A piezoelectric valve comprising: a fixed portion defining an opening; and a number of movable portions extending from the fixed portion over the opening and separated from one another by radially oriented slits, each movable portion of the number of movable portions comprising a first material layer and a second material layer, and at least one of the first material layer or the second material layer comprises a piezoelectric material that is operable to drive a displacement of the movable portion in a direction opposite to an adjacent movable portion sharing a same radially oriented slit upon application of a voltage.

The disclosed flexible vibrotactile devices may include a flexible electroactive material that has a substantially spiral shape, a first electrode electrically coupled to a first side of the flexible electroactive material, and a second electrode electrically coupled to a second, opposite side of the flexible electroactive material. The first electrode and the second electrode may be positioned and configured to apply an electrical voltage to the flexible electroactive material to induce haptic vibration in the flexible electroactive material. Various other related methods and systems are also disclosed.

An actuator device has an ionic electroactive material actuator unit includes a unitary membrane with first and second actuation electrodes on the unitary membrane. A DC drive signal is applied between the actuation electrodes to cause migration of charges from one part of the unitary membrane towards another part of the unitary membrane. In addition, a pair of closely spaced measurement electrodes is provided on the first surface of the unitary membrane. In particular, the measurement electrodes are spaced apart by a spacing which is less than ten times the thickness of the unitary membrane at a location between the measurement electrodes. A local surface-effect impedance change is used as the basis of a signal measurement, for providing feedback relating to the state of actuation of the device.

A piezoelectric element includes a lower electrode layer, an upper electrode layer, an orientation control layer disposed between the lower electrode layer and the upper electrode layer, and a piezoelectric layer formed on an upper surface of the orientation control layer. The piezoelectric layer is oriented in a (001) plane or a (100) plane and has a perovskite structure including Pb(Zn.sub.1/3, Nb.sub.2/3)O.sub.3. The orientation control layer has a perovskite structure, is oriented in the (001) plane or the (100) plane, and contains a part of components forming the piezoelectric layer, as an additive.

A piezoelectric element includes a lower electrode layer, an upper electrode layer, an orientation control layer disposed between the lower electrode layer and the upper electrode layer, and a piezoelectric layer formed on an upper surface of the orientation control layer. The piezoelectric layer is oriented in a (001) plane or a (100) plane and has a perovskite structure including Pb(Mg.sub.1/3, Nb.sub.2/3)O.sub.3. The orientation control layer has a perovskite structure, is oriented in the (001) plane or the (100) plane, and contains a part of components forming the piezoelectric layer, as an additive.

A micro piezo-electric air valve is used to form a skin interface system composed by a matrix of valves interconnected that bring temperature and touch sensorial experience to people through the skin's tactile, pressure and temperature biological sensors by means of micro air jet formations and/or air bubble formations over the skin. The piezo-electric air valve is specially designed to sensitize a small area of the skin of the user by quickly delivering a specific volume of air following a selected pattern, for example a pixel of an image that is processed by a computer system and converted into electric signal that opens or closes the piezo-electric air valve causing the air to flow. Such a skin interface system can be used by blind people to interpret a scene in front of them when using a video camera. or for use as a suit for therapeutic use and gaming.

A transducer (140) having a mechanical impedance over an operative frequency range and having a desired power coupling (145) to a load over the operative frequency range comprises a piezoelectric device (141) having a frequency distribution of modes in the operative frequency range; and an overmould (143). The overmould (143) is arranged to surround at least part of the piezoelectric device (141); and the parameters of the overmould (143) are selected to provide a required impedance matching between the mechanical impedance of the transducer (140) and the mechanical impedance of the load. An alternative transducer comprises a mounting means for holding a discrete portion of at least a part of the periphery of the piezoelectric device wherein the parameters of the mounting means are selected to provide a required boundary condition for the periphery of the piezoelectric device whereby the desired power coupling between the transducer and the load is provided.

An energy harvesting device for powering electronic devices such as wireless sensors and IoT devices is described. The device relies on nature's fundamental forces to convert kinetic energy to electrical energy, acting as power source; while accounting for the Casimir force. Nanotechnology and MEMS are used to fabricate the device embedding a mechanical oscillator, electronic circuitry, energy harvester, and transducer integrated in the same packaging. The device supports mechanism to excite and ignite the oscillatory behavior via RF signal from a remote signal source that synthesizes the RF signal on a fix or mobile platform. Additionally, solar and RF signals may be added constructively to boost the output power of the device. The device scales from micron size to blades and racks formed from arrays of the connected devices to increase the output power of the aggregate system to any desired level for powering home appliances or computer networks.

A piezoelectric actuator including an anchor, an elastic layer having a first end coupled to the anchor, and a piezoelectric layer on the elastic layer. The elastic layer includes a solid sublayer including an elastic material and a second sublayer including a plurality of cavities. The piezoelectric layer is on the second sublayer of the elastic layer and includes a top electrode, a bottom electrode, and a piezoelectric material layer between the top electrode and the bottom electrode.

An optical scanning device includes a mirror and a drive beam. The drive beam includes a piezoelectric portion. The piezoelectric portion is partitioned by a plurality of first grooves into a plurality of piezoelectric bodies. The piezoelectric bodies are reduced in length in an X-axis direction as the piezoelectric bodies approach one end side connected to an anchor. The piezoelectric bodies are reduced in length in the X-axis direction as the piezoelectric bodies approach the other end side connected to a link beam.