Active Control Experts, Inc.

Delphi Technologies, Inc.

Cymer, Inc.

Vibration-x, Inc.

Vibration-x Di Bianchini Emanulee E C. Sas

Emanuele Bianchini

Robert N Jacques

Kenneth B Lazarus

Jeffrey W Moore

Jonathan C Allen

Farla M Russo

Carl Prestia

Ronald Spangler

David Gilbert

Charles J Scheib

Mansour Ashtiani

Ronald L Spangler

Baruch Pletner

David J Brace

Betsy Marsh

A full range loudspeaker, comprising a frame with a membrane secured onto said frame and a piezoelectric actuator attached on said membrane and able to be driven over the full audible frequency range.

Piezoelectric loudspeaker

A piezoelectric device is formed of a supporting substrate with first and second conductive traces on a first surface. A piezoelectric material layer is laminated to the supporting substrate with a first surface of the piezoelectric material layer electrically connected to the second conductive trace and a second surface of the piezoelectric material layer electrically conducted to the first conductive trace. A protective coating is applied over the piezoelectric material layer so that at least a portion of the first and second conductive traces are exposed.

Piezoelectric device and method to manufacture a piezoelectric device

A vibration control system comprising an actuator, and a sensor useful for controlling vibrations in systems for fabricating electronics equipment. The actuator may comprise one or more plates or elements of electro-active material bonded to an electroded sheet.

System for vibration control

A member for producing an audible sound in a vehicle including a speaker area having an upper surface and a lower surface, the speaker area being located on the member. A piezo bimorph is attached to the speaker area, the piezo bimorph including a first piezoelectric element attached to the upper surface of the speaker area, and a second piezoelectric element attached to the lower surface of the speaker area. An amplifier in electrical communication with the piezo bimorph, the amplifier supplying an electrical field to the piezo bimorph, the piezo bimorph causing the speaker area and the member to vibrate, causing an audible sound.

Piezo integrated flat speakers for automotive interior panels

A golf club includes an electroactive assembly attached to the club and electrically tuned to capture energy from one or more vibrational modes with high efficiency. More generally, a sports implement includes an electroactive element, such as a piezoceramic sheet attached to the implement, and a circuit attached to the electroactive element. The circuit may be a shunt, or may include processing such as amplification and phase control to apply a driving signal which may compensate for strain sensed in the implement, or may simply alter the stiffness to affect performance. The electroactive element is located in a region of high strain to apply damping, and may include plural subassemblies mounted to capture energy in different planes, or to capture an asymmetric strain distribution while maintaining structural symmetry. In a ski the element captures between about one and five percent of the strain energy of the ski. The region of high strain may be found by modeling mechanics of the sports implement, or may be located by empirically mapping the strain distribution which occurs during use of the implement. In other embodiments, the electroactive elements may remove resonances, adapt performance to different situations, or enhance handling or comfort of the implement. Other embodiments include striking implements intended to hit a ball or object in play, such as mallets, bats and tennis racquets, wherein the strain elements may alter the performance, feel or comfort of the implement. The electroactive elements may be configured in sets to capture energy in different modes, and/or energy distributed along different directions.

Sports implement

A recreational board such as a snowboard incorporates strain transducers to damp a plate resonance of the board. The strain transducers are preferably located around a peripheral region to capture strain energy affecting control edges, for example steering control edges at the front and/or rear of the board. Electrical energy from the transducers is shunted to damp a targeted resonance. In a preferred embodiment the strain transducers cover a region of the snowboard adjacent one surface and extending along the forward periphery, preferably at both inside and outside edges, and are shunted with a resonant shunt tuned to a torsional or torsion-like mode of the board that is excited during steering maneuvers. The transducers may be fabricated as preassembled sheets or may be formed in the snowboard during the assembly process using sheets of piezoceramic material, or using piezo fiber or other composite constructions. The strain material may be positioned to preferentially shift or damp one resonance mode, and/or it may be arranged to exert a directional effect or anisotropic control authority. A passively operated embodiment employs a simple resistive shunt to enhance control of strain energy at the frequency of a resonant mode of the snowboard. Damping of that mode reduces chatter of the steering edges in use. The strain elements may be used in conjunction with viscoelastic or other damping mechanisms to tailor the overall level of mechanical control and limit the allowed excitations of the board.

Recreational snowboard

Golf club

A baseball bat includes an electroactive assembly attached near the handle and electrically tuned to capture energy from several modes with high efficiency. More generally, a sports implement includes an electroactive element, such as a piezoceramic sheet attached to the implement, and a circuit attached to the electroactive element. The circuit may be a shunt, or may include processing such as amplification and phase control to apply a driving signal which may compensate for strain sensed in the implement, or may simply alter the stiffness to affect performance. In a ski, the electroactive element is located near to the root in a region of high strain to apply damping, and the element captures between about one and five percent of the strain energy of the ski. The region of high strain may be found by modeling mechanics of the sports implement, or may be located by empirically mapping the strain distribution which occurs during use of the implement. In other embodiments, the electroactive elements may remove resonances, adapt performance to different situations, or enhance handling or comfort of the implement. Other embodiments include striking implements intended to hit a ball or object in play, such as mallets, golf clubs and tennis racquets, wherein the strain elements may alter the performance, feel or comfort of the implement. The electroactive elements may be configured in sets to capture energy in different modes, and/or along different directions.

Baseball hat

Growing community of inventors

Winchester, MA, United States of America

Emanuele Bianchini