A flexible vibration module is disclosed. The flexible vibration module includes a piezoelectric composite layer, including: a plurality of piezoelectric portions each having a piezoelectric characteristic, where at least two of the plurality of piezoelectric portions have different sizes; and a flexible portion between the plurality of piezoelectric portions.

A driving mechanism is provided, including a base, a movable module, and a driving assembly. The movable module has a movable member and a connecting member connected to the movable member. The driving assembly is connected to the base and the connecting member. The driving assembly has a driving element that generates a driving force to the connecting member and the movable member, so that the movable module moves relative to the base.

An actuator includes a piezoelectric element, a vibration plate, and a support. The vibration plate has the piezoelectric element joined thereto and vibrates in accordance with displacement of the piezoelectric element. The support supports the vibration plate. A holder is disposed on the vibration plate. The holder is configured to join the vibration plate to an object of vibration. The vibration plate and the support are integrally molded.

A multi-layered piezoelectric ceramic-containing structure There is provided a multi-layered piezoelectric ceramic-containing structure comprising: a metal substrate; a metallic adhesive layer on a surface of the metal substrate; a non-metallic thermal barrier layer on the metallic adhesive layer; and a piezoelectric ceramic layer sandwiched between a first electrode layer and a second electrode layer, wherein the first electrode layer is on the non-metallic thermal barrier layer. There is also provided a method of forming the structure.

A control method of a piezoelectric driving device which includes a vibrator including a piezoelectric element and vibrating by application of a drive signal to the piezoelectric element, a driven unit moving by the vibration of the vibrator, a drive signal generation unit generating the drive signal based on a pulse signal, the control method including: stopping the application of the drive signal to the piezoelectric element at the time when a driving speed of the driven unit is a reference speed, in a case of stopping driving of the driven unit.

A piezoelectric element includes: a first electrode and a second electrode; and a piezoelectric layer provided between the first electrode and the second electrode and having a perovskite structure, in which 0<P1/P2≤0.5 and 0<P1 where, when a positive predetermined voltage is applied to the piezoelectric layer, then a voltage applied to the piezoelectric layer is set to 0 V for 0.1 seconds, and then a triangular wave voltage waveform having a maximum voltage of the predetermined voltage is applied to the piezoelectric layer to obtain a hysteresis curve drawn counterclockwise, P1 is a residual polarization amount at a start point of the hysteresis curve and P2 is a residual polarization amount at an end point of the hysteresis curve.

A dielectric elastomer actuator comprising: a plurality of polymer layer; a plurality of stretchable electrode layers, each polymer layer being sandwiched between two electrode layers so as to control the electric field within the polymer layer; at least one stretchable charge distribution layer, each charge distribution layer being adjacent to one stretchable electrode layer and/or to one polymer layer.

Described herein is mechanically decoupling of an electromechanical transducer from a common substrate, enabling multiple transducers to be surface mounted to a common substrate such as a printed circuit board (PCB) without experiencing mechanical cross-coupling. The decoupling of the transducer from the substrate enables the transducers to be attached without reducing the efficiency of acoustic transduction. The design of the mount enables it to be assembled in an automated manner with pick and place tools.

A vibration wave motor includes an element configured to be displaced by application of voltage, and an annular elastic body having a bottom surface coming into contact with the element and a drive surface having a groove, configured to drive a moving element by a vibration wave produced on the drive surface by displacement of the element. The element has a density of 4.2 to 6.0×10.sup.3 kg/m.sup.3. A value of [(T/B)÷W] is in a range of 0.84 to 1.94, where T represents a depth of the groove, B represents a distance from a bottom part of the groove to the bottom surface, and W represents a radial width of the elastic body.

An electronic device includes a substrate layer having a front surface and a back surface opposite the front surface, a plurality of ultrasonic transducers formed on the front surface of the substrate layer, wherein the plurality of ultrasonic transducers generate backward waves during operation, the backward waves propagating through the substrate layer, and a plurality of substrate structures formed within the back surface of the substrate layer, the plurality of substrate structures configured to modify the backward waves during the operation.