Patent Grant
10763763
The present invention relates to a motor including a vibrator.
A vibration-wave motor (ultrasonic motor) widely used as a driving source of a camera and a lens by utilizing characteristics, such as output of high torque, high positioning accuracy and silence, is expected to achieve both improvement of driving efficiency and miniaturization. To improve driving efficiency, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2015-126692 discloses an ultrasonic motor including a coupling member that couples a vibrator holding member fixing an ultrasonic vibrator and a pressing mechanism holding member without any backlash in a moving direction to be movable in a pressing direction.
However, the ultrasonic motor disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2015-126692 can improve the driving efficiency, but its external size in a plane view expands due to a rolling member included in the coupling member and a leaf spring, and thus miniaturization is difficult. Moreover, the ultrasonic motor disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2015-126692 requires both a stopping structure to prevent fall of the rolling ball and a stopping structure to prevent fall of the two holding members, thus enlarging as a whole.
In view of the problem, an object of the present invention is to provide a motor and an electronic apparatus capable of realizing both improvement of driving efficiency and miniaturization.
A motor according to one aspect of the present invention includes a vibrator, a pressing member that presses the vibrator onto a contacting member in contact with the vibrator, a transmission member that transmits pressing force by the pressing member to the vibrator, a first holding member that holds the vibrator, a second holding member that holds the transmission member, and a coupling member that couples the first and second holding members. The vibrator and the contacting member move relatively by vibrations that occur in the vibrator. The coupling member includes a rolling member that relatively moves the first and second holding members in a pressing direction of the pressing member, and an urging member that urges the first and second holding members in parallel with a relative moving direction of the vibrator and the contacting member. The urging member is held by the second holding member. The rolling member is sandwiched between the first and second holding members, and abuts against the first holding member on a center side of the vibrator in the relative moving direction of the vibrator and the contacting member.
An electronic apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention includes a motor. The motor includes a vibrator, a pressing member that presses the vibrator onto a contacting member in contact with the vibrator, a transmission member that transmits pressing force by the pressing member to the vibrator, a first holding member that holds the vibrator, a second holding member that holds the transmission member, and a coupling member that couples the first and second holding members. The vibrator and the contacting member move relatively by vibrations that occur in the vibrator. The coupling member includes a rolling member that relatively moves the first and second holding members in a pressing direction of the pressing member, and an urging member that urges the first and second holding members in parallel with a relative moving direction of the vibrator and the contacting member. The urging member is held by the second holding member. The rolling member is sandwiched between the first and second holding members, and abuts against the first holding member on a center side of the vibrator in the relative moving direction of the vibrator and the contacting member.
Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.
Referring now to the accompanying drawings, a detailed description will be given of embodiments of the present invention. Those elements in each figure, which are corresponding elements, will be designated by the same reference numerals, and a description thereof will be omitted.
A friction member (contacting member) 101 and a guide supporting member (rail plate) 113 are fixed to a base plate (base) 112 with screws. Four pressing springs (pressing members) 110 each are coupled to a pressing force transmission member (transmission member) 111 and a driving force transmission member (movable plate) 115 through spring hooking parts provided in the pressing force transmission member 111 and the driving force transmission member 115, and apply pressing force so that a vibrator 104 comes into frictional contact with the friction member 101. In this embodiment, the pressing springs 110 press the vibrator 104 at four positions, but the present invention is not limited to this as long as a plurality of pressing members can press the vibrator 104 at different positions. Additionally, the pressing force by the pressing springs 110 is orthogonal to a relative moving direction of a moving part 120 described below.
The vibrator 104 includes a vibration plate 102, and a piezoelectric element 103. The vibration plate 102 is fixed to the piezoelectric element 103 by an adhesive. The vibration plate 102 includes a contacting part, which is a protrusion part provided on a surface opposite to a surface on the pressing force transmission member 111 side, and the contacting part contacts the friction member 101 while being pressed by the pressing force of the pressing springs 110. The piezoelectric element 103 excites ultrasonic vibration by being applied with a voltage. when the piezoelectric element 103, which is adhered to the vibration plate 102, excites the ultrasonic vibration, a resonance phenomenon occurs in the vibrator 104. Then, two types of standing waves are caused in the vibrator 104, and thus an approximately elliptical motion is generated on the contacting part of the vibrator 102.
