Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
  • H02N—ELECTRIC MACHINES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H02N2/00—Electric machines in general using piezoelectric effect, electrostriction or magnetostriction
  • H02N2/02—Electric machines in general using piezoelectric effect, electrostriction or magnetostriction producing linear motion, e.g. actuators; Linear positioners ; Linear motors
  • H02N2/04—Constructional details
  • H02N2/043—Mechanical transmission means, e.g. for stroke amplification

Definitions

• TITLE MECHANICAL AMPLIFIER, SYSTEM OF SAID AMPLIFIERS AND METHOD FOR MECHANICALLY AMPLIFICATION OF A MOTION
• the following disclosure relates to mechanical amplifiers. More
• the following disclosure relates to a mechanical amplifier for amplifying the motion of an actuator unit, such as a piezo actuator.
• Piezoelectric ceramics are being increasingly used in actuator applications, where they are replacing electromagnetic solutions. The reason is that force in proportion to intrinsic mass is approximately ten times larger using piezoelectric ceramic techniques compared to electromagnetic techniques.
• piezoactuators are fuel injection valves in the car industry. This has led to a new generation of car engines with lower fuel consumption and emissions.
• the piezoactuator technology has made it possible to control the fuel injection almost to the millisecond for each piston stroke.
• Hydraulic mechanical amplifiers are relatively simple to implement, as they follow a simple principle, still this type of design leaves a number of technical issues to be solved, such as the viscosity of the hydraulic fluid, mass, gas content, toxicity, temperature durability and the tightness of the hydraulic system. These conditions increase the cost of the design, neither is it suitable for e.g. medical applications.
• levers The principle of using levers is simple; it may easily be cascade connected, but some technical design issues makes it difficult to find a combined solution with articulations with no friction but with strength, low exhaustion, low weight, high resonance frequency, large amplification, small dimensions and low manufacturing costs.
• One object of the invention is to provide an improved or alternative motion amplification device and method.
• Yet another object of the invention is to provide a device with no friction but having strength and is preferably compact and durable.
• the present invention seeks to mitigate, improve or eliminate one or more of the above-identified deficiencies and disadvantages of conventional technology, singly or in any combinations, and solves at least partially the abovementioned issues by providing an equipment according to the appended patent claims.
• the invention comprises of a mechanical motion amplifier for amplification of an amplitude of a motion from an actuator unit.
• the motion amplifier comprises at least two beams connected in series at an angle, where the thickness of each beam is substantially less than its orthogonal extension, and wherein each beam has at least one supporting element about which the beam is pivotable.
• the serial connection is exposed to a pushing or pulling motion having a first amplitude, from at least one actuator unit, amplifies and generates a second pushing or pulling motion, in parallel in the same plane, with a larger amplitude than the first amplitude.
• the amplified amplitude and its direction are determined by the gear provided by the design, which depends on how the beams, supporting elements and at least one actuator unit are positioned in relation to each other.
• the disclosure includes a mechanical motion amplifier for amplification of an amplitude of a motion from an actuator unit.
• the motion amplifier may include at least two beams connected in a series at an angle, where the thickness of each beam is substantially less than its orthogonal extension, and wherein each beam has at least one supporting element about which the beam is pivotable.
• the amplifier amplifies and generates a second pushing or pulling motion, in parallel in the same plane, with a larger amplitude than the first amplitude.
• the amplified amplitude and its direction are determined by the gear provided by the design, which depends on how the beams, supporting elements, and at least one actuator unit are positioned in relation to each other.
• the design combined with that the beams may be described as having properties which besides being thin comprise low torsional strength, low weight and small dimensions, leads important properties being obtained, such as the serial beam design having low inertia and thus a rapid amplification response.
• the gearing transmission is obtained by a pushing or pulling motion being applied to a first beam, either from one or a plurality of actuator units or from a second beam adjacent to the first beam, at a position a distance X1 from the supporting element of the first beam support, which in turn is positioned a distance X2 from where the first beam is touching a third beam or the last beam in the series where the final amplified motion is to be applied.
• each beam's supporting element is adapted to providing a transmitted amplified motion amplitude by the beam that is pushing or pulling.
• the final amplified motion becomes pushing or pulling.
• a pushing motion from an actuator unit may be an amplified pushing motion, but if one alters the position of the supporting elements, the same pushing motion may be converted to an amplified pulling motion.
• the beams of the mechanical motion amplifier may be made of a foil.
• beams of foil they may be manufactured having properties such as being thin, have low torsional strength, low weight and small dimensions.
• the beams connected in series of the mechanical motion amplifier may be made as an integrally part of a continuous piece of foil.
• Twisting motions in the structure of beams connected in series are mainly absorbed, thanks to the angle between the beams, by the first beam by means of torsion.
