Panasonic Corporation

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Hideaki Mukae

Masaru Higashionji

Yusuke Adachi

Eiichi Nagaoka

Akio Murata

Takaaki Maegawa

Kenichi Honjo

Haruo Isaka

Toshiharu Okada

Haruo Ohta

Jun Takeuchi

Kouhei Baba

Daisuke Ito

Hideyuki Hashi

Hironori Honsho

Hideo Hatanaka

Akira Koga

Hiroshi Yohda

Tetsuya Morita

Tetsuya Kitagawa

Kouhei Suzuki

Kazunori Umee

A drive unit includes an ultrasonic actuator having an actuator body formed using a piezoelectric element, and a driving element provided on the actuator body and configured to output a driving force by moving according to the vibration of the actuator body, and a control section configured to induce the vibration in the actuator body by applying a first and a second AC voltages having a same frequency and different phases to the piezoelectric element. The control section adjusts the first AC voltage and the second AC voltage so that the first AC voltage and the second AC voltage have different voltage values from each other.

Drive unit

A drive unit includes an actuator main body configured to vibrate to output a driving force, a movable body, which is contacted by the actuator main body and is movable relative to the actuator main body in a predetermined moving direction, and an opposing member positioned to face the actuator main body with the movable body interposed therebetween and hold the movable body together with the actuator main body so that the movable body is sandwiched therebetween. A portion of the movable body, which contacts the opposing member, has an elastic modulus lower than that of the opposing member.

A drive unit includes: a shaft; a movable body supported by the shaft so as to be displaceable along the shaft; a vibratory actuator configured to drive the movable body; and a support body configured to support the vibrator actuator. The vibratory actuator includes an actuator main body that contacts the movable body and is configured to vibrate to output a driving force to the movable body, an opposing member that contacts the movable body and is positioned so as to face the actuator main body with the movable body interposed therebetween, and a coupling member that is configured to couple the actuator main body with the opposing member and to bias the actuator main body and the opposing member so as to sandwich the movable body therebetween with the movable body kept displaceable along the shaft. The support body supports the vibratory actuator so that the vibratory actuator is displaceable along a biasing direction of the coupling member.

A drive unit includes a lens frame configured to support a lens, a movable body located outside the lens and configured to be movable with the lens frame, and a vibratory actuator configured to drive the movable body. The vibratory actuator includes an actuator main body contacting the movable body, an opposite member provided at a position which is opposite to the actuator main body so that the movable body is sandwiched between the actuator main body and the opposite member, and a connecting member configured to connect the actuator main body and the opposite member and to bias them toward the movable body. The connecting member is not provided at a side of the movable body where the lens frame is provided, but is provided at an opposite side of the movable body to the side where the lens frame is provided, as viewed in the optical direction.

A supporting structure for an actuator body, which can prevent reduction of vibration of an actuator body and maintain a contact state of a driver element with an abutment body in a stable manner even when the driver element receives reactive force from the abutment body is realized. An ultrasonic actuator () includes an actuator body () for generating vibration, driver elements (), provided on a mounting surface () of the actuator body (), for outputting driving force, a pressing rubber () for pressing the actuator body () to a stage (), a case () to which the actuator body () is coupled, and a plate spring () for elastically supporting the actuator body () relative to the case (). The plate spring () supports the mounting surface () of the actuator body () on which the driver elementsare provided.

Vibratory actuator

An ultrasonic actuator includes an actuator body; and driver elements for outputting drive force, which are provided to the actuator body. The ultrasonic actuator further includes a holder which is provided to the actuator body, and which protrudes outwardly beyond principal surfaces in a direction crossing the principal surfaces of the actuator body; two supports for supporting the holder; contact rubber blocks limiting displacement of the actuator body by contacting the principal surfaces of the actuator body. The actuator body is biased toward a movable body side. A long hole extending in a biasing direction of the actuator body and into which the holder is fitted is formed in the support. At least two contact rubber blocks contact the principal surfaces of the actuator body at different positions in a longitudinal direction of the actuator body.

