Ultrasonic wave nebulizer driving circuit

• US 4,318,062 A
• Filed: 07/30/1979
• Issued: 03/02/1982
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/1978
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: TDK Corporation
• Original Assignee: TDK Electronics (TDK Corporation)
• Inventors: Takahashi, Minoru, Mitsui, Sadao, Watanabe, Keiichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Grimm, Siegfried H.
• Application Number:
  US06/061,983
• Time in Patent Office: 946 Days
• Field of Search: 331/109, 331/116 R, 331/117 R, 331/160, 331/183, 239/102, 239/338, 310/317, 318/130, 318/114, 366/116
• US Class Current: 331/109
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 17/0607 generated by electrical means, e.g. piezoelectric transducers
• CPC Class Codes: B06B 1/0253 taken directly from the generator circuit
• CPC Class Codes: B06B 2201/55 Piezoelectric transducer
• CPC Class Codes: B06B 2201/77 Atomizers

Abstract

Voltage or current or power supplied to the piezo-electric vibrator of an ultrasonic nebulizer is sensed and used as negative feedback to stabilize oscillation in the oscillator driving circuit.

Claims

1. In an ultrasonic wave nebulizer driving circuit that includes an oscillator for driving a piezo-electric vibrator generating ultrasonic waves, the improvement wherein said driving circuit includes a transistor oscillator therein coupled to said vibrator to power said vibrator and whose base current is controlled in order to control oscillation, and further comprising an output stabilizing circuit which detects the output of said oscillator as applied to said vibrator and controls said output by negatively feeding back a part of said output to the base circuit of the transistor to vary said base current when said oscillator output varies to counteract that variation.

2. A circuit according to claim 1, wherein said vibrator is energized by one of the windings of a transformer, and wherein said output stabilizing circuit includes another winding of said transformer constituting a pickup winding used to detect the energization of said vibrator, said pickup winding is coupled to a diode to develop a DC negative feedback signal which is applied to an FET current control device, said FET current control device controls the current flow in a second transistor that in turn directly supplies said base current.

3. A circuit according to claim 1, wherein said output stabilizing circuit includes a current transformer to detect said oscillator output, a diode energized by said current transformer to develop a DC negative feedback signal, an operational amplifier receiving said DC negative feedback signal and producing a control signal that controls the current flow in a second transistor that in turn directly supplies said base current.