Patent ID: 7239437

Claim:
A torsional hinged scanning system comprising: an oscillating structure comprising a resonant pivoting device having a known maximum Q value and supported by a pair of torsional hinges lying along a pivot axis; a support structure connected to said torsional hinges; and a drive mechanism responsive to a drive signal for oscillating said pivoting device about said pivoting axis according to a selected velocity profile, said resonant pivoting device spaced from said support structure and said drive mechanism structure to reduce air drag so as to maintain the Q value of said resonant pivoting device within 1% of said maximum Q value of said resonant pivoting devices; a sensing device for sensing the rotational position of said pivoting device and generating signals representative of said sensed position; control circuitry connected to receive said signals representative of said sensed position and for determining the parameters of said drive signal necessary to maintain said velocity profile; and circuitry connected to said control circuitry for generating said drive signal having said determined parameters.