Konica Minolta Opto, Inc.

Minolta Company, Ltd.

Konica Minolta Photo Imaging, Inc.

Corning Incorporated

Kazuhiro Shibatani

Shinya Matsuda

Masayuki Ueyama

Takashi Matsuo

Kentaro Iida

Manji Takano

Hiroshi Mashima

Yoshiaki Hata

Hiroyuki Okada

Akira Kosaka

Ryuichi Yoshida

Dragan Pikula

Vikram Bhatia

Tetsuya Katagiri

Tomohiro Matsumoto

Tomoyuki Terada

Shingo Kanezawa

Yukinobu Nakabayashi

A vibratory driving device includes a shaft-like driving member, an electromechanical transducer which can incline the driving member and which also can displace the driving member in the axial direction of the driving member, a movable member which slidably engages on the driving member, a driving circuit which can apply to the electromechanical transducer a frictional driving voltage displacing the driving member back and forth with a speed varying asymmetrically in the axial direction to slidingly displace the movable member with respect to the driving member and a periodic inclination driving voltage oscillating the driving member, a resonance frequency meter which measures a resonance frequency of the inclining oscillation of the driving member, and a position estimator which estimates a position of the movable member based on the resonance frequency.

Vibratory driving device

An actuator capable of attaining two-dimensional positioning with a simple configuration includes an electromechanical transducerwhich makes mechanical displacement in accordance with a voltage applied thereto, a driving shaftwhich is axially displaced and inclined by the mechanical displacement of the electromechanical transducera movable memberwhich frictionally engages on the driving shaftand a driving circuit for superposing a direct-current driving voltage leading to an inclination of the driving shaftat a desired angle at a low rate of change preventing slide displacement of the movable memberrelative to the driving shaftand an alternating driving voltage for causing axial vibrations of the driving shaftso as to cause slide displacement of the movable memberrelative to the driving shaftand applying the superposed voltages to the electromechanical transducer

Actuator and optical device

A driving device capable of multidimensional positioning by the single device has a shaft-like driving member, an electromechanical transducerwhich has a plurality of expandable portionsand which holds one end of the driving member, the expandable portions being provided in parallel so that each of the expandable portions can separately expands and contracts in a axial direction of the driving member, and a movable memberwhich frictionally engages on the driving memberand which can displace slidingly on the driving member, and a drive circuit which applies to some of the expandable portionsa low change rate of direct-current voltage component different from that applied to other expandable portions, and which applies to all the expandable portionsa common alternating voltage component fluctuating with a common period.

Driving device

A small imaging apparatus () implementing an optical image stabilizing function has a vibratory driving device () which comprises a driving shaft (), an electromechanical transducer () consisting of a plurality of elongatable portions capable of elongating and contracting in an axial direction of the driving shaft () respectively and integrated with each other, and a driving member () slidably engaging on the driving shaft (); a axially movable optical member () of which position is restrained in the axial direction by the driving member (); and a vertically movable optical member () of which position is restrained in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction by the driving shaft (), the elongatable portions uniformly elongating and contracting repeatedly to displace the driving member () slidingly on the driving shaft (), and unequally elongating or contracting to incline the driving shaft () to displace the driving member ().

Imaging apparatus

In a piezoelectric actuator () comprising a layered piezoelectric element () which consists of alternately stacked expansion and contraction layers () and electrode layers (), a driving shaft () of which one end is fixed to one end of the piezoelectric element () in expansion and contraction direction, a movable member () frictionally engaging with the driving shaft () and a collar () bonded to the circumference of the piezoelectric element (), by bonding the collar () to the circumference of the plurality of the expansion and contraction layers () with an adhesive (G) so that fastening force of the collar () to the expansion and contraction layers () is imbalanced with reference to the center of the cross section of the piezoelectric element () so that the piezoelectric element () expands and contracts in an imbalanced manner to incline the driving shaft () to displace minutely the movable member ().

Piezoelectric actuator, driving device, positioning device and laser module

There is provided a driving device with less wiring and of which driving circuit is simplified. A driving device comprising: a plurality of vibratory actuatorsrespectively having a vibration generating portion which transform an electric power into a vibration and a driven portion which engages with the vibration generating portion; and a driving circuit to which the plurality of vibratory actuators are connected in parallel, wherein the vibration generating portion of at least one of the vibratory actuators has a different frequency characteristic from that of other vibratory actuators, and the driving circuit is capable of outputting a plurality of driving voltages each having a different waveform.

A vibratory driving devicecomprising a shaft-like driving member, a electromechanical transducerwhich can incline the driving memberand which can also displace the driving memberin the axial direction of the driving member, a movable memberwhich slidably engages on the driving member, a driving circuitwhich can apply to the electromechanical transducera periodical frictional driving voltage to displace slidingly the movable member with respect to the driving member and an inclination driving voltage inclining the driving member, a waveform determinerwhich determines a rising condition of a voltage or a current of the electromechanical transducerwhen the inclination driving voltage is applied, and a position estimator which estimates a position of the movable memberbased on the rising condition of a voltage or a current.

