Seiko Epson Corporation

Takayuki Yonemura

Hiromu Miyazawa

Chikara Kojima

Koichi Morozumi

Tetsuya Isshiki

Yasuhiro Itayama

Masahisa Nawano

Yasuaki Hamada

Yasushi Tsuchiya

Takafumi Noda

Yoshihiko Yokoyama

Yasuto Kakemura

Tomohide Onogi

Kazuya Kitada

Tomohiro Sakai

Jiro Kato

Tsutomu Asakawa

Akio Konishi

Toshiki Hara

Hidemichi Furihata

Tomokazu Kobayashi

Xiaoxing Wang

A pressure sensor includes a base having a mounting surface, an elastic member mounted on the mounting surface and forming a dome shape including a convex curved surface, a first pressure-sensitive element placed in a position between the mounting surface and the elastic member and corresponding to a vertex of the convex curved surface and outputting a first detection signal by sensing pressure, a second pressure-sensitive element placed in a position between the mounting surface and the elastic member and corresponding to a peripheral portion of the convex curved surface and outputting a second detection signal by sensing pressure, and a calculator performing a calculation on the first detection signal and the second detection signal, wherein the calculator measures hardness of an object based on a ratio Rbetween the first detection signal and the second detection signal when the object is pressed against the elastic member with a first load.

Pressure sensor, gripping device, and robot

A piezoelectric element includes a piezoelectric layer containing a helical chiral polymer exhibiting piezoelectric properties, a first electrode layer, a second electrode layer, a first coupling portion provided on the first electrode layer, and a second coupling portion provided on the second electrode layer, in which an overlapped portion where the piezoelectric layer, the first electrode layer, and the second electrode layer overlap is circular shaped when viewed along a thickness direction of the piezoelectric layer, and the first coupling portion and the second coupling portion overlap with a center of the overlapped portion when viewed along the thickness direction of the piezoelectric layer.

Piezoelectric element

A piezoelectric sensor includes an elastic body, a piezoelectric element which is disposed at a position where the piezoelectric element has contact with the elastic body, and which is configured to output a voltage signal when deforming in accordance with a deformation of the elastic body, and a detector configured to detect the voltage signal output from the piezoelectric element, wherein the detector detects kinetic frictional force generated between the object and the elastic body based on a variation in the voltage signal due to the relative movement of the object to the elastic body.

Piezoelectric sensor and robot hand

A piezoelectric sensor includes an elastic body having a first surface, a regulatory section which is disposed at a position where the regulatory section faces the first surface of the elastic body, and which is configured to limit a deformation of the elastic body, and a first piezoelectric element which is partially fixed to the regulatory section, and which deforms in accordance with the deformation of the elastic body, wherein the first piezoelectric element outputs a voltage signal which increases and decreases from a reference voltage in accordance with a direction of the deformation.

A physical quantity detection device including a container that accommodates a detection object formed of a dielectric, a first electrode provided at an outer side of the container, a second electrode that is provided separately from and to face the first electrode, and an electrostatic capacitance detector that detects an electrostatic capacitance between the first electrode and the second electrode. The electrostatic capacitance detector includes a waveform generation source coupled to the first electrode and a voltage detection circuit coupled to the second electrode. A relationship of |Zc|/|Z1|+|Zc|&#x3e;|Zc|/|Z2|+|Zc| is satisfied in which |Zc| is an absolute value of an input impedance of the electrostatic capacitance detector, |Z1| is an absolute value of an impedance when the detection object is present between the first electrode and the second electrode, and |Z2| is an absolute value of an impedance when no detection object is present between the first electrode and the second electrode.

Physical quantity detection device and printing apparatus

A physical quantity detection device including a container that accommodates a detection object formed of a dielectric and whose depth direction is a direction of a z axis when an x axis, a y axis, and the z axis along a vertical direction are set as axes orthogonal to one another, a first electrode provided at an outer side of the container, at least one second electrode that has an elongated shape extending in a direction of the y axis, is provided at an outer side of the container, and is separated from and faces the first electrode in a direction of the x axis, a first insulation layer that covers the first electrode, a second insulation layer that covers the second electrode, and an electrostatic capacitance detector that detects an electrostatic capacitance between the first electrode and the second electrode.

A physical quantity detection device including a container that is formed with an accommodation space accommodating a detection object formed of a dielectric, a first electrode and at least one second electrode that face with each other via the accommodation space, and an electrostatic capacitance detector that detects an electrostatic capacitance between the first electrode and the second electrode by applying an alternating current voltage between the first electrode and the second electrode. A frequency of the alternating current voltage applied between the first electrode and the second electrode is 1 kHz or higher.