• a beam having no amplifying effect of the motion may connect two adjacent beams having amplifying effect of the motion .
• the actuator unit may be at least one piezoactuator.
• the in series connected beams may form part of a system of a plurality of mechanical motion amplifiers, in which the design allows at least two units of in series connected beams to be linked together in order to, in a compact way, distribute the pushing and/or pulling motions from one or more actuator units, positioned vertically against the at least two units of in series connected beams, and generate in at least two zones parallel pushing and/or pulling motions with amplified amplitude.
• This type of system having more than two units of beams connected in series, provides for effectively obtaining an amplified motion amplitude which may be either pushing or pulling to occur in parallel but at the same time almost simultaneously. From the same system a combination of pushing and pulling motion may be obtained.
• Another aspect of the invention describes a mechanical motion
• the method comprises using at least two in series connected beams, wherein each beam is designed to have low torsional strength, low weight and small dimensions.
• the pushing or pulling motion from at least one actuator unit having a first amplitude, on one of the beams connected in series is provided with an amplified amplitude as a result of cooperation between the beams connected in series so that the total amplification of the first pushing or pulling motion's amplitude is a product of the cooperating beams' amplifying effect on the motion amplitude.
• the final amplified pushing or pulling motion is parallel to the first pushing or pulling motion.
• the rigidity of a beam having square cross section is increased by the cube of the beam's cross sectional width in the working direction of leverage.
• the cross sectional width of the beam has been made greater compared to the orthogonal width in the working direction. This also decreases the mass and provides a high resonance frequency.
• Metal with a low surface roughness has greater resistance to exhaustion than a processed surface. Therefore, the design complies with this in some of the embodiments of the invention. For example, a cross section of the foil is not bent but only the actual foil orthogonally to it.
• a thin beam has low torsional strength. This may be exploited to absorb motions in the device.
• the thickness of the foil is in the range of 0.1 -1 mm;
• Motions of two beams in a row which in an undesirable manner are working against each other in a plane may by bending one of the beams in an angle relative the other be absorbed, so that the motions may be converted to a twisting of the first beam.
• the beams By making the beams thin they may be manufactured from foil, and with a design according to the invention it is easy to produce three dimensional structures by bending the foil to the desired structure.
• structures may be provided that comprise several parallel beam systems.
• a third aspect of the invention provides a method for manufacturing of a mechanical motion amplifier.
• the manufacturing method involves cutting two beams connected in series from a single piece of foil and bending the foil to make two beams connected in series at an angle wherein each beam has a thickness considerably smaller than their orthogonal extension, bending the foil thickness orthogonally to obtain two angled beams and, optionally, arranging a piezoactuator parallel to one of the two beam's thickness at one of the two beams to create a motion that may be amplified by the two angled connected beams.
• Figure 1 is a schematic view showing an exemplary embodiment of a mechanical amplifier with angled levers according to a principle of the invention
• Figure 2 is a schematic view showing an exemplary embodiment of a foil profile which may be bent into a three dimensional structure according to an invention principle.
• the parts included in the structure are corresponding to the parts in Figures 1 and 3.
• the corresponding parts are 20,10,30, 21 ,1 1 ,31 ,
• Figure 3 is a schematic view showing an exemplary embodiment of how four foil profiles as shown in Figure 2 may be bent and linked to form a complex structure according to a principle of the invention. The entire structure is made from one component as shown in Fig. 2;
• Figure 4 is a schematic view showing yet another exemplary embodiment of a mechanical amplifier with angled levers according to a principle of the invention.
• Figure 5 is a schematic view showing an exemplary
• Figs. 6 and 7 are flowcharts of methods. Description of Embodiments
• FIG. 1 An example of a device in accordance with an embodiment is provided according to Figure 1 by a first beam 10 which at an angle 12 is lying against a base 19 orthogonally in line with the lever.
• the motion d of the first beam 10 is then directly transferred as incoming motion to a second beam 1 1 . Under load, this beam 1 1 will be pivoted
• Figure 1 may be made in a continuous piece of foil as shown in Figure 2.
• Figure 2 illustrates first and second beams 20, 21 , a supporting element 22, a foil 13 (which correspond to similar parts 10, 1 1 , 14, and 13, respectively, in Figure 1 ) and links 24 (which are similar to links 34 described in connection with Figure 3).
• a structure according to Figure 3 may be produced using four identical pieces of foil.
• the forces are then distributed into four groups, whilst the motions are parallel.
• Force F0 is in this case passed on from beam 31 .
• the links 34 transmitting the initial motion are provided at an angle in order to absorb shear motions.
• This structure provides for manufacturing of a motion amplification element providing approximately 50 times amplification, a volume of less than 0.5 cm , a weight of less than one gram and handling of actuator forces in the range of 200 N. Higher amplification may be obtained by adding a third beam to each of the four beam devices involved. The low weight and the small dimensions result in low inertia of the system, and thus a rapid response to an amplified actuator motion.
