A power module for producing structure-borne sound. The power module includes: a control unit and a first substrate, the control unit being situated on the first substrate; at least one first power semiconductor and at least one second power semiconductor, the first substrate being situated on the at least one first power semiconductor and on the at least one second power semiconductor; a first metal connection, a second substrate, and a second metal connection, the first metal connection electrically connecting the first substrate and the second substrate, and the second metal connection being situated below the second substrate, wherein the second substrate has a piezoelectric material and the control unit is set up to excite the piezoelectric material of the second substrate so that a structure-borne sound signal is produced.

Circuitry for estimating a displacement of a piezoelectric transducer in response to a drive signal applied to the piezoelectric transducer, the circuitry comprising: monitoring circuitry configured to be coupled to the piezoelectric transducer and to output a sense signal indicative of an electrical signal associated with the piezoelectric transducer as a result of the drive signal; wherein the circuitry is configured to generate a difference signal based on the drive signal and the sense signal; and wherein the circuitry further comprises processing circuitry configured to apply at least one transfer function to the difference signal to generate a signal indicative of the displacement of the piezoelectric transducer.

An acoustic imaging probe having an adjustable effective elevation length. The acoustic 5imaging probe has a transducer element, comprising a plurality of acoustic transducers, that is divided into a plurality of sets of adjacent transducers. A processing module controls how many sets contribute to an acoustic pulse emitted by the acoustic transducer element during an imaging process, to thereby adjust an effective elevation length of the acoustic imaging probe.

An identification device according to an embodiment includes: a sensor that measures a grasping state of a grasped object as an identification target; a position information acquisition unit that acquires position information of a sensor wearer who is wearing the sensor; and an identification unit that identifies the grasped object that is grasped by the sensor wearer based on the grasping state measured by the sensor and the position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit.

An input apparatus includes an operating unit on which an input operation is performed by an operator, a detecting unit configured to detect the input operation performed on the operating unit, an actuator configured to impart vibration to the operating unit, and a control unit configured to supply a drive signal to the actuator according to a result of detection performed by the detecting unit. The control unit supplies, as the drive signal, a single pulse signal including a triangular wave or a sine wave and having a signal waveform in which a rising interval and a falling interval are asymmetric about a peak position to the actuator.

Various methods and systems are provided for a pulse circuit of a transmitter of an ultrasound system. In one example, the system may include a pulse circuit with transistors driving an ultrasound transducer of the ultrasound system, whereby the switching on and off of the transistors is mediated via one or more dynamic currents flowing from the gates of one or more of the transistors.

A PMUT ultrasound transducer includes a number of PMUT transmitting elements in a membrane layer. Behind each PMUT transmitting element is a cavity in the membrane layer. The cavities are partially or completely filled with a damping material to reduce ringing of the PMUT transmitting elements. Suitable damping materials include polymers, e.g., soft epoxies, benzocyclobutene or polyimide that are dispersed into the cavities or a phase changing material such as Parylene that precipitates out of a gas phase as a polymer when cured.

A piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducer (PMUT) device may include a plurality of layers including a structural layer, a piezoelectric layer, and electrode layers located on opposite sides of the piezoelectric layer. Conductive barrier layers may be located between the piezoelectric layer and the electrodes to the prevent diffusion of the piezoelectric layer into the electrode layers.

A nicotine delivery device (200) for generating a mist containing nicotine for inhalation by a user. The device comprises a mist generator device (201) and a driver device (202). The driver device (202) is configured to drive the mist generator device (201) at an optimum frequency to maximise the efficiency of mist generation by the mist generator device (201).

A micrometric speaker includes a frame, an electromechanical transducer, and a mechanical-acoustic transducer comprising a rigid plate movably mounted in the frame. The electromechanical transducer comprises two piezoelectric actuators and two elastic strips. The frame comprises a central crossmember from which the two strips extend until engaging two lateral coupling edges of the mechanical-acoustic transducer, and the mechanical-acoustic transducer comprises two linearising springs each extending from one of the lateral edges to the rigid plate, to enable, during a deformation of the strips, a movement of the two lateral edges to the central crossmember and reduce the longitudinal constraints applied to the strips during their deformation due to their “recessed-guided” bending configuration.