A vibrator holding member (first holding member) 105 holds the vibrator 104 by an adhesive. A pressing mechanism holding member (second holding member) 107, which is a holding housing to hold the pressing force transmission member 111, is coupled to the vibrator holding member 105 through cylindrical rollers (rolling members) 108a and 108b and a leaf spring (urging member) 109. The pressing mechanism holding member 107 includes a power output part (not illustrated) coupled to a driven body.
An elastic member 106 is disposed between the piezoelectric element 103 and the pressing force transmission member 111. The elastic member 106 prevents a pressing part provided on the pressing force transmission member 111 from directly contacting the piezoelectric member 103 to avoid damage of the piezoelectric element 103.
The pressing mechanism holding member 107 and the movable plate 115 are fixed by screws. On the movable plate 115, three V-groove moving side guiding parts are formed, and rolling balls 114a to 114c are respectively fitted in each of the moving guiding parts. On the rail plate 113, three groove-shape fixed side guiding parts are formed. The rolling balls 114a to 114c are sandwiched between the moving side guiding part formed on the movable plate 115 and the fixed side guiding part formed on the rail plate 113. In this embodiment, of three fixed side guiding parts formed on the rail plate 113, two are V-grooves and one is a plane groove having a bottom, but they may be grooves enabling the rolling balls 114a to 114c to roll.
In this embodiment, to thin the vibration-wave motor 3 in the z-axis direction, the pressing springs 110 are arranged separately to surround the vibrator 104 instead of being stacked on an upper part of the vibrator 104. In this embodiment, as the pressing force by the plurality of pressing springs 110 is generated, the pressing springs 110 can be miniaturized. When the pressing springs 110 press the vibrator 104 to the friction member 101 in a direction (a direction of pressing force or a pressing direction) of an arrow C through the elastic member 106, the contacting part of the vibration plate 102 contacts the friction member 101 while being pressurized by the pressing force of the pressing springs 110. When a voltage is applied to the piezoelectric element 103 in this state, the approximately elliptical motion generated in the vibrator 104 is effectively transmitted to the friction member 101. Then, the moving part 120, which includes the vibrator 104, the vibrator holding member 105, the elastic member 106, the pressing mechanism holding member 107, the pressing springs 110, the pressing force transmission member 111, and the movable plate 115, is movable in parallel with the optical axis O (x-axis) with respect to the friction member 101.
Next, a description will be given of a coupling member 116 coupling the vibrator holding member 105 and the pressing mechanism holding member 107. The coupling member 116 includes the rollers 108a and 108b and the leaf spring 109. As illustrated in
With such a structure, the vibrator holding member 105 and the pressing mechanism holding member 107 are movable along the Z-axis by rolls of the rollers 108a and 108b. Thus, the vibrator holding member 105 and the pressing mechanism holding member 107 can be coupled without hindering the ultrasonic vibrations generated in the vibrator 104. As the vibrator holding member 105 and the pressing mechanism holding member 107 can be also coupled without any backlash in the direction parallel to the X-axis, that is, the moving direction of the moving part 120, delay of response due to the backlash is prevented. As a result, driving efficiency can be improved.
Moreover, the urging force by the leaf spring 109 is set to be larger than inertial force by acceleration and deceleration generated in starting and stopping drive of the vibrator 104. Whereby, a relative displacement along the moving direction of the moving part 120 due to the inertial force during driving is not generated in the vibrator 104 and the vibrator holding member 105, and thus stable driving control can be realized.
In this embodiment, the coupling member 116 includes the rollers 108a and 108b and the leaf spring 109, but the present invention is not limited to this as long as the coupling member 116 includes the rolling member and the urging member. For example, balls may be used instead of rollers. Additionally, the coupling member 116 includes the leaf spring 109 as the elastic member in this embodiment, but may include the urging member capable of eliminating the backlash between the vibrator holding member 105 and the pressing mechanism holding member 107.