A piezoelectric device includes: a first electrode provided above a substrate; a piezoelectric layer provided above the first electrode; and a second electrode provided above the piezoelectric layer. The piezoelectric layer includes a plurality of layers that includes a composite oxide of a Perovskite structure containing potassium, sodium, and niobium. The piezoelectric layer has a first region and a second region in a 3 &#x3bc;m&#xd7;3 &#x3bc;m region of a plane perpendicular to a thickness direction of the piezoelectric layer. The first region is a region in which the ratio of an atomic concentration (atm %) of potassium with respect to the sum of the atomic concentration (atm %) of potassium and an atomic concentration (atm %) of sodium is 0.30 to 0.45, and the second region is a region in which the ratio is 0.55 to 0.75.

Piezoelectric device, liquid ejection head, and printer

A piezoelectric element includes a first electrode disposed at a base body, a second electrode, and a piezoelectric layer disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode. The piezoelectric layer includes a first piezoelectric layer containing a complex oxide having a perovskite structure that contains lead, zirconium, and titanium and a second piezoelectric layer containing a complex oxide having a perovskite structure that is denoted by formula (1) below. The first piezoelectric layer is disposed between the first electrode and the second piezoelectric layer and is preferentially oriented to (100) when the crystal structure of the first piezoelectric layer is assumed to be pseudo-cubic,Pb(Mg,Nb)O-PbZrO-PbTiO&#x2003;&#x2003;(1)where in formula (1), 0&#x3c;x,y,z&#x3c;1 and x+y+z=1.

Piezoelectric element, liquid ejecting head, and printer

A piezoelectric element includes: a first electrode provided on a base; a second electrode; and a piezoelectric layer that is provided between the first electrode and the second electrode and that contains a complex oxide having a perovskite structure and including potassium, sodium, and niobium, where: a surface of the piezoelectric layer on a side of the second electrode is composed of faces of first grains and faces of second grains; a roughness height on the faces of the first grains is larger than a roughness height on the faces of the second grains; and an area occupied by the faces of the first grains is 10.0% or less on the surface of the piezoelectric layer.

Piezoelectric element, liquid discharge head, and printer

A piezoelectric element has a diaphragm, a first electrode on the diaphragm, a piezoelectric layer on the first electrode, and a second electrode on the piezoelectric layer. The piezoelectric layer is a stack of multiple piezoelectric films and is made of a perovskite composite oxide containing lead, zirconium, and titanium and represented by the general formula ABO, with the molar ratio of the A-site to the B-site (A/B) in the perovskite composite oxide being 1.14 or more and 1.22 or less. In current-time curve measurement, the activation energy calculated from relaxation current using an Arrhenius plot is 0.6 [eV] or less. The relaxation current is the amount of current at the time at which a downward trend in current turns upward.

Piezoelectric element and piezoelectric element-based device

A piezoelectric element having a vibrating section including a vibrating plate, a first electrode, a piezoelectric layer, and a second electrode, in which a crystal orientation of a piezoelectric material forming the piezoelectric layer is (100) and a crystal structure of the piezoelectric material is a tetragonal crystal, and a total thickness Tof the vibrating plate and the first electrode and a total thickness Tof the piezoelectric layer and the second electrode have a relationship of T&#x2265;T.

Piezoelectric element and method for manufacturing same

A liquid detecting apparatus includes an ultrasonic sensor that transmits and receives an ultrasonic wave, and includes a piezoelectric layer which is formed of a thin film and an ultrasonic element which is provided with a first electrode and a second electrode to interpose the piezoelectric layer between the first electrode and the second electrode, on a diaphragm which is disposed on a substrate having a cavity, and a flow path that forms the same liquid level as a liquid level of a liquid which is stored in a container, in which an acoustic matching layer and a detection surface of a surface of a lens, which are disposed on a side of the ultrasonic sensor that transmits and receives the ultrasonic wave, are disposed to be in contact with the liquid within the flow path.

Liquid detecting apparatus and liquid container

A piezoelectric device includes a substrate with a cavity, a vibrating plate which is provided on the substrate so as to block an opening surface of the cavity, and a piezoelectric element which is provided on a surface of the vibrating plate opposite to the cavity, including a first electrode, a piezoelectric layer, and a second electrode, in which the second electrode has a laminated structure including a Pt layer (lower layer side electrode) and an Ir layer (upper layer side electrode), in which the Pt layer is in contact with the piezoelectric layer, and in which, if it is assumed that two directions which are parallel to a surface of the substrate and mutually perpendicular are defined as an X direction and a Y direction, the Ir layer is extended to an outside of the cavity at least in the X direction on an X-Y plane view.

Piezoelectric device for ultrasonic sensor

A piezoelectric element has, from a substrate side, a first electrode, a piezoelectric layer containing a composite oxide of an ABOtype perovskite structure containing Mg, and a second electrode, which are laminated, in which the first electrode includes a diffusion suppressing layer which suppresses diffusion of the Mg and a diffusion layer which diffuses the Mg as compared with the diffusion suppressing layer, and the diffusion suppressing layer is provided on the substrate side relative to the diffusion layer.

Growing community of inventors

Suwa, Japan

Takayuki Yonemura