Product design technology Micro Mechatronics Design Technology

Murata's strength in micro mechatronics design technology lies in effectively leveraging its long-cultivated in-house expertise across component design technologies—piezoelectric actuators, precision-machined metal parts, drive circuits, and microfluidic channels—optimizing them for dedicated designs.

These technologies not only enable product design but also provide extensive know-how. This includes utilizing manufacturing methods and equipment to enhance production efficiency, ensuring quality through storage and transportation considerations, and gaining insights into long-term reliability that are difficult to obtain from a single product alone—knowledge difficult to obtain from a single product alone. This comprehensive technical asset base is the source of our strength.

• Design Insights for Piezoelectric Actuators: Through years of commercializing diverse piezoelectric actuators, we have accumulated the technology and experience to design and manufacture piezoelectric actuators tailored to specific applications. This includes actuators with various operating modes such as extension/compression mode and bending mode, structures like single-layer and laminated designs, and shapes ranging from thicknesses of tens of micrometers to disc, rectangular, and bulk forms.
• Design and Machining Technology for Precision Metal Components: We leverage design expertise in precision metal components cultivated through designing and manufacturing electronic component terminals and cases. Technologies such as precision punching of thin metal sheets and precision die technology for assembling metal components via crimping are indispensable to micromechatronics.

  

• Drive circuit design expertise: We apply piezoelectric buzzer drive circuit technology and ceramic oscillator (Cerarock) oscillation circuit technology to design circuits that consistently drive piezoelectric actuators at their resonant frequency.

  

• Microfluidic channel design and analysis expertise: We possess extensive fluid analysis technologies, including thermal fluid analysis for furnaces used in firing processes like piezoelectric ceramics and resin molding techniques. These are utilized in the analysis and design of microfluidic channels, incorporating the Venturi effect and Helmholtz resonance, which are essential for designing ultrasonic-driven air pumps.

  

The first application for Murata's microblower, developed by applying its micro mechatronics design technology, was as an air pump for mobile fuel cell systems.

Initially, simply combining existing piezoelectric buzzer design technology with microfluidic channel design technology failed to achieve the desired performance. By applying material technology from another product, the piezoelectric transformer, Murata succeeded in establishing the fundamental technology for the microblower.

This air pump, just a few millimeters thick, attracted attention from various industries, leading to an expansion in its range of applications. Through optimal flow path design, we have developed and launched models targeting flow performance comparable to small fan motors used for cooling compact devices, models aiming for back pressure performance similar to aquarium air pumps, and models suited for suction (air intake) rather than blowing (air discharge). Against the backdrop of increasing heat generation in electronic devices, including mobile devices, and the trend toward making previously unwieldy medical equipment portable, its application fields continue to expand.

Specifically, we have achieved higher back pressure and flow rate performance through further optimized microchannel designs utilizing simulation technology and new vibration mode designs for piezoelectric actuators and metal processing components. This enables applications requiring high-performance air pumps, such as upper-arm blood pressure monitors. It also allows forced air cooling in compact portable devices and wearables that previously could not accommodate air-cooling fans, contributing to enhanced performance that leverages these devices' unique features.

Today, market demands for micro blowers are diversifying, encompassing larger or smaller sizes, forms tailored to specific applications, and suction capabilities.

To meet these needs, we continue advancing elemental technology development and product design, and will persist in enhancing our technological sophistication.

Source of inserted image: Lineup of low-noise, small, thin microblowers has been expanded