Hereinafter, a description will be given of miniaturization of an external size of the vibration-wave motor 3 in the X-Y plane. To realize miniaturization of the external size of the vibration-wave motor 3 in the X-Y plane, the plurality of pressing springs 110 need to be disposed to be close to a center of the vibrator 104 positioned on an intersection point of the X-axis and the Y-axis. However, the coupling member 116 is provided with a falling prevention structure of the rollers 108a and 108b, and the leaf spring 109 need to be enlarged to some extent to have the urging force of the above magnitude. Thus, the coupling member 116 enlarges. As a result, miniaturizing the external size of the vibration-wave motor 3 in the X-Y plane cannot be realized.
Next, a description will be given of a positional relation between the leaf spring 109 and the rollers 108a and 108b. In the following description, a side approaching a center of the vibrator 104 in the X-axis direction is referred to as a “center side”, and a side separating from the center of the vibrator 104, that is, a side opposite to the center side is referred to as an “external side”. When the vibrator holding member 105 holds the leaf spring 109 in its outline, the coupling member 116 enlarges to prevent interference with other components disposed to be stacked on the center part of the vibrator 104. Moreover, when the vibrator holding member 105 holds the leaf spring 109 outside its outline, the leaf spring 109 is arranged outside the outline of the vibrator holding member 105 and thus assembling the pressing mechanism holding member 107 cannot be performed.
In this embodiment, the pressing mechanism holding member 107 holds the leaf spring 109 to miniaturize the external size of the vibration-wave motor 3 in the X-Y plane. Moreover, the roller 108a abuts against the vibrator holding member 105 on the center side, and abuts against the pressing mechanism holding member 107 on the external side. The roller 108b abuts against the vibrator holding member 105 on the center side, and abuts against the leaf spring 109 held by the pressing mechanism holding member 107 on the external side. The pressing mechanism holding member 107 holds the leaf spring 109, and thus interference with other components, such as the piezoelectric element 103, the elastic member 106 and the pressing force transmission member 111, disposed to be stacked on the center part of the vibrator 104 can be avoided without impairing assemblability. Accordingly, the plurality of springs 110 can be disposed to be closer to the center part of the vibrator 104, and the external size of the moving part 120 in the X-Y plane can be miniaturized.
Additionally, the coupling member 116 need to be provided with the falling prevention structure to prevent fall of the rollers 108a and 108b. In this embodiment, the vibrator holding member 105 and the pressing mechanism holding member 107 are provided with the falling prevention structure to prevent fall of the rollers 108a and 108b in the direction of the arrow C. In addition, as a length of the roller 108a in the Y-axis direction can be shortened, the pressing mechanism holding member 107 can be provided with the falling prevention structure to prevent fall of the rollers 108a and 108b in the Y-axis direction. Meanwhile, as the leaf spring 109 is formed to have the urging force of the above magnitude, a length of the roller 108b, which abuts against the leaf spring 109, in the Y-axis direction, cannot be shortened. Thus, when the pressing mechanism holding member 107 is provided with the falling prevention structure to prevent the fall of the roller 108b in the Y-axis direction, the external size in the X-Y plane of the vibration-wave motor 3 enlarges. Accordingly, in this embodiment, the leaf spring 109 includes a falling prevention part 130 as the falling prevention structure to prevent the fall of the roller 108b in the Y-axis direction. Such a structure can further miniaturize the external size of the vibration-wave motor 3 in the X-Y plane. In this embodiment, as illustrated in
As mentioned above, this embodiment can provide the vibration-wave motor capable of realizing improvement of the driving efficiency and miniaturization.
Next, referring to
First, a description will be given of the falling prevention structure (stopping structure) of the rollers 108a and 108b. As illustrated in
As illustrated in
Thus, the stopping parts 105a and 105b prevent the fall of the rollers 108a and 108b to an assembling direction side of the vibrator holding member 105 with respect to the pressing mechanism holding member 107. The stopping parts 107a and 107b also prevent the fall of the rollers 108a and 108b to an assembling direction side of the pressing mechanism holding member 107 with respect to the vibrator holding member 105. In other words, a stopping part provided on one member of the vibrator holding member 105 and the pressing mechanism holding member 107 prevents the fall of the rollers 108a and 108b to the assembling direction side of the one member with respect to the other member.
