Method of producing a piezoelectric/electrostrictive device

• US 7,024,739 B2
• Filed: 06/07/2004
• Issued: 04/11/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: NGK Insulators Limited
• Original Assignee: NGK Insulators Limited
• Inventors: Ikeda, Koji, Shibata, Kazuyoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Tugbang, A. Dexter
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TAI V
• Application Number:
  US10/862,845
• Publication Number:
  US 20040216289A1
• Time in Patent Office: 673 Days
• Field of Search: 29/253.5, 298/30, 298/29, 298/44, 294/62, 294/695, 310/328, 310/321, 310/330, 310/324, 723/792, 723/794
• US Class Current: 29/25.35
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 5/5552 using fine positioning means for track acquisition separate from the coarse (e.g. track changing) positioning means
• CPC Class Codes: H10N 30/03 Assembling devices that include piezoelectric or electrostrictive parts
• CPC Class Codes: H10N 30/2043 connected at their free ends, e.g. parallelogram type
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/42 Piezoelectric device making
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49124 On flat or curved insulated base, e.g., printed circuit, etc.
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49126 Assembling bases
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49151 by deforming or shaping

Abstract

A piezoelectric/electrostrictive device includes a base having a pair of right and left movable parts and a fixing part disposed at one end thereof, and piezoelectric/electrostrictive elements disposed on the sides of the movable parts of the base. Accordingly, the piezoelectric/electrostrictive device is fabricated to have a construction with fewer components. The piezoelectric/electrostrictive device having a construction with fewer components is provided by adopting a base having an integral structure formed by bending an original plate stamped into a shape that delineates a plane development of the base.

Claims

1. A method of producing a piezoelectric/electrostrictive device comprising the steps of:

providing a flexible and bendable fiat plate as a material for forming a base;

stamping said flat plate into a shape that delineates a plane development of said base to form a stamped structure;

bending said stamped structure at a predetermined site to form a base having a pair of right and left movable parts and a fixing part connecting said two movable parts with each other at one end of said movable parts; and

forming a piezoelectric/electrostrictive element disposed on a side of at least one of said two movable parts of said base.

2. The method of producing a piezoelectric/electrostrictive device according to claim 1, wherein said stamped structure has a gate-shaped opening composed of a pair of straight side grooves located at right and left sides of a rectangular fiat plate and extending along side peripheries and an opening formed by cutting and removing a portion between the two grooves, and the side peripheries of said flat plate are bent along said side grooves to form said side peripheries into said movable parts and to form a portion between said side grooves into said fixing part.

3. The method of producing a piezoelectric/electrostrictive device according to claim 1, wherein an opening of said stamped structure is formed by stamping simultaneously with stamping said flat plate or formed by a hole-forming process after stamping said flat plate.

4. A method of producing a piezoelectric/electrostrictive device comprising the steps of:

providing a flexible and bendable flat plate as a material for forming a base;

stamping said fiat plate into a shape that delineates a planar development of said base to form a stamped structure;

bending said stamped structure at a predetermined site to form a base having a pair of right and left movable parts, a fixing part connecting said two movable parts with each other at one end of said movable parts, and a mounting part that is separate from said fixing part and connects said two movable parts with each other at other ends of said movable parts; and

forming a piezoelectric/electrostrictive element on a side of at least one of said two movable parts of said base.

5. The method of producing a piezoelectric/electrostrictive device according to claim 4, wherein said stamped structure has an H-shaped opening composed of a pair of straight side grooves located at right and left sides of a rectangular flat plate and extending along side peripheries and a straight central groove that connects the two side grooves with each other at a middle part, and the side peripheries of said flat plate are bent along said side grooves to form said side peripheries into said movable parts and to form a portion between said side grooves into said fixing part and said mounting part.

6. The method of producing a piezoelectric/electrostrictive device according to claim 4, wherein said stamped structure has a rectangular opening at a central part of a rectangular flat plate, and side peripheries of said flat plate are bent along side peripheries of said opening to form said side peripheries into said movable parts and to form a portion between said side peripheries into said fixing part and said mounting part.

7. A method of producing a piezoelectric/electrostrictive device comprising the step of:

providing a flexible and bendable flat plate as a material for forming a base;

stamping said flat plate into a shape that delineates a plane development of said base to form a stamped structure;

bending said stamped structure at a predetermined site to form a base having a pair of right and left movable parts, a fixing part that connects said two movable parts with each other at one end of said movable parts, a mounting part that is separate from said fixing part and connects said two movable parts with each other at other ends of said movable parts, and a connecting part that is integral wit said mounting part and surrounds said mounting part, said movable parts, and said fixing part; and

forming a piezoelectric/electrostrictive element on a side of at least one of said two movable parts of the base.

8. The method of producing a piezoelectric/electrostrictive device according to claim 7, wherein said stamped structure has a rectangular flat plate part located inside a central opening of a rectangular flat plate and has an H-shaped opening composed of a pair of straight side grooves located at right and left sides of said flat plate part and extending along side peripheries and a straight central groove that connects the two side grooves with each other at a middle part, and the side peripheries of said flat plate part are bent along said side grooves to form said side peripheries into said movable parts, to form a portion between said side grooves into said fixing part and said mounting part, and to form a portion around said central opening into said connecting part.