A miniature pneumatic device includes a miniature fluid control device and a miniature valve device. The miniature fluid control device includes a gas inlet plate, a resonance plate, a piezoelectric actuator and a gas collecting plate. The length and width of the gas collecting plate are between 4 mm and 10 mm. A first chamber is formed between the resonance plate and the piezoelectric actuator. After a gas is fed into the gas inlet plate, the gas is transferred to the first chamber through the resonance plate and then transferred downwardly. Consequently, a pressure gradient is generated to continuously push the gas. The miniature valve device includes a valve film and a gas outlet plate. After the gas is transferred from the miniature fluid control device to the miniature valve device, the valve opening of the valve film is correspondingly opened or closed and the gas is transferred in one direction.

A fluid control device includes a pump and an external structure. The pump includes an actuator, a top portion opposed to the actuator such that a gap is disposed therebetween in the thickness direction, and a side wall plate extending from the top portion in the thickness direction and supporting a vibration member. The actuator includes the plate-like vibration member and a piezoelectric element configured to cause the vibration member to vibrate in the thickness direction. The top portion includes a projection portion and a fixation portion projecting beyond the side wall plate in an outward direction perpendicular to the thickness direction. The top portion is fixed to an external structure outside the projection portion.

A piezoelectric actuator includes a plurality of piezoelectric elements that generate a driving force to be transmitted to a driven portion; and a power supply portion that supplies power to the plurality of piezoelectric elements. The plurality of piezoelectric elements are electrically connected to the power supply portion in parallel.

A piezoelectric drive apparatus for a motor, the apparatus including a substrate having a longitudinal direction and a widthwise direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, a piezoelectric element provided on the substrate and having a first electrode, a second electrode, and a piezoelectric body positioned between the first electrode and the second electrode, and a contact section that is attached to a front end section of the substrate in the longitudinal direction thereof or in contact with the front end section of the substrate in the longitudinal direction thereof and comes into contact with a driven body, wherein the longitudinal direction of the substrate roughly coincides with a direction in which Young's modulus is minimized in a plane of the substrate.

A piezoelectric actuator includes a first piezoelectric element that outputs a first signal when being driven, a second piezoelectric element that outputs a second signal when being driven, a signal combining part that delays phase of the second signal and outputs a composite signal by combination of the second signal and the first signal, and a drive state determination part that determines respective drive states of the first piezoelectric element and the second piezoelectric element based on the composite signal.

A piezoelectric driving device includes: a substrate including a fixed portion, and a vibrating body portion which is provided with a piezoelectric element and is supported by the fixed portion; and a contact portion which comes into contact with a driven body, and transmits movement of the vibrating body portion to the driven body, the contact portion is provided at an end portion in the longitudinal direction of the vibrating body portion, and a difference between a distance between the end portion when the contact portion is not pressed against the driven body and a tip end of the contact portion, and a distance between the end portion when the contact portion is pressed against the driven body and the tip end, is smaller than a total amplitude in the longitudinal direction in a case where the vibrating body portion is driven.

A MEMS pump includes a first substrate, a first oxide layer, a second substrate, a second oxide layer, a third substrate and a piezoelectric element sequentially stacked to form the entire structure of the MEMS pump. The first substrate has a first thickness and at least one inlet aperture. The first oxide layer has at least one fluid inlet channel and a convergence chamber, wherein the fluid inlet channel communicates with the convergence chamber and the inlet aperture. The second substrate has a second thickness and a through hole, and the through hole is misaligned with the inlet aperture and communicates with the convergence chamber. The second oxide layer has a first chamber with a concave central portion. The third substrate has a third thickness and a plurality of gas flow channels, wherein the gas flow channels are misaligned with the through hole.

A microfluidic chip orients and isolates components in a sample fluid mixture by two-step focusing, where sheath fluids compress the sample fluid mixture in a sample input channel in one direction, such that the sample fluid mixture becomes a narrower stream bounded by the sheath fluids, and by having the sheath fluids compress the sample fluid mixture in a second direction further downstream, such that the components are compressed and oriented in a selected direction to pass through an interrogation chamber in single file formation for identification and separation by various methods. The isolation mechanism utilizes external, stacked piezoelectric actuator assemblies disposed on a microfluidic chip holder, or piezoelectric actuator assemblies on-chip, so that the actuator assemblies are triggered by an electronic signal to actuate jet chambers on either side of the sample input channel, to jet selected components in the sample input channel into one of the output channels.

A piezoelectric driving device includes a vibrating plate, a first electrode, a piezoelectric layer, a second electrode layer provided above the vibrating plate. An active section is formed in a portion where the first electrode layer, the piezoelectric layer, and the second electrode layer overlap one another. The active section has a longitudinal direction and a latitudinal direction in plan view. At both ends in the latitudinal direction, ends of the first electrode layer are disposed in the same positions as ends of the wiring layer or further on the outer side than the ends, ends of the second electrode layer are disposed in the same positions as the ends of the wiring layer or further on the inner side than the ends, and the ends of the first electrode layer are disposed further on the outer side than the ends of the second electrode layer.

A piezoelectric cooling chamber and method for providing the cooling system are described. The cooling chamber includes a piezoelectric cooling element, an array of orifices and a valve. A vibrational motion of the piezoelectric cooling element causes an increase or decrease in a chamber volume as the piezoelectric cooling element is deformed. The array of orifices is distributed on at least one surface of the chamber. The orifices allow escape of fluid from within the chamber during the decrease in the chamber volume in response to the vibration of the piezoelectric element. The valve is configured to admit fluid into the chamber when the chamber volume increases and to substantially prevent fluid from exiting the chamber through the valve when the chamber volume decreases.