An optical element driving mechanism is provided, including a fixed portion, a movable portion, a driving assembly, and a stopping assembly. The movable portion is movably connected to the fixed portion, wherein the movable portion is used for connecting to an optical element having a main axis. The driving assembly is disposed on the fixed portion or the movable portion, and the driving assembly is used for driving the movable portion to move relative to the fixed portion. The stopping assembly is connected to the movable portion and the fixed portion.

A driving unit includes a rotor, a plurality of vibratory members, and a driving circuit. The vibratory members each include an action part in contact with the outer periphery of the rotor and a motional part including an expansion-and-contraction driver to expand and contract in response to an applied voltage. The motional part allows the action part to slide along the rotational direction of the rotor. The driving circuit applies voltages to the expansion-and-contraction drivers. The vibratory members are disposed in such a way that the action parts of the vibratory members hold the rotor between the action parts.

A piezoelectric motor may include a stator, a rotor rotating about a rotational axis and at least one piezoelectric element driving the rotor and maintained by the stator. Mechanical reliability and performance levels of a piezoelectric motor may be increased in that the at least one piezoelectric element may be mounted in an oscillating housing that oscillates with respect to the stator about the pivot axis.

A driving device includes a driving motor, a first gear 3-1, and a gear 3-2 having a smaller diameter than the gear 3-1. Driving force from the driving motor is transmittable to a driven object when the gear 3-2 moves in an axial direction of a rotation shaft to be coupled to the gear 3-1. When the gear 3-2 moves in the axial direction to be decoupled from the gear 3-1, the driving force from the driving motor can be prevented from being transmitted to the driven object.

A lead screw actuator device includes a base configured to support a plurality of actuators. A first bridge is supported by one of the plurality of actuators and a second bridge is supported by another one of the plurality of actuators. A nut is supported by the first bridge and the second bridge and is rotatably coupled to a screw with a sliding contact friction between the screw and the nut. The plurality of actuators generate small movements of the first bridge, the second bridge, and the nut that produce relative rotation between the nut and the screw. A method of making a lead screw actuator device is also disclosed.

A brushless electric motor is disclosed. A group of permanent magnets are physically attached to a group of piezoelectric actuators which push them toward or pull them away from a second group of permanent magnets when the piezoelectric actuators are electrically activated. The second group of permanent magnets may also be pushed and pulled with a second group of piezoelectric actuators. Alternate configurations using electromagnets are also disclosed.

A novel configuration for the groups of electromagnets which maximizes efficiency in a piezoelectrically actuated motor is also disclosed.

A method for controlling an inertial drive on the basis of pulse trains is disclosed. The pulse trains include pulses having sections of different gradients and having variable amplitude and/or frequency. A pulse interval occurs between the individual pulses, wherein the selected pulse duration is so short that is substantially less than the cycle duration of the natural oscillation of the system to be driven.

The present disclosure provides a rotary motor, which includes: a clamping member having a gripping unit installed at an inner circumference of a rotor to grip the rotor during a predetermined time; and a driving member installed at the inner circumference of the rotor and having a rotation unit configured to make an elastic deformation to rotate by a predetermined angle and then return to an original state so that the rotor is rotated.

A method of controlling a piezoelectric motor as a piezoelectric drive device having a vibrator including piezoelectric elements, a rotor as a driven unit that moves at a target speed by vibration of the vibrator, and drive signal generation units that generate drive signals and output the drive signals to the piezoelectric elements, includes intermittently outputting the drive signals to the piezoelectric elements by the drive signal generation units, wherein a time when output of the drive signals is stopped is shorter than a time from when output of the drive signal is stopped to stoppage of the vibration.

An optical element driving mechanism is provided. The optical element driving mechanism includes a movable portion, a fixed portion, a driving assembly, and a support element. The movable portion is used for connecting to an optical element having a main axis. The movable portion is movable relative to the fixed portion. The driving assembly is disposed on the fixed portion or the movable portion. The driving assembly is used to drive the movable portion to move relative to the fixed portion. The movable portion is connected to the fixed portion through the support element.