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US5281899A
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Electrical drive for a segmented transducer
Assignee: Boeing North American Inc
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Filing: 1991-08-09
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Granted: 1994-01-25
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Expires: 2011-08-09
Abstract
Abstract An electronic system is provided for stimulating a segmented transducer with resonant electrical signals to produce a nonsinusoidal transducer output. In an illustrative embodiment, the transducer comprises a segmented piezoelectric actuator. The actuator comprises stacked piezoelectric dimorphs forming the actuator segments, each of which reacts electrically as a capacitance. Each segment (capacitance) is connected in a loop in electrical series with an external capacitor or a corresponding segment of a second actuator. An electrical controller stimulates each loop with a separate resonant electrical signal related to the others in frequency, phase, amplitude, and polarity. The resulting output of each actuator is the vector sum of the mechanical outputs of the individual dimorphs of that actuator. In an ideal resonant drive system for a segmented transducer, the only electrical energy used is that which is converted directly to mechanical work by the actuator. All other temporarily stored electric and elastic energy is recycled within the loops for high efficiency. When the electrical waveforms drive a pair of actuators, electrical charge oscillates between the actuators. Thus, loop currents flow between essentially lossless reactive components rather than through high-loss output devices.
Inventors
- 👤 Gordon W. Culp
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-23 16:48
CPC Classifications
H; H02; H02N; H02N2/00; H02N2/02; H02N2/06; H02N2/065; H02N2/067; H10; H10N; H10N30/00; H10N30/20; H10N30/202; H10N30/2023
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 30
Claim 1
Independent Claim
89 words
An electrical system for driving a transducer, comprising: a plurality of segments coupled to form the transducer, each of said transducer segments comprising an electrical impedance; a plurality of second electrical impedances; a plurality of electrical loops, each of said loops connecting one of the transducer segments in electrical series with a corresponding one of said second electrical impedances; means for resonantly stimulating the plurality of electrical loops to produce a predetermined nonsinusoidal transducer output; and means for coupling said stimulating means to each of said plurality of loops.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
89 words
An electrical system for driving a transducer, comprising: a plurality of segments coupled to form the transducer, each of said transducer segments comprising an electrical impedance; a plurality of second electrical impedances; a plurality of electrical loops, each of said loops connecting one of the transducer segments in electrical series with a corresponding one of said second electrical impedances; means for resonantly stimulating the plurality of electrical loops to produce a predetermined nonsinusoidal transducer output; and means for coupling said stimulating means to each of said plurality of loops.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
40 words
The electrical system of claim 1, wherein said stimulating means comprises an electrical controller for generating resonant electrical signals in said loops to produce transducer segment outputs, said nonsinusoidal transducer output comprising a vector sum of the transducer segment outputs.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
35 words
The electrical system of claim 2, wherein said electrical controller generates a plurality of resonant electrical signals related in frequency, phase, amplitude, and polarity, each of said signals for stimulating one of the transducer segments.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
31 words
The electrical system of claim 3, wherein each of said resonant electrical signals attains an oscillatory state between the transducer segment and the second impedance in each of the respective loops.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
17 words
The electrical system of claim 4, wherein each of the transducer segments comprises a magnetic actuator segment.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
20 words
The electrical system of claim 5, wherein each of the magnetic actuator segments comprises an inductor forming an electromagnetic solenoid.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
18 words
The electrical system of claim 4, wherein each of the transducer segments comprises a thermal expansion actuator segment.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
32 words
The electrical system of claim 4, wherein the transducer comprises a first piezoelectric actuator, each of the transducer segments comprises a piezoelectric element, and each of said second impedances comprises a capacitance.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
20 words
The electrical system of claim 8, wherein each of said capacitances comprises a segment of a corresponding second piezoelectric actuator.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
34 words
The electrical system of claim 9, wherein said electrical signals attain said oscillatory state between corresponding segments of the first and second actuators, thereby producing complementary nonsinusoidal motion of the first and second actuators.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
106 words
An electrical system for driving a segmented piezoelectric actuator, comprising: a plurality of piezoelectric elements mechanically coupled to form the actuator segments, each of said segments comprising an electrical capacitance; a plurality of second electrical capacitances; a plurality of electrical loops, each of said loops connecting one of the actuator segments in electrical series with a corresponding one of said second electrical capacitances; a controller for electrically stimulating the actuator segments to generate segment motions, a vector sum of said segment motions comprising a predetermined nonsinusoidal actuator motion composed of sinusoidal mechanical actions; and means for coupling said controller to each of said plurality of loops.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
