Patent ID: 7060962
Filing Date: 2006-06-13
Classification: B60R,G01B

Abstract:
1. An actuator comprising: a pair of blade springs; a driving unit; a position detector; and a calculating unit; one end of each blade spring being attached to a fixed member, and the other end of each blade spring being attached to a movable member; the blade spring being attached in parallel to each other with respect to the movable member and the fixed member; the movable member or one of the blade springs having a predetermined position of flat surface; the driving unit moving the movable member; the position detector having a phototransmitting element and a photoreceiving element; the position detector being attached to the fixed member so that the phototransmitting element and the photoreceiving element face the predetermined position of flat surface; the calculating unit calculating an amount of displacement of the movable member; wherein the position detector detects a distance between the predetermined position of flat surface and the position detector by irradiating a light on the flat surface from the phototransmitting element so that the reflected light is received by the photoreceiving element, and the calculating unit calculates the amount of displacement of the movable member based on the distance detected by the position detector.