Patents by Inventor Kiichi Kajino

Kiichi Kajino has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11824469
    Abstract: A method for sensing an abnormality of a piezoelectric drive device is a method for sensing a vibration abnormality of the piezoelectric drive device having a substrate and thin-film piezoelectric elements placed on the substrate and controlling amplitude of the piezoelectric elements using a drive control signal, and the method includes sensing the vibration abnormality by a drive voltage corresponding to the drive control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 24, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kiichi Kajino
  • Publication number: 20230198426
    Abstract: An ultrasonic motor includes a vibration section having a piezoelectric element configured to generate vibration by receiving a drive voltage, a driven section, a convex section connected to the vibration section and configured to transmit vibration of the vibration section to the driven section, a drive circuit configured to generate the drive voltage, an encoder configured to detect a movement amount of the driven section, a storage section configured to store a specified voltage value, and a determination section configured to receive position information from the encoder when the driven section starts to move and a voltage value at the time of start up from the drive circuit and to determine that least one of the convex section or the driven section is worn out when the voltage value at the time of start up is larger than the specified voltage value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 15, 2022
    Publication date: June 22, 2023
    Inventor: Kiichi KAJINO
  • Patent number: 11682985
    Abstract: A piezoelectric driving device includes a substrate, a plurality of piezoelectric elements disposed on the substrate, a first groove section provided between the plurality of piezoelectric elements, and a first wire provided in at least a part of a side surface and a bottom section of the first groove section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2023
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tomoaki Takahashi, Kiichi Kajino
  • Patent number: 11682986
    Abstract: A piezoelectric drive device includes a substrate, a convex portion coupling to the substrate and transmitting drive power to a driven member, first drive piezoelectric elements placed on the substrate and vibrating the substrate in Y directions in which the substrate and the convex portion are arranged, second drive piezoelectric elements placed on the substrate and vibrating the substrate in Z directions orthogonal to the Y directions, a reference piezoelectric element placed on the substrate, receiving the vibration in the Y directions, and outputting a detection signal, and a concave portion placed side by side with the reference piezoelectric element in the Z directions in a plan view from an X direction orthogonal to the Y directions and the Z directions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2023
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kiichi Kajino, Tomoaki Takahashi
  • Patent number: 11515812
    Abstract: A control method for a piezoelectric drive device includes a first step of executing first control to decrease a frequency of a drive voltage applied to a piezoelectric vibrator from a predetermined first frequency while acquiring a pickup voltage representing vibration amplitude of the piezoelectric vibrator, and a second step of executing second control to increase the frequency of the drive voltage applied to the piezoelectric vibrator to a second frequency as a frequency of the drive voltage applied before a second time when the pickup voltage is higher from a first time to the second time and the pickup voltage is lower from the second time to a third time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kiichi Kajino
  • Patent number: 11482661
    Abstract: A piezoelectric driving device includes a piezoelectric vibrating body and a driving circuit. The piezoelectric vibrating body includes a contact which extends in a first direction and comes into contact with a driven member, a first piezoelectric element which generates bending vibration in a direction intersecting with the first direction in accordance with a first driving voltage, and a second piezoelectric element which generates longitudinal vibration in the first direction in accordance with a second driving voltage. The piezoelectric vibrating body is configured such that a resonance frequency of the longitudinal vibration is higher than a resonance frequency of the bending vibration. The driving circuit sets a driving frequency of each of the first driving voltage and the second driving voltage to be equal to or higher than the resonance frequency of the longitudinal vibration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2022
    Inventors: Kiichi Kajino, Yutaka Arakawa
  • Patent number: 11411512
