Patent ID: 7511937

Claim:
A rotary variable capacitance element comprising: a columnar vibrator that stands up from an insulating surface; a first driving electrode and a first capacitive electrode that are disposed on the periphery of an imaginary ring, which surrounds the columnar vibrator on a side surface of the columnar vibrator, or on the periphery of an imaginary ring located above the columnar vibrator; a second driving electrode that is spaced apart from the first driving electrode to the outside by a predetermined distance so as to be opposite to the first driving electrode and is disposed on the periphery of an imaginary ring that surrounds the columnar vibrator; a second capacitive electrode that is spaced apart from the first capacitive electrode to the outside by a predetermined distance so as to be opposite to the first capacitive electrode and is disposed on the periphery of an imaginary ring that surrounds the columnar vibrator; and a supporting wall that stands up from the insulating surface so as to surround the columnar vibrator and supports the second driving electrode and the second capacitive electrode, wherein at least one of the first driving electrode and the second driving electrode are divided into three or more parts and the divided parts are disposed at equal distances, and the columnar vibrator is bent toward an arrangement side of the second driving electrode using a base of the columnar vibrator as a fixed end while being rotated in a circumferential direction of the second driving electrode by sequentially increasing or decreasing a driving voltage applied between the first and second driving electrodes in the circumferential direction of the first driving electrode or the second driving electrode divided into the parts so as to sequentially increase or decrease an electrostatic force generated between the first and second driving electrodes in the circumferential direction, thereby freely changing an opposite distance between the first capacitive electrode and the second capacitive electrode.