Minolta Camera Kabushiki Kaisha

Minolta Company, Ltd.

Konica Minolta Opto, Inc.

Konica-minolta Holdings, Inc.

Copal Company Limited

Microb Co., Ltd.

Yoshiaki Hata

Manabu Inoue

Yoshinobu Kudo

Takeo Hoda

Hiroshi Ueda

Nobuyuki Taniguchi

Hiroshi Ootsuka

Yoshihiro Tanaka

Sadafusa Tsuji

Michihiro Iwata

Fumiaki Ishito

Koh Hayama

Masazumi Ito

Yoshiaki Takano

Hiroyuki Ideyama

Tsugihito Yoshiyama

Yoshifumi Shibata

Tadafumi Shimizu

Yoshihiko Hatta

Manabu Kamitamari

Toshiaki Matsumoto

Ikushi Nakamura

Masatoshi Kamitani

Motohiro Nakanishi

Norihiro Inoue

Masataka Hamada

Hiroyuki Okada

Shigeru Wada

Kadotaro Nishimori

Hideaki Nakanishi

Kadotari Nishimori

Yasuhiro Okamoto

Kohtaro Hayashi

Takeshi Hashimoto

Takashi Kondo

Kazuo Kimura

Shinji Tominaga

Ryuichi Yoshida

Kazuhiro Shibatani

Kouichi Kobayashi

Akira Fukushima

Keizou Ochi

Takayuki Hoshino

Haruo Kobayashi

Maki Yamashita

Norifumi Nakagawa

Masayuki Ikemura

Kazumi Sugitani

Shuichi Fujii

Atsushi Sumitani

Hirohisa Sueyoshi

Osamu Hatamori

Koji Yamamoto

Tadatomi Sougawa

Shingo Kanezawa

Kinya Kato

Nobuyaki Taniguchi

When an actuator using a conventional piezoelectric element is used as a general-purpose mechanical component, such as a linear actuator and an electric cylinder, the absence or weak constraint of a guide in the moving direction causes the problem that the moving direction of a moving member is changed or the moving member is rotated due to a change in the posture of the moving member by an external force. A restraint member presses a rectangular parallelepiped-shaped output shaft, which has high stiffness, thermal conductivity, and lubricity and to which a piezoelectric element is attached at one end, against a guide member so as to limit the degree of freedom to one degree, in order to realize a linear actuator, an electric cylinder, and a force generation device that can be used for general purposes and have a high straight movement property. Also, an output member having a mass that is commensurate with the mass of the piezoelectric element is attached to the other end of the output shaft to improve a generated force, stiffness, and usability.

Drive mechanism

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

In order to provide an actuator having great driving force and high impact resistance, an actuator of the present invention has a driving shaftthat can be vibrated in the shaft direction by a piezoelectric deviceprovided at its one end and a moving memberthat is friction-engaged with the driving shaftand moves on the driving shaftdue to the vibration of the driving shaft. The driving shafthas two parallel shaft sliding faceson its surface. The moving memberhas two moving member sliding facesthat are in slide-contact with the shaft sliding faces. The moving memberis friction-engaged with the driving shaftsuch that the moving member sliding facesclamp the shaft sliding faces

Actuator using piezoelectric device

One of the principal objects of the present invention is to realize, in a small scale and at a low cost, an analyzing apparatus that analyzes and manipulates a minute sample such as DNA. The analyzing apparatusincorporates an optical system for measuring a fluorescence from a sample traveling through a minute channel. Specifically, a light source that generates a light for exciting a fluorescence of the sample and a light guide that guides the light from the light source to the minute channelare provided, whereby the fluorescence of the sample in the minute channelis well excited. In order to observe the fluorescence of the sample, a condensing optical element, provided on a wall surface of the minute channel, for capturing the fluorescence from the sample, and a sensor sectionare provided, whereby the fluorescence of the sample in the minute channelcan be well observed.

Analyzing apparatus

A drive unit in accordance with the present invention is provided with a magnetic field generating member generating a magnetic field, a magnetic field detecting device constituted by first, second and third magnetic field detecting elements detecting the magnetic field, and a piezoelectric actuator moving the magnetic field generating member. When executing a relative positioning between the magnetic field generating member and the magnetic field detecting device on the basis of a detection result by the magnetic field detecting device, a first positioning is executed on the basis of the detection result of the first and second magnetic field detecting elements in a predetermined region, and a second positioning is executed on the basis of the detection result of the third magnetic field detecting element at a predetermined point apart from the predetermined region, within a movable range in which the magnetic field generating member moves. In accordance with the structure, it is possible to position the movable body at a high precision, even in the case that a plurality of position detecting points of the movable body of the drive unit exist at a wide interval.