    Abstract: A control device of a piezoelectric drive device includes a drive pulse signal generation unit that generates a binary drive pulse signal, a drive signal generation unit that generates a drive signal which is applied to the piezoelectric element for drive from the drive pulse signal, a detection pulse signal generation unit that generates a detection pulse signal by binarizing the detection signal which is output from the piezoelectric element for detection, and a phase difference acquisition unit that acquires a phase difference between the drive pulse signal and the detection pulse signal, based on a rising edge and a falling edge of the drive pulse signal and a rising edge and a falling edge of the detection pulse signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Inventor: Kiichi Kajino
  • Patent number: 11349062
    Abstract: A piezoelectric drive device includes a vibrating part, and a control unit that controls vibration of the vibrating part, wherein the vibrating part includes a piezoelectric material having a first surface and a second surface in a front-back relation, a drive electrode having a first electrode arranged at the first surface and a second electrode arranged at the second surface, and vibrating the piezoelectric material when a drive signal from the control unit is input to the second electrode, and a detection electrode having a third electrode arranged at the first surface and a fourth electrode arranged at the second surface, and outputting a detection signal according to the vibration of the piezoelectric material to the control unit via the fourth electrode, and the first electrode and the third electrode are separated on the first surface, and the second electrode and the fourth electrode are separated on the second surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kiichi Kajino, Tomoaki Takahashi, Akio Konishi
  • Publication number: 20220166349
    Abstract: A method for sensing an abnormality of a piezoelectric drive device is a method for sensing a vibration abnormality of the piezoelectric drive device having a substrate and thin-film piezoelectric elements placed on the substrate and controlling amplitude of the piezoelectric elements using a drive control signal, and the method includes sensing the vibration abnormality by a drive voltage corresponding to the drive control signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 24, 2021
    Publication date: May 26, 2022
    Inventor: Kiichi KAJINO
  • Publication number: 20220131481
    Abstract: A piezoelectric drive device includes a substrate, a convex portion coupling to the substrate and transmitting drive power to a driven member, first drive piezoelectric elements placed on the substrate and vibrating the substrate in Y directions in which the substrate and the convex portion are arranged, second drive piezoelectric elements placed on the substrate and vibrating the substrate in Z directions orthogonal to the Y directions, a reference piezoelectric element placed on the substrate, receiving the vibration in the Y directions, and outputting a detection signal, and a concave portion placed side by side with the reference piezoelectric element in the Z directions in a plan view from an X direction orthogonal to the Y directions and the Z directions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 26, 2021
    Publication date: April 28, 2022
    Inventors: Kiichi KAJINO, Tomoaki TAKAHASHI
  • Publication number: 20220094281
    Abstract: A piezoelectric driving device includes a substrate, a plurality of piezoelectric elements disposed on the substrate, a first groove section provided between the plurality of piezoelectric elements, and a first wire provided in at least a part of a side surface and a bottom section of the first groove section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 22, 2021
    Publication date: March 24, 2022
    Inventors: Tomoaki TAKAHASHI, Kiichi KAJINO
  • Patent number: 11203040
    Abstract: A piezoelectric driving device includes a piezoelectric vibrating body and a driving circuit. The piezoelectric vibrating body includes a contact which comes into contact with a driven member, and a piezoelectric element which generates vibration in accordance with a driving voltage. The driving circuit sets a driving frequency of the driving voltage to a first frequency and starts the driving at the time of initiation from a stopped state, and sets the driving frequency of the driving voltage to a second frequency lower than the first frequency in a driving state after the initiation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 21, 2021
    Inventor: Kiichi Kajino
  • Patent number: 11205973
    Abstract: A method of controlling a piezoelectric motor as a piezoelectric drive device having a vibrator including piezoelectric elements, a rotor as a driven unit that moves at a target speed by vibration of the vibrator, and drive signal generation units that generate drive signals and output the drive signals to the piezoelectric elements, includes intermittently outputting the drive signals to the piezoelectric elements by the drive signal generation units, wherein a time when output of the drive signals is stopped is shorter than a time from when output of the drive signal is stopped to stoppage of the vibration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 21, 2021
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kiichi Kajino, Hidetoshi Saito
  • Patent number: 11133453