In driving a target body only by one of actuators, the target body is smoothly driven. A drive unit () includes a stage (), a first ultrasonic actuator (A) for driving the stage () in an X direction and a second ultrasonic actuator (B) for driving the stage () in a Y direction. When the stage () is driven only in one of the X direction and the Y direction, one of the first and second ultrasonic actuators (A andB) which corresponds to the direction generates composite vibration of longitudinal direction parallel to a contact surface of the stage () and bending vibration perpendicular to the contact surface of the stage (). On the other hand, the other one of the first and second ultrasonic actuators (A andB) generates only longitudinal vibration parallel to the contact surface of the stage ().

Control system for oscillatory actuator

A drive apparatus includes a first, a second, and a third frame, and a first and a second drive mechanism. The second frame is supported movably in a first direction with respect to the first frame. The third frame is supported movably in a second direction that intersects the first direction with respect to the second frame. The first drive mechanism is provided between the first and the second frames, and configured to move the first and the second frames relative to each other. The second drive mechanism is provided between the second and the third frames, and configured to move the second and the third frames relative to each other. Each of the first and second drive mechanism has a drive generator configured to generate drive with a piezoelectric element, and a drive receiver pressed relative to the drive generator and receive the drive generated by the drive generator.

Drive apparatus

An ultrasonic actuator () includes an actuator body () generating a driving force, a case () containing the actuator body (), and support rubbers () placed between the actuator body () and the case () to elastically support the actuator body () at both sides of the actuator body in a supporting direction. The case () includes a first case () having an opening at a position where one of the support members () is placed and a second case () coupled to the first case () to cover the opening in the first case (). The support rubbers () are compressed as the second case () is coupled to the first case () and elastically support the actuator body () in the compressed state.

Ultrasonic actuator

A drive unit includes an ultrasonic actuator having an actuator body generating vibration, and diver elements attached to the actuator body to output drive force by generating orbit motion in response to the vibration of the actuator body; and a movable body contacting the driver elements, and relatively moving with respect to the ultrasonic actuator. In a surface of the movable body, which contacts the driver elements, smoothed portions are interleaved with recessed portions which are recessed with respect to the smoothed portions.

A vibratory actuator includes a piezoelectric element, a driver element provided on the piezoelectric element and a movable body supported by the driver element. A control unit supplies a first voltage and a second voltage at the same frequency to the piezoelectric element. By supplying the first voltage and the second voltage having a difference phase from a phase of the first voltage by 90&#xb0;, the piezoelectric element is lead to composite vibration of stretching and bending, thereby causing the driver to make an elliptical motion by the vibration and move the movable body. The control unit switches, during a fine mode, a phase difference between the first voltage and the second voltage between 90&#xb0; and 0&#xb0;.

A drive unit includes a vibration actuator for controlling the piezoelectric element. A control section controls the vibration actuator switchably between a normal operation mode in which the piezoelectric element vibrates at a predetermined frequency to let the vibration actuator output a driving force, and a heating mode in which the piezoelectric element vibrates in a direction perpendicular to a direction of the driving force at a frequency different from the frequency in the normal operation mode to heat the piezoelectric element.

An ultrasonic actuator includes: an actuator body using a piezoelectric element and generating a plurality of vibrations of different vibration directions; a driver element provided in the actuator body and operated in accordance with the vibration of the actuator body to output a driving force in a predetermined driving direction; a case containing the actuator body; at least one support rubber provided between the actuator body and the case to elastically support the actuator body along the driving direction with respect to the case; and at least one stopper provided between the actuator body and the case which comes into contact with at least one of the actuator body and the case when the actuator body is displaced in a direction opposite the driving direction such that the displacement of the actuator body in the direction opposite the driving direction is limited.

Vibration actuator

An image stabilizer of the present invention is provided with a lens modulethat holds a lens and an imaging element, an inner frame that turnably supports the lens module, and driving portion that turns the lens modulerelative to the inner frame, with the driving portion including a bimorph. An image stabilizer thereby can be provided that allows the overall size and profile of an imaging apparatus to be reduced.

Growing community of inventors

Hyogo, Japan

Hideaki Mukae