Drive unit provided with position detecting device

In order to provide a linear actuator which is capable of solving deposition of deposit due to a long-time use and preventing malfunction, the linear actuator has a driving shaftwhich reciprocates or expands and contracts to its axial direction, a sliderwhich is frictionally engaged with the driving shaft so as to be movable along the driving shaft, and driving controller for controlling a motion of the driving shaft so that the slider moves to an arbitrary moving direction. The driving controller has a self-maintenance mode for advancing Nand retreating Nthe slideralternatively, and making an advancing amount and a retreating amount different, controlling the driving shaftso as to entirely move the sliderto any one of the directions.

Linear actuator

An actuator using the vibration caused by a piezoelectric element. The actuator includes: a base; a vibratory rod bonded to the base; an piezoelectric element bonded to the vibratory rod; and a contact body for contacting frictionally with the vibratory rod under an suitable frictional force exerting therebetween. The piezoelectric element is charged and discharged, so that the piezoelectric element is transformed in one direction relatively fast and in opposite direction relatively slow, and so that the contact body is driven along the vibratory rod in a set direction.

Drive mechanism employing electromechanical transducer

In order to provide a multi-degree-of-freedom drive mechanism which is capable of preventing a malfunction with a simple structure, the multi-degree-of-freedom drive mechanism includes at least two first and second actuators which generate lengthwise resonance in drive shafts by means of electro-mechanical transducers in a state that driven members are frictionally engaged with the drive shafts to which the electro-mechanical transducers are fixed at its one end, respectively, so as to be capable of moving the driven members along the drive shafts. The other end of the drive shaft of the second actuator is fixed to the driven member of the first actuator directly or via another actuator, and the first and second actuators are composed so that resonating frequencies of their drive shafts are different from each other.

Multi-degree-of-freedom drive mechanism

A spectroscopic image input system has an image data capturing apparatus for capturing the image data of an object by using a two-dimensional image-sensing device, a spectrum data obtaining apparatus for obtaining the spectrum data of the object within a smaller area and with higher wavelength resolution than the image data capturing apparatus, and a determination section for determining a portion of the object in which to obtain the spectrum data on the basis of the image data captured. Thus, this spectroscopic image input system captures the image data and obtains the spectrum data automatically.

Spectroscopic image input system

A plurality of linear actuators ( ) connected in sequence orthogonally to one another constitute rectilinear movement means having a plurality of degrees of freedom in rectilinear movement. Further, a rotary actuator ( ) has one end connected to the linear actuator ( ) on the last stage and the other end connected to a base side of an end effector ( ) and works as attitude change means for changing an attitude of the end effector ( ). When the rotary actuator ( ) changes the attitude of the end effector ( ), the linear actuators ( ) are driven to offset a positional movement of an object occurring with the attitude change. This makes it possible to offset the positional movement of the object occurring with the rotary operation with a relatively simple constitution, and further the actuators can be constituted of the minimum elements, thereby providing a downsized micromanipulator.

Manipulator

A digital camera having an image reader which reads an optical image projected thereon and generates image signals by scanning the projected optical image, an optical unit which projects the optical image on the image reader at various ratios, and a controller which determines a range of the scanning operation performed by the image reader in accordance with the ratios employed by the optical unit.

Digital camera employing a line sensor with aspect ratio compensation mechanism

The image forming apparatus according to the present invention is connectable to an external device through a communication line, and includes an image forming device for forming an image on paper and a device for setting specified set conditions in the image forming device. The image forming apparatus performs image forming operation corresponding to the set conditions, and further includes a receiving device for receiving a control signal from the communication line and a transmission device for transmitting the set conditions through the communication line in response to reception of the control signal.

Image forming apparatus with improved efficiency of maintenance control

A control system of image forming apparatus in accordance with the present invention includes a plurality of image forming apparatus and a control unit connected to each of the image forming apparatus through a communication line, and each of the image forming apparatus includes a data transmitting device for transmitting information related to a consumption amount of consumable products to the control unit through the communication line, and the control unit includes a receiving device receiving the information transmitted from the image forming apparatus and determines a stock amount of the consumable products which a user of the image forming apparatus has on the basis of the information received by the receiving device.

Efficient control system of image forming apparatus

A control system of image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a plurality of image forming apparatus and a control unit connected to each of said image forming apparatus through a communication line. Each of said image forming apparatus includes a detecting device for detecting contents of maintenance work for the image forming apparatus, and a transmitting device for transmitting the work data showing the detected results by the detecting device to the control unit through the communication line. The control unit includes a receiving device for receiving the work data transmitted from one of the image forming apparatus and a memory for storing the received work data.

Image forming apparatus with improved maintenance control

A camera having an auto zoom function includes: a taking lens for photographing an object; a distance measuring device for measuring a distance to the object; a magnification setting device for setting a photographing magnification for the object; and a focal length calculator for calculating a focal length of the taking lens to obtain the photographing magnification set with respect to the distance to the object. Auto zoom operation is carried out by automatic movement of the taking lens so that the focal length of the taking lens may be equal to the calculated focal length.

Camera having an auto zoom function

Growing community of inventors

Nishinomiya, Japan

Yoshiaki Hata