    Abstract: A piezoelectric driving device includes a substrate, a first insulating film disposed on the substrate, a piezoelectric element for driving disposed on the first insulating film and configured to vibrate the substrate, a piezoelectric element for detection configured to detect the vibration of the substrate, a wire for driving electrically connected to the piezoelectric element for driving, a wire for detection electrically connected to the piezoelectric element for detection, and a lower layer wire disposed between the first insulating film and the substrate and set to fixed potential. At least one of the wire for driving and the wire for detection overlaps at least a part of the lower layer wire.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2021
    Inventors: Akio Konishi, Kiichi Kajino
  • Publication number: 20210194389
    Abstract: A control method for a piezoelectric drive device includes a first step of executing first control to decrease a frequency of a drive voltage applied to a piezoelectric vibrator from a predetermined first frequency while acquiring a pickup voltage representing vibration amplitude of the piezoelectric vibrator, and a second step of executing second control to increase the frequency of the drive voltage applied to the piezoelectric vibrator to a second frequency as a frequency of the drive voltage applied before a second time when the pickup voltage is higher from a first time to the second time and the pickup voltage is lower from the second time to a third time.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2020
    Publication date: June 24, 2021
    Inventor: Kiichi KAJINO
  • Patent number: 11031884
    Abstract: A control device for a vibration actuator includes a detection signal acquisition section adapted to obtain an alternating-current detection signal corresponding to a vibration of the resonator body from the resonator bodies, a phase difference detection section adapted to detect a phase difference between the drive signal and the detection signal with respect to the resonator bodies, a resonator body selection section adapted to select one from the resonator bodies, and a drive signal control section adapted to adjust a frequency of the drive signal so that the phase difference in the resonator body selected comes closer to a target value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2021
    Inventors: Yutaka Arakawa, Kiichi Kajino
  • Patent number: 10811998
    Abstract: A driving device includes a plurality of vibrating bodies including transmitting sections configured to transmit vibration to a driven section and a control section configured to change vibration tracks of the transmitting sections of at least a pair of the vibrating bodies independently from one another. When a direction in which the driven section and the vibrating bodies are arranged is represented as a first direction and a direction orthogonal to the first direction is represented as a second direction, at least the two vibrating bodies have a plurality of vibration modes in which amplitudes in at least one of the first direction and the second direction of the transmitting sections are different, and the control section drives the at least two vibrating bodies in any one vibration mode among the plurality of vibration modes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2020
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Kiichi Kajino
  • Publication number: 20200244191
    Abstract: A method of controlling a piezoelectric motor as a piezoelectric drive device having a vibrator including piezoelectric elements, a rotor as a driven unit that moves at a target speed by vibration of the vibrator, and drive signal generation units that generate drive signals and output the drive signals to the piezoelectric elements, includes intermittently outputting the drive signals to the piezoelectric elements by the drive signal generation units, wherein a time when output of the drive signals is stopped is shorter than a time from when output of the drive signal is stopped to stoppage of the vibration.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 27, 2020
    Publication date: July 30, 2020
    Inventors: Kiichi KAJINO, Hidetoshi SAITO
  • Patent number: 10700619
    Abstract: A piezoelectric actuator includes a plurality of piezoelectric elements that generate a driving force to be transmitted to a driven portion; and a power supply portion that supplies power to the plurality of piezoelectric elements. The plurality of piezoelectric elements are electrically connected to the power supply portion in parallel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Kiichi Kajino, Osamu Miyazawa
  • Patent number: 10615328
    Abstract: A piezoelectric actuator includes a first piezoelectric element that outputs a first signal when being driven, a second piezoelectric element that outputs a second signal when being driven, a signal combining part that delays phase of the second signal and outputs a composite signal by combination of the second signal and the first signal, and a drive state determination part that determines respective drive states of the first piezoelectric element and the second piezoelectric element based on the composite signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Kiichi Kajino, Yutaka Arakawa