Second, a description will be given of a stopping structure of the vibrator holding member 105 and the pressing mechanism holding member 107. In the state of
Moreover, in the state of
As mentioned above, each stopping part of the vibrator holding member 105 and the pressing mechanism holding member 107 is formed so that at least part of it overlaps with the rollers 108a and 108b when viewed from the Z-axis direction. With such a structure, in this embodiment, each stopping part of the vibrator holding member 105 and the pressing mechanism holding member 107 prevents the fall of the rollers 108a and 108b and the fall of the vibrator holding member 105 and the pressing mechanism holding member 107.
Additionally, of the stopping parts 105a and 105b, a positive side of the Z-axis is chamfered at an angle of 45 degrees, and a negative side of the Z-axis is in ere in curved surface. When the pressing mechanism holding member 107 where the rollers 108a and 108b are assembled is assembled to the vibrator holding member 105 from the positive direction of the Z-axis, the stopping parts 105a and 105b each push away the rollers 108a and 108b in the X-axis direction. Then, the leaf spring 109 elastically deforms in the X-axis direction to evacuate from the stopping part 105b. Accordingly, the roller 108b can override the stopping part 105b.
Next, a description will be given of the structure of the stopping part.
As illustrated in
As mentioned above, the vibration-wave motor 3 according to this embodiment can prevent the fall of the rollers 108a and 108b, which are necessary for coupling, and the fall of the vibration holding member 105 and the pressing mechanism holding member 107 while coupling them without any backlash. Thus, enlargement of the whole size of the vibration-wave motor 3 can be suppressed.
In this embodiment, the leaf spring 109 is assembled to the pressing mechanism holding member 107, but may be assembled to the vibrator holding member 105. In this case, the leaf spring 109 is held so that the leaf spring 109 and each of the stopping parts 105a and 105b are arranged in this order along an assembling direction (the positive direction of the Z-axis) of the vibrator holding member 105.
In this embodiment, the vibration-wave motor 3 has the structure that the vibrator 104 moves and the friction member 101 does not move, but may has a structure that the vibrator 104 does not move and the friction member 101 moves. The vibration-wave motor 3 according to this embodiment includes the friction member 101 as an unmoved fixed part, but the vibrator 104 may contact with frictional contact with a member other than the vibration-wave motor 3, for example, part of a lens holding frame, and in this case, the vibration-wave motor 3 may not include the friction member 101.
While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.
This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Applications Nos. 2016-090598, filed on Apr. 28, 2016, and 2016-199106, filed on Oct. 7, 2016, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-090598 | Apr 2016 | JP | national |
| 2016-199106 | Oct 2016 | JP | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20140293463 | Yamanaka | Oct 2014 | A1 |
| 20150200610 | Yamasaki | Jul 2015 | A1 |
| 20170038554 | Nakashita | Feb 2017 | A1 |
| 20170317614 | Shiono | Nov 2017 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 104104265 | Oct 2014 | CN |
| 104753390 | Jul 2015 | CN |
| 2889997 | Jul 2015 | EP |
| 2015-126692 | Jul 2015 | JP |
| 2015-220911 | Dec 2015 | JP |
| 2016-059121 | Apr 2016 | JP |
| 5969976 | Aug 2016 | JP |
| 2015-220911 | May 2018 | JP |
| 6324208 | May 2018 | JP |
| Entry |
|---|
| The above documents were cited in a European Search Report dated Sep. 26, 2017, which is enclosed, that issued in the corresponding European Patent Application No. 17168103.4. |
| The above foreign patent documents were cited in a Jan. 2, 2019 Chinese Office Action, which is enclosed with an English Translation, that issued in Chinese Patent Application No. 201710288258.X. |
| The above foreign patent document was cited in a Feb. 25, 2020 Japanese Office Action, which is enclosed with an English Translation, that issued in Japanese Patent Application No. 2016090598. |
| The above patent document was cited in a European Communication dated Oct. 18, 2019, which is enclosed, that issued in the corresponding European Patent Application No. 17168103.4. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20170317613 A1 | Nov 2017 | US |
