Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd.

Panasonic Electric Works Co., Ltd.

Takahiro Nishinaka

Hidekazu Yabuuchi

Hiroaki Shimizu

Ryo Motohashi

Noboru Kobayashi

Yuya Hasegawa

Katsuhiro Hirata

Tomohiro Kunita

Kensaku Kanada

Tomohiro Ota

Masashi Moriguchi

Suehisa Kishimoto

Shinichi Taniguchi

Hiroki Inoue

Tomio Yamada

Yoshio Mitsutake

In a rolling driving actuator used as a drive source of a power toothbrush, permanent magnets are formed flat plate shape, and constituting a moving object by being attached to grooves formed on an outer peripheral face of a yoke which is press-fitted to and fixed on a shaft. On the other hand, a tubular shaped stator, which is constituted by a coil wound around a bobbin and stationary yokes provided on both side of the bobbin in axial direction of the shaft, is provided to face an outer face of the permanent magnet or an outer face of the yoke of the moving object with a predetermined clearance so that a center axis thereof becomes coaxial with the center axis of the shaft. By supplying an alternating current to the coil, the moving object is driven in rolling driving around the axis of the shaft.

Rolling driving actuator and power toothbrush using the same

An actuator includes a shaft supported in such a manner as to make axial reciprocating movement or rotational reciprocating movement around longitudinal axis thereof, and an electricity conducting member for making contact with the shaft at a plurality of points on a circumferential surface of the shaft used as an electricity conducting path leading to other members. Further, an electric toothbrush includes the actuator as a drive power source for a brush body, and the brush body is adapted to be supplied with an electric current through the shaft.

Actuator and electric toothbrush using the same

A vibratory linear actuator according to one embodiment of the present invention is comprised of a stator having a through hole therein and a winding wire therearound, a movable member having a through hole therein and a member made of a magnetic material, said movable member being provided inside said through hole of said stator, so as to reciprocate in an axis direction upon an application of electric current to said winding wire, a shaft inserted into said through hole of said movable member so as to be movable reciprocally in relation to said movable member, and a coordinating member that enables said shaft to reciprocate in opposite phase to said movable member.

Vibratory linear actuator and electric toothbrush using the same

In a reciprocal linear driving actuator used as a drive source of a power toothbrush, two permanent magnets are formed substantially disc shape or substantially tubular shape, and fitted to and fixed on a shaft directly or via a spacer with a predetermined distance in axial direction of the shaft, so that a moving object is constituted by the shaft and the permanent magnets. On the other hand, a tubular shaped stator, which is constituted by a coil wound around a bobbin and stationary yokes and so on, is provided to face side faces of the permanent magnets of the moving object via a predetermined clearance so that a center axis thereof becomes coaxial with the center axis of the shaft. By supplying alternating current to the coil, the moving object is driven reciprocally and linearly in the axial direction of the shaft.

Reciprocation type linear driving actuator and power toothbrush using the same

A reciprocal linear driving unit and a rolling driving unit are adjacently provided on a common single shaft in axial direction thereof, so that the reciprocal linear driving in the axial direction and the rolling driving around the axis are performed by the single shaft, simultaneously. Permanent magnets constituting the reciprocal linear driving unit and the rolling driving unit are respectively provided on moving object side instead of stator, in other words, they are provided around the axis of the shaft, thereby respective permanent magnets can be miniaturized and light-weighted. Following to this, miniaturization, light-weighting and cost reduction of an actuator and a power toothbrush using the same can be realized.

Actuator capable of reciprocal linear driving and rolling driving and power toothbrush using the same

The linear actuator for both vibrating and rolling movement according to one preferred embodiment of the present invention is comprised of a shaft supported so as to be movable reciprocally in an axis direction and a rotation direction about the axis, a first linear driver including a cylindrical stator having a winding wire thereon and a movable member arranged inside the stator so as to reciprocate the shaft linearly in the axis direction, a second linear driver including a cylindrical stator having a winding wire thereon and a movable member arranged inside the stator so as to reciprocate the shaft rollingly in the rotation direction, one of the movable members being secured on the shaft and another one of the movable members being movable relative to the shaft, and a coordinating member for enabling the shaft and the one of the movable member to move in opposite phase to the another one of the movable member.

Linear actuator for both vibrating and rolling movement and electric toothbrush using the same

An electric toothbrush includes a drive part, a driver, a brush part and a vibration-absorber. The drive part includes a drive shaft provided to be lineally movable and a brush part detachably attached to one end of the drive shaft. The driver is configured to apply reciprocal force to the drive shaft to reciprocally lineally move the drive shaft. The vibration-absorber is connected to the drive shaft via a second spring to be lineally movable along the drive shaft. A weight ratio of a weight of the vibration-absorber to a weight of the drive part is at least 0.9 and at most 1.1.

Electric toothbrush with linear oscillator

An actuator includes a casing, a stationary member having a coil member and mounted in the casing and a movable member having a moving element and supported by the casing. The moving element has a shaft and is supported by the casing so as to be moved in an axial direction of the shaft and in a rotational direction having the axial direction of the shaft as its rotational axis and the moving element is moved in the axial direction and in the rotational direction by causing electric current to flow through the coil member. The stationary member includes a first stationary member for imparting to the movable member a force oriented in the axial direction and a second stationary member for imparting to the movable member a force oriented in the rotational direction, while the coil member includes a first coil member for exciting a first magnetic path passing through the first stationary member and a second coil member for exciting a second magnetic path passing through the second stationary member.

Actuator

A linear oscillating actuator system which is capable of canceling out the stator vibrations for driving a load with a minimum of vibrations. The system includes an oscillator carrying a permanent magnet as well as an output shaft for connection to the load. A stator assembly is incorporated within a housing and is configured to movably support the oscillator and to carry an electromagnet. The electromagnet generates a magnetic field which interacts with the permanent magnet to reciprocate the oscillator relative to the stator assembly in a linear path. A balancer is added to the system for canceling out undesired stator vibrations. The balancer are commonly supported to the stator assembly to be driven thereby in parallel with the oscillator. The balancer is configured to have a mass generally equal to that of the oscillator and to be devoid of any output member. Thus, the oscillator and the balancer are driven in a counter reciprocating manner, thereby keeping the stator assembly free from counter-vibrations and therefore driving the output shaft with a maximum output power.

Linear oscillating actuator system

An improved linear oscillating actuator is capable of minimizing the undesired vibrations while moving first and second oscillators in parallel paths. The first and second oscillators carry first and second drive elements respectively for driving connection to individual reciprocating loads. The first and second drive elements project upwardly respectively from the first and second oscillators such that the first drive element is disposed immediately upwardly of the second oscillator and the second drive elements is disposed immediately upwardly of the first oscillator. With this reverse arrangement of the first and second drive elements relative to the first and second oscillators, the individual oscillating systems each including the oscillator, the drive element and the corresponding reciprocating load can have its mass center disposed in close proximity to a mass center of the actuator, thereby enabling to reduce undesired vibrations which would otherwise occur around the mass center of the actuator.

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Omihachiman, Japan

Takahiro Nishinaka