Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd.

Yasuyuki Araki

Hiroyuki Seki

Jun Tamai

Hiromitsu Morita

Takayuki Tsukimoto

Shinya Haneishi

A vibration-type actuator capable of suppressing reduction in holding torque or holding force under influence of humidity. A vibration-type actuatorincludes a vibrating bodyand a driven body. The vibrating bodyhas a piezoelectric elementand an elastic body. The driven bodyis in contact with the vibrating body. The vibration-type actuatormoves the vibrating bodyand the driven bodyrelatively to each other by vibration excited to the vibrating body. At least one of a first contact portion of the vibrating bodyand a second contact portion of the driven bodyincludes a stainless-steel sintered body with pores and at least some of the pores are impregnated with a resin.

Friction member to contact opposite member, method for manufacturing friction member, vibration-type actuator, and electronic device

A contact member that makes it possible to reduce variations in characteristics of individual vibration actuators. The contact member is in contact with a vibration member. The contact member has a sintered body of metal powder as a base material. A contact surface of the sintered body, which is in contact with the vibration member, is formed by impregnated resin portions as pore portions of the sintered body in which resin has been impregnated, and non-impregnated as pore portions of the sintered body in which the resin has been impregnated. A ratio of the impregnated resin portions with respect to an entirety of the contact surface is 2% or more and 15% or less, and a ratio of the non-impregnated pore portions with respect to the entirety of the contact surface is 3% or more.

Contact member, vibration actuator including contact member, and apparatus including vibration actuator

A contact body that makes it possible to easily verify whether or not the resin has been properly impregnated in the pores. A metallic sintered body having a plurality of pores, as a main body, is in contact with a vibration element in a vibration actuator. The contact body includes a sliding portion that has a sliding surface in contact with the vibration element, and a non-sliding portion adjacent to the sliding portion and not in contact with the vibration element. The non-sliding portion is provided with a resin lump containing hard particles and resin, and the resin lump is formed to be lower in height in a vertical direction than the sliding surface. In the sliding portion, part of hard particles and resin is exposed on the sliding surface.

Contact body easy to verify resin impregnation, manufacturing method thereof, and vibration actuator including contact body

A vibration-type driving apparatus is capable of, in a case where a sintered body is impregnated with resin, preventing the resin that has hardened from interfering with other members. A movable body is brought into pressure contact with a vibrating body having an electro-mechanical energy conversion element and an elastic body. The vibrating body and the movable body are moved relatively to each other through vibrations excited in the vibrating body. The movable body has a frictional surface including the sintered body impregnated with the resin and comes into contact with the vibrating body. The movable body has a sloped surface adjacent to the frictional surface in a cross section perpendicular to a direction in which the vibrating body and the movable body move relatively to each other. An angle formed by the frictional surface and the sloped surface is greater than 90 degrees and less than 180 degrees.

Vibration-type driving apparatus using sintered body impregnated with resin, electronic apparatus, and movable body

A vibration type actuator uses a friction material of which a depth of impregnation with a resin can be easily measured in a non-destructive manner. The vibration type actuator has a vibrating body including an electro-mechanical energy conversion element and an elastic body; and a contact body configured to come into contact with the vibrating body. The vibration type actuator has a structure in which at least one of a friction portion of the contact body coming into contact with the vibrating body and a friction portion of the vibrating body coming into contact with the contact body has a metallic portion including a pore that is impregnated with a resin containing a fluorescent material.

Vibration type actuator for relatively moving vibrating body and contact body, electronic device, and method for inspecting friction material

A vibrator including an electro-mechanical transducer and an elastic body that is fixed to the electro-mechanical transducer and that is provided with a projection, the projection having a hollow structure. The projection includes a contact portion having a first surface at a tip, the first surface being parallel to a first plane, a wall portion projecting towards an opposite side with respect to the electro-mechanical transducer, and a connection portion connecting the wall portion and the contact portion to each other. The connection portion having a spring property, and the contact portion includes a portion of which a cross-sectional area in a second plane that is parallel to the first plane increases as an increase of a distance between the portion and the first surface.

Vibrator of vibratory drive unit, vibratory drive unit, interchangeable lens, imaging device, and automatic stage

A vibration drive device can suppress separation between members thereof when an external force is applied thereto. The vibration drive device excites vibration in a vibrating body to move the vibrating body and a driven body relative to each other. The vibrating body has a piezoelectric element joined to a first surface of an elastic body. Protrusions for pressure contact with the driven body are formed on a second surface of the elastic body. The elastic body is supported by support plates, and the support plates are held on a base. An equalizing stage is disposed on a side facing the first surface of the elastic body. A vibration damping member disposed between the vibrating body and the equalizing stage suppresses transmission of vibration from the vibrating body to the equalizing stage.

Vibration drive device in which separation between members by external force is suppressed, lens barrel, image pickup apparatus, and stage device

Provided is a vibration-type driving apparatus comprising a vibrating body including an electro-mechanical energy conversion element and an elastic body to which the electro-mechanical energy conversion element is joined; and a flexible printed board connected to the electro-mechanical energy conversion element, wherein the flexible printed board includes a first region bonded to at least the location of an antinode portion of vibration of the vibrating body and a second region that is adjacent to the first region and that is not bonded to the electro-mechanical energy conversion element; the boundary portion between the first region and the second region is located at a node portion of the vibration of the vibrating body; and a gap is present between the second region and the vibrating body.

Vibration-type driving apparatus and image pickup apparatus

A vibrator, which constitutes a vibrating device of a vibration-type driving apparatus in which the vibrating device is bonded to an electromechanical-energy-conversion element, has at least one projection portion thereon, and elliptic motion can arise at each projection portion by applying an alternating electric field to the electromechanical-energy-conversion element. A driven object moves by the elliptic motion when in contact with the projection portion in a direction intersecting with a width direction. The vibrator includes a base and the at least one projection portion, with each projection portion having at least two wall portions extending in a base out-of-plane direction, and a contact portion having a contact surface with the driven object. The contact surface connects the wall portions, and boundary portions between the base and the wall portions are provided such that displacement directions in a normal direction are the same.

Vibrator in vibration type driving apparatus and manufacturing method thereof

A vibration wave driving apparatus can match the vibration direction of a projecting portion of a vibrator to the displacement direction of a contacting portion of a driven body so that the projecting portion of the vibrator and the contacting portion of the driven body can be brought into contact and driven with stability. The vibration direction of the projecting portion is affected by selecting the position of the projecting portion relative to the nodes of vibration.

Vibration wave driving apparatus

A vibration wave driving apparatus according to the present invention includes a vibrator having at least a vibration body formed with a projecting portion having spring characteristics and an electro-mechanical energy conversion element, the vibration wave driving apparatus using motion of the projecting portion to drive a driven body in contact with the projecting portion, wherein the vibration body includes a base portion and the projecting portion, the projecting portion includes two wall portions formed in parallel to a direction orthogonal to a drive direction of the driven body extending in an out-of-plane direction with respect to the base portion and two wall portions formed in parallel to the drive direction of the driven body extending in an out-of-plane direction with respect to the base portion and a contact portion including a contact surface with the driven body formed by connecting the wall portions.

Growing community of inventors

Kawasaki, Japan

Yasuyuki Araki