The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 02, 1993
Filed:
Apr. 24, 1992
Mitsunori Sano, Tokyo, JP;
NEC Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
The invention relates to a device using a leverage mechanism for amplifying a mechanical displacement produced by applying a voltage to a piezoelectric element. The device has a central support part, a pair of lever arms which are arranged oppositely and symmetrically with respect to a center axis of the support part and each connected to the support part by a hinge section, a piezoelectric element which has a longitudinal axis normal to the center axis of the support part and is fixed at two opposite ends to root ends of the two lever arms, respectively, and a resilient metal sheet beam which is fixed at its two oposite ends to the tip ends of two lever arms, respectively. A displacement of each end of the piezoelectric element is transmitted to the adjacent lever arm and amplified by lever action of each lever arm. As the amplified displacement is transmitted to the beam from the lever arms the beam makes a buckling motion, and a maximal displacement of the beam with respect to an end face of the support part becomes the output of the device. According to the invention a middle section of the beam is fixed to a protruding end of the support part, so that the device provides two simultaneous outputs one of which is a maximal displacement of the beam in a segment on one side of the fixed middle section and the other another maximal displacement in a segment on the opposite side of the middle section.