A piezoelectric resonator includes a vibrating part having a pair of principal surfaces in an obverse-reverse relationship, and a side surface configured to couple the pair of principal surfaces to each other, and a protruding part which is provided to the vibrating part, and is configured to transmit a drive force generated by a vibration of the vibrating part to a driven part, wherein the vibrating part has a pair of vibrating plates including a first vibrating plate and a second vibrating plate stacked on one another in afirst direction in which the pair of principal surfaces are arranged side by side, the first vibrating plate has a flexural vibrating piezoelectric element configured to flexurally vibrate the vibrating part in a third direction perpendicular to a second direction in which the driven part and the protruding part are arranged side by side in a plan view of the principal surfaces, either one or both of the first vibrating plate and the second vibrating plate have a stretching vibrating piezoelectric element configured to make the vibrating part perform a stretching vibration in the second direction, and the side surface is provided with a plurality of terminals electrically coupled to the flexural vibrating piezoelectric element and the stretching vibrating piezoelectric element.

A control apparatus to control a vibration motor includes a control unit. The vibration motor includes a vibration body and a contact body contacting the vibration body. The control apparatus applies alternating voltages, generated based on pulse width and frequency of pulse signals, to an electro-mechanical energy conversion element of the vibration motor to cause relative movement between the vibration and contact bodies at a target velocity. The pulse width and the frequency are (i) set such that a first steady velocity exceeds the target velocity, before the relative movement starts, and (ii) changed such that a second steady velocity is less than the first steady velocity, after the relative movement starts, and before an actual velocity at a time of the relative movement exceeds the target velocity. The pulse width or the frequency is controlled such that the relative movement is performed at the target velocity.

An iterative learning-based energy-saving control method for a piezoelectric motor, comprising: setting a sampling period of a piezoelectric motor (101); obtaining an expected output trajectory of the piezoelectric motor, and performing sampling according to the sampling period to obtain a sampled expected output sequence (102); setting an initial control input signal of the piezoelectric motor (103); obtaining an actual control input signal according to a mapping relation of the initial control input signal, and transmitting the actual control input signal to the piezoelectric motor to obtain an actual output position (104); obtaining a mapping relation of the output position of the piezoelectric motor according to the actual output position, and sampling the mapping relation according to the sampling period to obtain a sampled actual output sequence (105); calculating the difference between the sampled expected output sequence and the sampled actual output sequence to obtain a sampling error function sequence (106); obtaining an iterative learning gain parameter by calculation according to a preset convergence condition (107); and obtaining, by calculation according to the sampling error function sequence and the iterative learning gain parameter, an iterative input voltage required by iteration of the piezoelectric motor, and transmitting the iterative input voltage to the piezoelectric motor (108).

This application relates to methods and apparatus for driving a transducer with switching drivers. A switching driver has first and second supply node for receiving supply voltages and includes an output bridge stage, a capacitor and a network of switches. The network of switches is operable in different switch states to provide different switching voltages to the output bridge stage. A controller is configured to control the switch state of the network of switches and a duty cycle of output switches of the output bridge stage based on an input signal to generate an output signal for driving the transducer.

A piezoelectric actuator includes a vibrating section including a piezoelectric element, a distal end face, and a recess opened on the distal end face and a protrusion section including a base that overlaps the recess in plan view of the distal end face and is fixed to the distal end face and a projection that is provided in the base and projects in an opposite direction of the distal end face, the protrusion section transmitting a driving force of the vibrating section to a driven section. In plan view of the distal end face, the projection is disposed within a range of the recess.

A vibration wave motor includes a vibrator including a piezoelectric element and a vibratory plate, a friction member configured to make a frictional contact with the vibrator, a pressurizer configured to press the vibrator and the friction member against each other, and a guide unit configured to guide a relative movement between the vibrator and the friction member. The guide unit includes a plurality of rollers configured to move relative to the pressurizer, and a guide member that includes a guide portion, the guide portion being configured to extend along a relative movement direction between the vibrator and the friction member and to guide the plurality of rollers. The guide member includes a reinforcer configured to extend along the relative movement direction near a roller closest to a center position of a pressing force by the pressurizer.

Provided are a vibration-suppressing mechanism that has excellent maintainability and can effectively control vibration of a column, and a charged particle beam device using the same. This charged particle beam device comprises: a sample chamber for accommodating a sample that will serve as an object to be observed therein; a column that is disposed on an upper portion of the sample chamber and irradiates and scans the sample with a charged particle beam generated by a charged particle source; and a vibration-suppressing mechanism that is removably provided to the column, said particle beam device being characterized in that the vibration-suppressing mechanism includes a stator affixed to the column, an annular mover that is supported so as to be movable in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the column, a plurality of actuators that cause the mover to vibrate in the direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the column, a plurality of vibration sensors affixed to the stator, and a controller that controls the actuators according to output signals from the vibration sensors.

The present disclosure relates to switching drivers for driving a transducer. A switching driver (202) has supply nodes for receiving supply voltages (VSH, VSL) defining at least one input voltage and an output node (104). A controller (205) controls operation of the first switching driver to generate a drive signal for the transducer at the output node (104), based on an input signal (Sin). A first capacitor (201a) is connected between first and second capacitor nodes (104, 204a) and a second capacitor (201b) is connected between the second capacitor node (204a) and a third capacitor node (204b). A network of switches (203) selectively connects any of the driver output node, the second capacitor node and the third capacitor node to either of a respective pair of said supply nodes, with the first capacitor node connected to the first driver output node.

A MEMS actuator includes a monolithic body of semiconductor material, with a supporting portion of semiconductor material, orientable with respect to a first and second rotation axes, transverse to each other. A first frame of semiconductor material is coupled to the supporting portion through first deformable elements configured to control a rotation of the supporting portion about the first rotation axis. A second frame of semiconductor material is coupled to the first frame by second deformable elements, which are coupled between the first and the second frames and configured to control a rotation of the supporting portion about the second rotation axis. The first and second deformable elements carry respective piezoelectric actuation elements.

A micro-displacement amplifying apparatus comprises two sets of asymmetrical amplifying structures; each set of asymmetrical amplifying structure comprises a plurality of asymmetrical amplifying units connected in series by flexible hinges; the asymmetrical amplifying unit is used for amplifying a micro-displacement; the two sets of asymmetrical amplifying structures are in opposite positions and overlap with each other; the input end and output end are coupled to the asymmetrical amplifying unit by a flexible hinge, respectively; the input end is used for inputting the micro-displacement to the asymmetrical amplifying unit, and the output end is used for outputting the amplified displacement; the two contacting input ends are fixed and coupled to each other, and the two contacting output ends are fixed and coupled to each other. The present disclosure further discloses an amplification method of the micro-displacement amplifying apparatus.