cable; and communicating, by the power supply device, with the load through a communications port, to manage a behavior of obtaining power by the load from the power supply device, where the communications port is connected to a communications port of the load by using a communications cable. In this disclosure, the power supply device is a power supply of the load and a controller of the load.Type: GrantFiled: December 2, 2019Date of Patent: February 1, 2022Assignee: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.Inventors: Yunxiang Dai, Kairen Wei, Zhengsheng Xie, Shiyong Fu, Hua Chen, Xingbin Yin
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Patent number: 11233465Abstract: A piezoelectric drive device has a first piezoelectric vibrator and a second piezoelectric vibrator each include a vibrating portion and a distal end portion in which the distal end portion make elliptic motion by stretching vibration and flexural vibration of the vibrating portion, a driven member driven by the elliptic motion of the distal end portion, a drive signal generation circuit that outputs stretching vibration drive signals to the first piezoelectric vibrator and the second piezoelectric vibrator, a first boosting circuit provided between the first piezoelectric vibrator and the drive signal generation circuit, a second boosting circuit provided between the second piezoelectric vibrator and the drive signal generation circuit, and a control circuit that controls boosting amounts of the stretching vibration drive signals.Type: GrantFiled: October 29, 2019Date of Patent: January 25, 2022Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATIONInventor: Tomoaki Takahashi
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Patent number: 11224744Abstract: The disclosure relates to variable power modular electronic systems for generating unipolar and bipolar electrical pulses and associated uses thereof. In an embodiment, such a system includes one or more pulse generators for generating electrical pulses that can be connected in series; a charging circuit for charging the pulse generators; and a controller communicatively coupled to the pulse generators and the charging circuit. Advantageously, each pulse generator may include an AC/DC rectifier and a DC/AC inverter connected to said AC/DC rectifier in a bridge configuration to generate bipolar output electrical pulses or pulse trains. In addition, the charging circuit may include a DC/DC step-up converter connected to an indirect DC/AC inverter. The system provided in various embodiments of the disclosure also provides a great versatility for adaptation to various applications and high output voltage and current values.Type: GrantFiled: May 6, 2020Date of Patent: January 18, 2022Assignees: UNIVERSIDAD DE ZARAGOZA, UNIVERSITAT POMPEU FABRA, STERLING MEDICAL DEVICESInventors: Hector Sarnago Andía, Óscar Lucía Gil, José Miguel Burdío Pinilla, Alejandro Naval Pallarés, Antoni Ivorra Cano, Quim Castellví Fernández, Lawrence Bischoff
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Patent number: 11223299Abstract: A piezoelectric motor comprises a frame having a first frame side and a second frame side; a first actuator assembly and a second actuator assembly. The first actuator assembly comprises a first piezoelectric actuator and two rollers, each of the rollers is pressed between the first piezoelectric actuator and the first frame side. The second actuator assembly comprises a second piezoelectric actuator and two rollers, each of the rollers is pressed between the second piezoelectric actuator and the second frame side. The motor further comprises at least one pre-loaded spring provided between the first actuator assembly and the second actuator assembly, pushing the first actuator assembly and the second actuator assembly against the first frame side and the second frame side, respectively.Type: GrantFiled: February 6, 2020Date of Patent: January 11, 2022Assignee: Nanomotion Ltd.Inventors: Alon Avital, Nir Karasikov, Roman Yasinov, Gal Peled
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Patent number: 11223298Abstract: An ultrasonic electromechanical stator includes two vibration bodies, a link member connecting the two vibration bodies along a connection direction and a stator support. Each of the vibration bodies includes a respective electromechanical element and is configured to perform bending vibrations in a bending direction when an alternating voltage is applied to the electromechanical elements. The link member has a contact portion intended for contacting a surface of a body to be moved. The link member has a respective mechanical link connecting portion to the vibrating bodies. Each of the vibration bodies is mechanically attached to the stator support by at least two attachment tabs on at least one side, in a direction transverse to both the connection direction and the bending direction, of the respective vibration bodies. Also an ultrasonic electromechanical motor having such an ultrasonic electromechanical stator is disclosed.Type: GrantFiled: August 15, 2018Date of Patent: January 11, 2022Assignee: PIEZOMOTOR UPPSALA ABInventors: Andreas Danell, Stefan Johansson, Jan Söderkvist