Non-Contact Tactile Feedback Using Resonant Fluid Ejection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing tactile presentation devices, such as touch panels, risk contamination from user contact and lack variation in operation feeling without contact-based feedback.
Innovation Solution
A non-contact tactile presentation apparatus using a movable body with a magnet and coil interaction, and a fluid ejection part to provide tactile sensations through fluid ejection in response to user operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a touch panel uses contact-based tactile feedback with actuators, then operation feeling is provided, but finger contamination and virus infection risk occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical contact-based vibration feedback system with a non-contact fluid ejection system. Instead of using actuators that physically contact the touch panel surface, the invention uses a fluid ejection device that propels fluid droplets through the air to reach the user's finger, thereby eliminating finger contamination while maintaining tactile feedback functionality
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces fluid droplets as an intermediary between the device and the user's finger. The fluid serves as a mediator that carries tactile information without requiring direct contact between the actuator and the finger, thus preventing virus transmission and contamination while still providing operation feeling
2Object-affected harmful factors
If non-contact operation detection is used, then finger contamination is avoided, but tactile feedback variation is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs parameter changes in the fluid ejection system to create varied tactile feedback. By adjusting parameters such as fluid ejection timing, frequency, amount, and pattern, the system can provide different types of tactile sensations corresponding to different operation states, thereby maintaining adaptability and feedback variation without contact-based mechanisms
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses periodic fluid ejection patterns to provide differentiated tactile feedback. By varying the timing and frequency of fluid droplet ejection in response to different operation detections, the system creates diverse tactile sensations that enhance user feedback while maintaining non-contact operation
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables a suitable operation feeling without finger contamination and provides varied tactile feedback through fluid ejection.
Implementation Method 1
a fixed body including a coil configured to vibrate the movable body through an electromagnetic interaction with the magnet by generating a magnetic field with a supply of a current of a frequency equal to a resonance frequency of the movable body
Implementation Method 2
the fluid ejection part being configured to present a tactile sensation using the fluid ejected from the chamber part by taking in and out the fluid in the chamber part in accordance with deformation of the diaphragm accompanying resonance vibration of the movable body
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a non-contact tactile sense presentation device including: a movable body having a magnet; an elastic part that supports the movable body so as to freely vibrate; a fixed body that generates a magnetic field when a current at a frequency equal to the resonance frequency of the movable body is supplied thereto and that has a coil for vibrating the movable body due to electromagnetic interaction with the magnet; and a fluid discharge part that has a chamber portion, which stores a fluid therein and which has a diaphragm that allows the fluid in the chamber portion to come out and come in according to deformation of the diaphragm caused by a resonant vibration of the movable body, and that presents a tactile sense by means of the fluid coming out from the chamber portion.