Development of an impact-resonant actuator for mobile devices

Abstract

This paper presents a novel impact-resonant actuator (IRA) that can increase a degree of reality and a sense of immersion by providing a delicate haptic sensation. In current mobile devices, eccentric rotary motor and linear resonant actuators are widely used for haptic feedback, but they provide only simple vibration response to a user's on-screen touch. Varied vibration patterns cannot be generated due to their limited working frequency range. Also, it is hard to create crisp vibrotactile sensation which can mimic the sensation of pressing a button due to their slow response time and long residual vibration. To overcome the limitations of conventional actuators, the proposed actuator generates impact vibration, operating at a wide frequency range from 0 Hz to 190 Hz with a fast response time and very short residual vibration. Moreover, stronger impact force can be generated effectively near the resonant frequency. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.