382 results about "Electrostatic actuator" patented technology

A MEMS SLM and an electrostatic actuator associated with a pixel in an SLM. The actuator has three electrodes: a lower electrode; an upper electrode fixed with respect to the lower electrode; and a center electrode suspended and actuable between the upper and lower electrodes. The center electrode is capable of resiliently-biasing to restore the center electrode to a non-actuated first equilibrium position, and a mirror is operably connected to the center electrode. A first voltage source provides a first bias voltage across the lower and center electrodes and a second voltage source provides a second bias voltage across the upper and center electrodes, with the first and second bias voltages determining the non-actuated first equilibrium position of the center electrode. A third voltage source provides a variable driver voltage across one of the lower / center and upper / center electrode pairs in series with the corresponding first or second bias voltage, to actuate the center electrode to a dynamic second equilibrium position.

A high-power electrostatic actuator comprising rotor and stator layers with fault-tolerant electrode structures, a housing to contain the electrodes and dielectric fluid, and electronic circuitry driving a plurality of high-voltage phases. The actuator is constructed from multiple rotor and stator films separated by spacing elements. The electrode structure provides self-alignment for precise assembly. The actuator assembly includes built-in fine-position sensors to allow optimal timing in powering phases, and a coarse position sensor for feedback control. The electrode structure has a large region of linear force to provide low torque-ripple allowing simple high / low voltage pulsing instead of analog high voltage waveforms. Single or double sided flexible circuit manufacturing techniques are used to fabricate the rotor and stator films at low cost.

An electrostatic actuator includes a segmented flexible membrane associated with individually addressable electrodes, one for each membrane segment. The electrodes are provided beneath a corresponding one of the membrane segments to define a plurality of actuator chambers between each of the electrodes and the corresponding membrane segment. Control electronics independently provide a bias voltage to select ones or all of the electrodes to generate an electrostatic field between any bias electrode and the corresponding membrane segment to attract the corresponding membrane segment toward the respective electrode. Upon elimination of the bias voltage, the corresponding membrane segments are elastically restored to their previous position. This structure can be incorporated into a fluid drop ejector to achieve variable drop size by control of the number of segments actuated. Additionally, by control of the time and space domain of the segment firing, the pressure pulse created by the fluid drop ejector can be precisely controlled.

This present invention relates generally to manufacturing objects. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and structure for fabricating an out-of-plane compliant micro actuator. The compliant actuator has large actuation range in both vertical and horizontal planes without physical contact to the substrate. Due to fringe field actuation, the compliant actuator has no pull-in phenomenon and requires low voltage by a ‘zipping’ movement compared to conventional parallel plate electrostatic actuators. The method and device can be applied to micro actuators as well as other devices, for example, micro-electromechanical sensors, detectors, fluidic, and optical systems.

A tunable filter having a resonator with a resonant frequency dependent upon a variable gap is provided. The variable gap may be controllably altered by use of an actuator. The resonator is a high Q resonator that may be formed by a ring resonator, microsphere, microdisc, or other high Q optical structures. Actuation is preferably achieved through an electrostatic actuator that moves a dielectric plate relative to the resonator in response to measured values of gap and temperature.