A suspended piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer includes a semiconductor substrate and a piezoelectric ultrasonic sensing element. The semiconductor substrate includes a columnar arrangement area, a peripheral wall, and one or more bridge portions. A cavity is between the columnar arrangement area and the peripheral wall. The cavity surrounds the columnar arrangement area, and the bridge portion is connected to the columnar arrangement area and the peripheral wall. The piezoelectric ultrasonic sensing element is disposed on the columnar arrangement area. Through providing the cavity and the bridge portion on the semiconductor substrate, the resonance frequency, the acoustic pressure, and the emitting angle of the transducer can be adjusted, thereby providing a greater manufacturing tolerance for the transducer.

A safety valve is provided with an electronic control unit for generating a control voltage. An electro-fluidic preliminary stage has a piezo bending actuator which can be actuated between a working position and a safety position by the control voltage and influences the flow of a secondary control fluid flow depending on its position. A fluid-mechanical main stage has an influencing device for influencing the flow of a primary working fluid flow. The influencing device can be actuated by means of the secondary control fluid flow which flows into a control chamber of the main stage. The control unit caries out a test of the preliminary stage repeatedly in an iterative manner after the expiration of a specified time interval. As part of the functionality test, the position of the piezo bending actuator is changed slightly by varying the control voltage.

Technologies for a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) made up of composable piezoelectric actuators is disclosed. An elongated piezoelectric rod is disposed between a top and a bottom electrode. The top electrode runs along one edge of the top of the piezoelectric rod for a first segment, then runs along the other edge of the top of the piezoelectric rod for the a second segment. When a voltage is applied across the electrodes, the piezoelectric rod bends in a first direction for the first segment and in a second direction opposite the first for the second segment, displacing the tip of the rod. Several such rods can be joined in parallel and/or series, allowing for large-scale systems to be composed.

An electromagnetic-piezoelectric composite vibration control device based on a synchronized switch damping technology is provided. An upper guiding component is installed inside the upper rigid frame, a lower guiding component is installed inside a lower rigid component, a guide rod is nested inside the upper guiding component and the lower guiding component, an upper idler wheel mechanism and a lower idler wheel mechanism are fixedly sleeved on the guide rod and are positioned between the upper guiding component and the lower guiding component respectively, an electromagnetic mechanism is fixedly sleeved outside the guide rod, one end of each piezoelectric cantilever beam is fixed between the upper rigid frame and the lower rigid frame, the other end is arranged between the upper idler wheel mechanism and the lower idler wheel mechanism, and the piezoelectric cantilever beams and the electromagnetic mechanism are connected with a circuit system respectively.

An actuator device has a temperature sensing means and a controller adapted to apply a high frequency AC signal to stimulate internal self-heating to thereby maintain a temperature of an actuator member of the device at a certain fixed temperature, this temperature being elevated with respect to an initial temperature of the actuator member. This ensures that thermal drift may be mitigated or eliminated by compensating for any changes in environmental temperature through raising or lowering the level of the heating signal.

An energy harvesting module includes a pendular unit with piezoelectric transducer elastically deformable in bending between a clamped end and a free end coupled to an inertial mass. The piezoelectric transducer includes two coplanar piezoelectric beams arranged side-by-side on either side of a central axis of the transducer, each of the piezoelectric beams including adjacent external and internal arms, arranged side-by-side and formed single-piece. The external arm of each beam has a clamped proximal end and a free distal end, and the internal arm of each beam has a free proximal end supporting the inertial mass, and a free distal end connected to the distal end of the adjacent external arm by a common junction.

A piezoelectric element includes a support member, a vibrator, a through electrode and a seed layer. The vibrator is disposed on an insulation film of the support member, and includes a piezoelectric film and an electrode coating film electrically connected to the piezoelectric film. The vibrator has a support region and a vibration region. The through electrode is electrically connected to the electrode coating film at the support region, and is disposed in a stacking direction of the support member and the vibrator. Between the piezoelectric film and the insulation film, the seed layer is disposed at a portion of the electrode coating film facing another portion of the electrode coating film connected to the through electrode in the stacking direction. The seed layer is made of material having a lattice constant closer to the piezoelectric film or material easier to cause the piezoelectric film to be self-aligned.

A series of multi-dimensional acoustic standing waves is set up inside a growth volume of a bioreactor. The acoustic standing waves are used to hold a cell culture in place as a nutrient fluid stream flows through the cell culture. The nutrient fluid stream dislodges some cells from the cell culture, which can then be recovered for cell therapy applications. The cell culture continues to expand and reproduce, permitting continuous recovery of cells from the bioreactor.

A piezoelectric multiplexer includes an actuator and multiple piezo-morph beams. The actuator includes an actuator conducting head and an actuator stem, and each piezo-morph beam includes a conducting beam contact head and a beam stem manufactured out of piezo-morph material. A control voltage is selectively applied to electrical contacts coupled to the beam stems to create a piezoelectric effect that bends the selected piezo-morph beam and creates an electrical connection between its contact head and the conducting head of the actuator. A control circuit with a controller signals which piezo-morph beam to connect to the actuator. This multi-piezo-morph-beam piezoelectric multiplexer can be affixed to the electrical terminals of different electrical components (e.g., a transistor) to create an electrical cell that can be manufactured on a semiconductor chip or in a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device.

A bender beam actuator includes a first layer of piezoelectric material and a second layer of piezoelectric material overlying a portion of the first layer of piezoelectric material, where a length of the first layer of piezoelectric material is at least 2% greater than a length of the second layer of piezoelectric material.