Liquid flowing device

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to liquid flowing devices for flowing liquid.

2. Related Art

As devices for flowing liquid, screw propellers for ships and various types of pumps are available. Also, fish fins may be considered as devices for flowing liquid. Such device mechanisms use particular shapes and movements specifically selected to effectively flow liquid. In recent years, it has become necessary to achieve a further improvement in the efficiency of liquid flowing devices and a further size reduction thereof depending on their usage.

The structure and principle of fish fins may be applied to pumps. For example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application JP-A-5-272497 describes a pump for flowing liquid by reciprocally rotationally driving a fin about a rotary shaft within a specified angle range. The document describes that the pump can be formed with smaller and fewer components.

However, in the case of a pump driven by a mechanism with a rotary shaft, bearings for supporting the rotary shaft, sealing for sealing liquid and the like are required. Such sealing may also pose an obstruction to size-reduction of pumps. Similarly, pumps using a screw propeller mechanism need sealing devices for sealing liquid, and thus have a limitation in size-reduction. Also, for example, the screw propeller mechanism has a drawback in that its efficiency considerably deteriorates when its rotation speed is increased in order to increase the fluid flow rate.

In accordance with an advantage of some aspects of the invention, it is possible to provide a liquid flowing device with a novel mechanism for flowing liquid.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, a liquid flowing device includes: a plate-like vibration body; and a driving section that vibrates the vibration body in a thickness direction, wherein at least a portion of an end section of the vibration body in an in-plane direction continuously becomes thinner toward an end of the vibration body.

The liquid flowing device set forth above can flow liquid.

In the liquid flowing device in accordance with an aspect of the invention, the driving section may vibrate the vibration body by flexing the vibration body.

In the liquid flowing device in accordance with an aspect of the invention, the driving section may vibrate the vibration body in a manner to move the position of the vibration body in its entirety in parallel.

In the liquid flowing device in accordance with an aspect of the invention, at least the thinner portion of the vibration body may be submerged in liquid, and the liquid may be flowed with a speed component in an in-plane direction of the vibration body and in a direction in which the vibration body becomes thinner.

In the liquid flowing device in accordance with an aspect of the invention, the driving section may have a piezoelectric element.

In the liquid flowing device in accordance with an aspect of the invention, the driving section may have a solenoid.

In the liquid flowing device in accordance with an aspect of the invention, the vibration body vibrates with a frequency that may be a resonance frequency of the vibration body, or a resonance frequency of an entire body including the vibration body and the driving section.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a liquid flowing device 100 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the liquid flowing device 100 in accordance with the embodiment of the invention.

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