• the first beam Since a beam acting as a lever has a motion amplification, the first beam must manage forces with an amplification factor greater than for the following beam. This may be managed by making the beam higher in the direction of the load.
• An example for the first beam 10 is shown in Fig. 1 , which increases in height towards the actuator point at foil 13.
• Fig. 1 An example for the first beam 10 is shown in Fig. 1 , which increases in height towards the actuator point at foil 13.
• a design of this kind may be less advantageous under some circumstances. For example, it could result in variations of the foil thickness in a design having more than one beam in the same piece of foil.
• a thicker foil may result in difficulties in bending it to the desired structures.
• the first beam may be doubled in the device.
• Figure 4 is showing an example of such a design.
• Figure 4 is showing one of six segments from Figure 5.
• the first beam 41 has two beams merging into one crossbeam 48.
• This crossbeam 48 extends via a flexible part (the flexible areas are marked as transverse lines in the Figure) down to the next beam 42.
• This connection 44 is preferably rigid to avoid wear in the connection.
• the input motion to the first beam 41 occurs via segment 45 from the actuator (not shown in the Figure).
• the segment 45 has flexible areas to absorb motions generated by the beam pivoting about base 19.
• the folded-out angle from the first beams 41 serves as flexible support element against base 19.
• the angles 47 do not necessarily need to be fixed to the base 19. Instead it may be able to ride on the edge of the angle against the base. The angle does not need to flex in this case.
• the second beam 42 which is single, is pushed down by the first beam 41 .
• the angle 43 folded out from the second beam 42 serves as flexible point of support against the base 19.
• the folded out angle 46 transmits the structure's initial motion via a flexible link marked as an area with lines.
• the structure's amplification D/d is then [(X1 +X2)/X1 ] * [(Y1 +Y2)/Y1 ].
• the device shown in Figure 4 may be regarded as a segment of the structure shown in Figure 5.
• the parts 47, 41 and 48 shown in Figure 4 are six folded to a continuous foil which is folded and closed at the ends and obtains a structural shape 51 as shown in Figure 5.
• Parts 43,42 and 46 are six-folded in the same way to obtain a structural shape 52 as shown in Figure 5.
• Actuator linkage 47 is also six-folded and obtains the structural shape 53 as shown in Figure 5. This method results in a mechanical amplifier as shown in Figures 4 and Figure 5 with a force distribution from the actuator to twelve adjacent points and an exchanged motion from six linkages.
• a method 200 for mechanical motion amplification comprises providing 210 a mechanical motion amplifier as described above.
• the mechanical motion amplifier has at least two in series connected beams where each beam is designed to have low torsional strength, low weight and small dimensions.
• the final amplified pushing or pulling motion is provided 230 in parallel to the first pushing or pulling motion.
• Fig. 7 shows a flowchart of a method for manufacturing 300 of a mechanical motion amplifier.
• the method comprises cutting 310 two beams connected in series from a piece of foil, and bending said foil to obtain two beams connected in series at an angle, wherein each beam has a thickness substantially smaller than their orthogonal extension. Further, the method comprises bending 320 said foil orthogonally the thickness to obtain said two angled beams.
• the method 300 further may comprise arranging a piezoactuator parallel to one of said two beam's thickness at one of said two beams providing said mechanical motion amplifier presenting a motion that can be amplified by the two angled connected beams.
• the method 300 further may comprise providing at least one supporting element for each beam about which said beam can be pivoted.
• the method 300 further may comprise arranging an actuator unit at a first beam for a pushing or pulling motion on said first beam.
• the actuator unit is preferably being arranged at a position at a distance X1 from said supporting element of said first beam.
• the method 300 further may comprise composing said beams connected in series being of a continuous piece of foil.
• a first beam may being arranged in relation to a second beam so that twisting motions and lateral motions against said first beam, caused by motions of said second beam bearing on said first beam, are being absorbed by said first beam through lateral bending and torsion.
• the method 300 further may comprise, further comprising arranging a beam having no amplifying effect of the motion, connecting two adjacent beams having amplifying effect of the motion.
• the method 300 further may comprise providing at least two units of in series connected beams, and positioning of one or more actuator units vertically against said at least two units of serially connected beams.
• said beams are advantageously being higher in the direction of the load and/or the thickness of said beam increases orthogonally towards the direction of the load.
• a mechanical motion amplifier as described above may be any mechanical motion amplifier as described above.
• a mechanical motion amplifier as described above may be any mechanical motion amplifier as described above.
• a mechanical motion amplifier as described above may advantageously be used in a pneumatic transient handler of a medical ventilator, such as described in US61/345,825, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Landscapes

• Micromachines (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=44279185

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (2)

Families Citing this family (4)

Family Cites Families (11)

• 2011
  • 2011-05-17 EP EP11720095A patent/EP2572387A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2011-05-17 WO PCT/EP2011/057929 patent/WO2011144591A1/en active Application Filing

Non-Patent Citations (1)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events