A laser optical device, having: a laser light emitting section to emit laser signal light modulated by information; a laser light receiving section to receive the laser signal light emitted from the laser light emitting section; a light condensing optical unit to conduct the laser signal light emitted from the laser light emitting section to the laser light receiving section; an actuator to move the light condensing optical unit; a light intensity detecting section to detect an intensity of the laser signal light conducted to the laser light receiving section; and a control section to control drive of the actuator so as to align the laser signal light conducted by the light condensing optical unit to the laser light receiving section; wherein the control section drives the actuator in a predetermined period which synchronizes with a predetermined signal included in the laser signal light.

Laser optical device and control method of actuator

A laser apparatus includes: a laser light source; an output member for receiving and transmitting a laser light flux generated by the laser light flux, and outputting a laser light flux; an optical aligning member for positioning the laser light flux generated by the laser light source to the output member; a drive for driving the optical aligning member; a drive controller; an output detector for outputting a detected output representing an intensity of a laser light flux outputted from the output member; and an output controller. The drive controller controls the drive to drive the optical aligning member and the output controller changes a power of the laser light flux generated by the light source, based on the detected output.

Laser apparatus and output control method of laser apparatus

It is provided a drive unitin which the displacement amount of the frictional engagement membercan be reduced without lowering the driving torque, having a drive circuitcomprised of a bridge circuit which includes charge switching elements Q, Qfor connecting the electrodesof the piezoelectric elementto the power supplyand discharge switching elements Q, Qfor connecting the electrodesto ground, and a switch circuitfor inserting a limiting resistor Rin at least either one of an current path between the power supplyand the piezoelectric elementand an current path between the piezoelectric elementand the ground.

Drive unit

An optical waveguide device includes: a channel waveguide which is positioned at a predetermined height relative to a bottom surface of a substrate; and a slab waveguide having a cross-sectional shape wider than that of the channel waveguide, being positioned at a predetermined height relative to the channel waveguide. Initially, an input end face of the optical waveguide device is vertically scanned with a light beam to achieve optical coupling with the slab waveguide, followed by transversely scanning to achieve optical coupling with the channel waveguide, hence, alignment of an optical axis with a minute channel waveguide can be effected easily and quickly.

Optical waveguide device, optical module and method of aligning optical axes thereof

A servo driving method of the present invention to drive a stepping motor driven by a predetermined driving pulse, by a servo control method, is comprising a setting step of setting a driving mode of the stepping motor switchable at least between a first driving mode, in which the stepping motor is driven with a relatively large current, and a second driving mode, in which the stepping motor is driven with a relatively small current, and a switching step of switching the driving mode between the first driving mode and the second driving mode when a predetermined mode switching information is given. Thereby, it becomes possible to reduce the power consumption by supplying power efficiently to the stepping motor.

Stepping motor servo driving method and driving mechanism

A positioning method for positioning a movable member so as to maximize a detection output of a position detecting means whose detection output varies corresponding to positions of the movable member, comprising: performing a wobbling control when the detection output is small, in which the movable member is moved forward and backward by a predetermined minute amount, and the movable member is moved in proportion to a difference between the detection output when the movable member is moved forward by the predetermined minute amount and the detection output when the movable member is moved backward; and performing a hill climbing control when the detection output is large, in which the movable member is moved in one direction by only a predetermined adjustment amount and when the detection output increases, the movable member is moved again in an identical direction by the adjustment amount.

Positioning device and positiioning method

A rotating deviceis for rotating a vertically long drivable elementabout specified two axes (rotation axis A, rotation axis B) and is provided with a first and a second actuatorsA,B for giving torques to the drivable element, a pivot bearing portionas a rotation supporting point of the drivable element, a first and a second position detecting sensorsA,B for detecting the rotational posture of the drivable element, and a posture controller. Detecting portionsA,B of the first and second position detecting sensorsA,B are arranged on a straight line Lconnecting acting portionsA,B of the first and second actuatorsA,B and near the acting portionsA,B. The position of the drivable element can be detected by a simple construction and the drivable element can be quickly returned to an original position.

Rotating device, barrel unit, image sensing apparatus installed with the same

Disclosed is a monitor device for a moving body such as a vehicle, aircraft or vessel, moving at a certain speed. The monitor device displays an image of a front scene of the moving body with the image of the central area being enlarged in accordance with the running speed of the moving body such that condition of a far away portion can be recognized accurately. A zoom ratio calculating section determines a zoom ratio in accordance with running speed of the moving body. The area of image to be displayed is selected in accordance with the zoom ratio and the image of the selected area is displayed on a display screen in an enlarged form. A specially designed distortion lens may be used to take the picture of the front scene to form an image of the scene with its central area being optically enlarged.

Growing community of inventors

Sakai, Japan

Kazuhiro Shibatani