Piezoelectric drive device, robot, and printer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11233465-B2
Application number	US-201916666935-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 29, 2019
Priority date	Oct 30, 2018
Publication date	Jan 25, 2022
Grant date	Jan 25, 2022

Abstract

A piezoelectric drive device has a first piezoelectric vibrator and a second piezoelectric vibrator each include a vibrating portion and a distal end portion in which the distal end portion make elliptic motion by stretching vibration and flexural vibration of the vibrating portion, a driven member driven by the elliptic motion of the distal end portion, a drive signal generation circuit that outputs stretching vibration drive signals to the first piezoelectric vibrator and the second piezoelectric vibrator, a first boosting circuit provided between the first piezoelectric vibrator and the drive signal generation circuit, a second boosting circuit provided between the second piezoelectric vibrator and the drive signal generation circuit, and a control circuit that controls boosting amounts of the stretching vibration drive signals.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A piezoelectric drive device comprising:
a first piezoelectric vibrator and a second piezoelectric vibrator including a vibrating portion and a distal end portion placed in the vibrating portion, in which the distal end portion make elliptic motion by stretching vibration and flexural vibration of the vibrating portion;
a driven member driven by the elliptic motion of the distal end portion;
a drive signal generation circuit that outputs stretching vibration drive signals generating the stretching vibration in the first piezoelectric vibrator and the second piezoelectric vibrator and flexural vibration drive signals generating the flexural vibration in the first piezoelectric vibrator and the second piezoelectric vibrator;
a first boosting circuit provided between the first piezoelectric vibrator and the drive signal generation circuit;
a second boosting circuit provided between the second piezoelectric vibrator and the drive signal generation circuit; and
a control circuit that controls a boosting amount of the stretching vibration drive signal in the first boosting circuit and a boosting amount of the stretching vibration drive signal in the second boosting circuit, wherein
the control circuit controls a resonance frequency of the first piezoelectric vibrator and a resonance frequency of the second piezoelectric vibrator to be close.

2. The piezoelectric drive device according to claim 1 , wherein
the vibrating portion includes a driving piezoelectric element having a piezoelectric material and an electrode provided on the piezoelectric material, and
the stretching vibration and the flexural vibration are vibrations in a plane parallel to a surface of the electrode.

3. The piezoelectric drive device according to claim 2 , wherein
the vibrating portion includes a detection piezoelectric element that detects a vibration of the piezoelectric material,
further comprising a detection signal selection circuit that selectively acquires a first detection signal from the first piezoelectric vibrator and a second detection signal from the second piezoelectric vibrator.

4. The piezoelectric drive device according to claim 3 , wherein
the control circuit includes:
a resonance frequency acquisition unit that obtains the resonance frequency of the first piezoelectric vibrator and the resonance frequency of the second piezoelectric vibrator based on the first detection signal and the second detection signal; and
a boosting amount calculation unit that obtains the boosting amount of the stretching vibration drive signal in the first boosting circuit and the boosting amount of the stretching vibration drive signal in the second boosting circuit based on the resonance frequency of the first piezoelectric vibrator and the resonance frequency of the second piezoelectric vibrator.

5. The piezoelectric drive device according to claim 4 , wherein
the control circuit controls execution of processing of the resonance frequency acquisition unit and the boosting amount calculation unit on a regular basis.

6. The piezoelectric drive device according to claim 3 , wherein
the first piezoelectric vibrator includes a first memory unit,
the second piezoelectric vibrator includes a second memory unit, and
the control unit obtains the boosting amount of the stretching vibration drive signal in the first boosting circuit and the boosting amount of the stretching vibration drive signal in the second boosting circuit based on specific information of the first piezoelectric vibrator stored in the first memory unit and specific information of the second piezoelectric vibrator stored in the second memory unit.

7. A robot comprising a piezoelectric drive device,
the piezoelectric drive device having:
a first piezoelectric vibrator and a second piezoelectric vibrator including a vibrating portion and a distal end portion placed in the vibrating portion, in which the distal end portion make elliptic motion by stretching vibration and flexural vibration of the vibrating portion;
a driven member driven by the elliptic motion of the distal end portion;
a drive signal generation circuit that outputs stretching vibration drive signals respectively generating the stretching vibration in the first piezoelectric vibrator and the second piezoelectric vibrator and flexural vibration drive signals generating the flexural vibration in the first piezoelectric vibrator and the second piezoelectric vibrator;
a first boosting circuit provided between the first piezoelectric vibrator and the drive signal generation circuit;
a second boosting circuit provided between the second piezoelectric vibrator and the drive signal generation circuit; and
a control circuit that controls a boosting amount of the stretching vibration drive signal in the first boosting circuit and a boosting amount of the stretching vibration drive signal in the second boosting circuit, wherein
the control circuit controls a resonance frequency of the first piezoelectric vibrator and a resonance frequency of the second piezoelectric vibrator to be close.

8. A printer comprising a piezoelectric drive device,
the piezoelectric drive device having:
a first piezoelectric vibrator and a second piezoelectric vibrator including a vibrating portion and a distal end portion placed in the vibrating portion, in which the distal end portion make elliptic motion by stretching vibration and flexural vibration of the vibrating portion;
a driven member driven by the elliptic motion of the distal end portion;
a drive signal generation circuit that outputs stretching vibration drive signals respectively generating the stretching vibration in the first piezoelectric vibrator and the second piezoelectric vibrator and flexural vibration drive signals generating the flexural vibration in the first piezoelectric vibrator and the second piezoelectric vibrator;
a first boosting circuit provided between the first piezoelectric vibrator and the drive signal generation circuit;
a second boosting circuit provided between the second piezoelectric vibrator and the drive signal generation circuit; and
a control circuit that controls a boosting amount of the stretching vibration drive signal in the first boosting circuit and a boosting amount of the stretching vibration drive signal in the second boosting circuit, wherein
the control circuit controls a resonance frequency of the first piezoelectric vibrator and a resonance frequency of the second piezoelectric vibrator to be close.

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Takahashi Tomoaki

Classifications

• B25J9/123

  Linear actuators · CPC title

• H02N2/12

  Constructional details · CPC title

• H02N2/10 Primary

  producing rotary motion, e.g. rotary motors · CPC title

• H02N2/103

  by pressing one or more vibrators against the rotor · CPC title

• B41J2/04541

  Specific driving circuit · CPC title