Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Takaaki Mori

Masaaki Takata

Noritaka Kishi

Kenji Nishiyama

Nobumasa Kitamori

Hitoshi Sakaguchi

Yuuki Ishii

Takahide Nakadoi

Yuzo Mizushima

Masaru Amano

A vibration device includes a light-transmissive body, and a vibrator to vibrate the light-transmissive body at a vibration acceleration of equal to or more than about 1.5×10m/sand equal to or less than about 8.0×10m/s.

Vibration device and vibration control method

A cleaning device includes a protection cover in a viewing field of a camera, a piezoelectric material to vibrate the protection cover, a driver to drive the piezoelectric material, a vibrator to detect a signal related to a vibration level of the protection cover vibrated with the piezoelectric material, and a controller to control the driver based on a signal detected by the vibration sensor so that the signal detected by the vibrator matches a predetermined target value of the vibration level of the protection cover.

Cleaning device, imaging unit including cleaning device, and control method

In a cleaning device, a signal processing circuit determines that a foreign substance has adhered to a surface of a protection cover based on at least two pieces of information among a change amount of a resonant frequency when a vibration portion is driven at a first voltage, a change amount of a current value relating to an impedance detected by an impedance detector, and a temporal change of an image captured by an imaging portion, and cleans the surface of the protection cover by controlling the vibration portion in accordance with the determination.

Cleaning device, imaging unit including the same, and cleaning method

A cleaning apparatus includes an imaging section, a protective cover in a field of view of the imaging section, a vibrator to vibrate the protective cover, a piezoelectric driver to drive the vibrator, a cleaning liquid discharger to discharge a cleaner onto a surface of the protective cover, and a signal processing circuit to control the piezoelectric driver. The signal processing circuit controls the piezoelectric driver such that the protective cover is vibrated at a resonant frequency for a predetermined period after the cleaning liquid is caused to be discharged and controls the piezoelectric driver such that, after the predetermined period, vibration of the protective cover is stopped or the protective cover is vibrated at a frequency other than the resonant frequency.

Growing community of inventors

Nagaokakyo, Japan

Takaaki Mori