106 words
An electrical system for driving a segmented piezoelectric actuator, comprising: a plurality of piezoelectric elements mechanically coupled to form the actuator segments, each of said segments comprising an electrical capacitance; a plurality of second electrical capacitances; a plurality of electrical loops, each of said loops connecting one of the actuator segments in electrical series with a corresponding one of said second electrical capacitances; a controller for electrically stimulating the actuator segments to generate segment motions, a vector sum of said segment motions comprising a predetermined nonsinusoidal actuator motion composed of sinusoidal mechanical actions; and means for coupling said controller to each of said plurality of loops.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
33 words
The electrical system of claim 11, wherein said controller generates a plurality of electrical signals related in frequency, phase, amplitude, and polarity, each of said signals for stimulating one of the actuator segments.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
30 words
The electrical system of claim 12, wherein each of said electrical signals attains an oscillatory state between the actuator segment and the second capacitance in each of the respective loops.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
20 words
The electrical system of claim 13, wherein each of said second capacitances comprises a corresponding segment of a second actuator.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
35 words
The electrical system of claim 14, wherein said electrical signals attain said oscillatory state between said corresponding segments of the first and second actuators, thereby producing complementary nonsinusoidal motion of the first and second actuators.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
18 words
The electrical system of claim 15, wherein said complementary nonsinusoidal motion comprises smooth walking motion of the actuators.
Claim 19
Independent Claim
86 words
A method of electrically stimulating a transducer to produce a nonsinusoidal output, comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of segments coupled to form the transducer, each of said segments comprising an electrical impedance; providing a plurality of second electrical impedances; providing a plurality of electrical loops, each of said loops connecting one of the transducer segments in electrical series with a corresponding one of said second electrical impedances; and stimulating each of said loops with a resonant electrical signal to produce the nonsinusoidal transducer output.
Claim 20
Independent Claim
86 words
A method of electrically stimulating a transducer to produce a nonsinusoidal output, comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of segments coupled to form the transducer, each of said segments comprising an electrical impedance; providing a plurality of second electrical impedances; providing a plurality of electrical loops, each of said loops connecting one of the transducer segments in electrical series with a corresponding one of said second electrical impedances; and stimulating each of said loops with a resonant electrical signal to produce the nonsinusoidal transducer output.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
39 words
The method of claim 17, wherein the step of stimulating the transducer comprises generating the resonant electrical signals in said loops to produce transducer segment outputs, the nonsinusoidal transducer output comprising a vector sum of the transducer segment outputs.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method of claim 18, wherein the step of generating resonant electrical signals comprises generating a plurality of electrical signals related in frequency, phase, amplitude, and polarity, each of said signals stimulating one of the transducer segments.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 19, wherein the step of generating electrical signals comprises generating an oscillatory state between the transducer segment and the second impedance in each of the respective loops.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method of claim 20, wherein the step of providing a plurality of transducer segments comprises providing a plurality of piezoelectric elements coupled to form a piezoelectric actuator.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method of claim 21, wherein the step of providing second impedances comprises providing a second plurality of piezoelectric elements forming a second piezoelectric actuator.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
32 words
The method of claim 22, wherein the step of stimulating the loops comprises stimulating corresponding ones of said first and second plurality of elements to produce smooth walking motion by the actuators.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method of claim 20, wherein the step of providing a plurality of transducer segments comprises providing a plurality of electromagnetic segments coupled to form an electromagnetic actuator.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
24 words
The method of claim 24, wherein the step of providing the plurality of electromagnetic segments comprises providing a plurality of electrical inductances comprising solenoids.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
24 words
The method of claim 25, wherein the step of providing second impedances comprises providing a second plurality of solenoids forming a second electromagnetic actuator.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of claim 20, wherein the step of providing a plurality of transducer segments comprises providing a plurality of thermal expansion segments coupled to form a thermal expansion actuator.
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