Disclosed is a stick-slip drive comprising a base and a rotor which are in contact with one another via a friction surface and are coupled to one another in such a way that the rotor can perform an inertial motion relative to the base, characterized in that two materials, a noble metal and a ceramic material, are paired up on the friction surface between the base and the rotor.

There is provided a medical device whose occupied space is reduced. According to an aspect of the present invention, a medical device (1) adjusts a position of a medical instrument including a rod-like insertion unit (201) for being inserted into a body. The medical device includes an ultrasonic actuator that holds the insertion unit of the medical instrument, and that displaces or rotates the insertion unit with respect to the ultrasonic actuator, and an actuator fixing unit (101 and 102) that fixes a position of the ultrasonic actuator to a surgical site.

A vibration type actuator uses a friction material of which a depth of impregnation with a resin can be easily measured in a non-destructive manner. The vibration type actuator has a vibrating body including an electro-mechanical energy conversion element and an elastic body; and a contact body configured to come into contact with the vibrating body. The vibration type actuator has a structure in which at least one of a friction portion of the contact body coming into contact with the vibrating body and a friction portion of the vibrating body coming into contact with the contact body has a metallic portion including a pore that is impregnated with a resin containing a fluorescent material.

The invention relates to a method for joining a ceramic friction element (11) to a piezoelectric element (1), comprising, among other things, the following steps: pressing (14) a joining surface (10) of the friction element and a contact surface (9) of the piezoelectric element against each other with a low-melting glass mass (12) arranged therebetween and maintaining the pressing force for all subsequent steps; heating (17) the piezoelectric element and the friction element to a defined temperature above the Curie point of the piezoceramic material of the piezoelectric element and above the melting point of the low-melting glass mass; thereafter, while maintaining the temperature, applying an electric polarization voltage Up to electrodes of the piezoelectric element; removing the polarization voltage after the Curie point has been fallen below; and cooling the piezoelectric element and the friction element to room temperature without an electric voltage being applied to the electrodes.

A vibration-type driving apparatus is capable of, in a case where a sintered body is impregnated with resin, preventing the resin that has hardened from interfering with other members. A movable body is brought into pressure contact with a vibrating body having an electro-mechanical energy conversion element and an elastic body. The vibrating body and the movable body are moved relatively to each other through vibrations excited in the vibrating body. The movable body has a frictional surface including the sintered body impregnated with the resin and comes into contact with the vibrating body. The movable body has a sloped surface adjacent to the frictional surface in a cross section perpendicular to a direction in which the vibrating body and the movable body move relatively to each other. An angle formed by the frictional surface and the sloped surface is greater than 90 degrees and less than 180 degrees.

A linear piezoelectric motor and a slider drive system thereof are disclosed. The linear piezoelectric motor includes a piezoelectric ceramic element and a base structure. The piezoelectric ceramic element includes a first region, a second region and an interval region located between the first and the second region, wherein the first and the second region may be formed by a first and a second power signal supplied by a power supply to form a first and a second standing wave, respectively. The interval region is a quarter wavelengths. The first and the second standing wave have a phase difference so as to form a traveling wave. The base structure disposes the piezoelectric ceramic element and has a pectinate structure to increase the amplitude of the first and the second standing wave, thereby enabling the piezoelectric motor to be driven.

A manufacturing method for an electromechanical drive element comprises providing (S10) of an excitation body comprising at least one volume of electromechanical material. The excitation body has a metal plate integrated as a surface of the excitation body. The excitation body being arranged to cause shape changes of the electromechanical material and the metal plate when the volume(s) of electromechanical material being excited by a voltage signal. A composite drive pad is provided (S20). The composite drive pad comprises a metal portion directly joined to a ceramic portion. After the providing of a composite drive pad, the metal portion of the composite drive pad is irreversibly attached (S30) to the metal plate of the excitation body by use of a metal-based bond. An electromechanical drive element and an electromechanical motor using such an electromechanical drive element are also disclosed.

An ultrasonic motor comprising a rotor (18) having an at least partly spherical shape and two actuators (2, 2) each comprising an element of plate-shaped piezoelectric material comprising at least one contact edge (4, 4) in contact with the rotor (18), said actuators (2, 2) also comprising on one of their faces electrodes intended to bias piezoelectric materials in a bending mode and in a longitudinal mode. The contact edges (4, 4) are concave and are formed by an arc of circle the radius of which substantially corresponds to the radius of the surface of the rotor (18), said arcs of circle angularly extending at a determined angle such that the bending mode and the longitudinal mode in which the piezoelectric material is biased are at the same frequency.

A vibration actuator, which can be stably driven and has high durability, is provided with a vibrating body having an elastic body, including a ferrous metal, and an electro-mechanical energy conversion device bonded to the elastic body, and a driven member frictionally contacting the vibrating body and moving relatively with respect to the vibrating body. The elastic body has a nitrided layer contacting the driven member, and the elastic body is electrically grounded without going through a nitrided layer.

Provided is a low frequency vibrating actuator device including an actuator configured to generate a vibration by receiving a voltage, a spring structure disposed on the actuator, and a vibrating mass part disposed on the spring structure. Here, the spring structure includes a first thin-film, a first spacer disposed between the first thin-film and the actuator, and a second spacer disposed between the first thin-film and the vibrating mass part. Also, the first spacer and the second spacer are horizontally offset from each other.