Piezoelectric sensor

About: Piezoelectric sensor is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 7127 publications have been published within this topic receiving 115903 citations.

Piezoelectric Fiber Composites as Sensor Elements for Structural Health Monitoring and Adaptive Material Systems

Abstract: Piezoelectric Active Fiber Composites (AFC) and Macro Fiber Composites (MFC) have the potential to provide various sensor functions for nondestructive test methods. AFC have been integrated into fiber-reinforced laminates as a first step towards structures with sensing capability. These developments constitute initial stages for developing adaptive composite structures or structures with integrated health monitoring system. So far, the use of AFC and MFC has been explored in selected nondestructive tests for defect detection in model composite systems on laboratory scale with e.g., Acoustic Emission, Acousto-Ultrasonics, and Electromechanical Impedance testing. The present article will focus on limitations and current prospects for structural health monitoring with AFC or MFC and discuss selected concepts and approaches.

Piezoelectric Sensor and Actuator Spatial Design for Shape Control of Piezolaminated Plates

Abstract: Controlled actuation and sensing of structures by spatially distributing the piezoelectric material has been a topic of interest in recent years. We present an iterative technique to design the shape of piezoelectric actuators in order to achieve the desired shape of the structure. A gradientless shape design procedure based on the residual voltages is developed. It aims at minimizing the quadratic measure of global displacement residual error between the desired and the current structural configuration. The actuators gradually adapt to a shape that is most efficient in resisting the external excitation. The present technique can be well suited for any static and time-varying excitation. In vibration control it is often necessary to create modal sensors and actuators in order to observe or excite some specific modes. Such modal sensors and actuators alleviate spillover problems, and thus they avoid exhaustive signal processing. Several numerical examples for static as well as dynamic cases are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of the present technique.

Piezoelectric Power Requirements for Active Vibration Control

Abstract: This paper presents a method for predicting the power consumption of piezoelectric actuators utilized for active vibration control. Analytical developments and experimental tests show that the maximum power required to control a structure using surface-bonded piezoelectric actuators is independent of the dynamics between the piezoelectric actuator and the host structure. The results demonstrate that for a perfectly-controlled system, the power consumption is a function of the quantity and type of piezoelectric actuators and the voltage and frequency of the control law output signal. Furthermore, as control effectiveness decreases, the power consumption of the piezoelectric actuators decreases. In addition, experimental results revealed a non-linear behavior in the material properties of piezoelectric actuators. The material non-linearity displayed a significant increase in capacitance with an increase in excitation voltage. Tests show that if the non-linearity of the capacitance was accounted for, a conservative estimate of the power can easily be determined.

Impact Monitoring for Aircraft Smart Composite Skins Based on a Lightweight Sensor Network and Characteristic Digital Sequences.

Abstract: Due to the growing use of composite materials in aircraft structures, Aircraft Smart Composite Skins (ASCSs) which have the capability of impact monitoring for large-scale composite structures need to be developed. However, the impact of an aircraft composite structure is a random transient event that needs to be monitored on-line continuously. Therefore, the sensor network of an ASCS and the corresponding impact monitoring system which needs to be installed on the aircraft as an on-board device must meet the requirements of light weight, low power consumption and high reliability. To achieve this point, an Impact Region Monitor (IRM) based on piezoelectric sensors and guided wave has been proposed and developed. It converts the impact response signals output from piezoelectric sensors into Characteristic Digital Sequences (CDSs), and then uses a simple but efficient impact region localization algorithm to achieve impact monitoring with light weight and low power consumption. However, due to the large number of sensors of ASCS, the realization of lightweight sensor network is still a key problem to realize an applicable ASCS for on-line and continuous impact monitoring. In this paper, three kinds of lightweight piezoelectric sensor networks including continuous series sensor network, continuous parallel sensor network and continuous heterogeneous sensor network are proposed. They can greatly reduce the lead wires of the piezoelectric sensors of ASCS and they can also greatly reduce the monitoring channels of the IRM. Furthermore, the impact region localization methods, which are based on the CDSs and the lightweight sensor networks, are proposed as well so that the lightweight sensor networks can be applied to on-line and continuous impact monitoring of ASCS with a large number of piezoelectric sensors. The lightweight piezoelectric sensor networks and the corresponding impact region localization methods are validated on the composite wing box of an unmanned aerial vehicle. The accuracy rate of impact region localization is higher than 92%.

Compact and precise positioner based on the Inchworm principle

Abstract: In this paper, we present a piezoelectric linear micropositioner. Its principle and configuration provide an elegant solution to confined positioning problems requiring compact systems. The developed device shows a high accuracy together with large travel ranges, due to a stepwise operation principle. A simple, low-cost realization process combined with an assembly step has been used to implement the device. The positioner operation principle is based on the well known Inchworm principle: the accurate synchronization of piezoelectric actuation and the use of electrostatic forces as clamping systems produces a step-by-step driving of a slider along the direction of the piezotransducer expansion. The applied principle makes possible a flexible and reliable control of the slider positioning speed, either through the `step-by-step' sequence frequency or through the step length. A positioner was designed and realized to demonstrate the device working principle. Bidirectional, millimeter-range slider motion was performed and slider speeds ranging from a few µm s-1 to a few hundreds of µm s-1 were measured. Three hundred nm steps were estimated at 10 V driving voltage. The process used also allows the realization of similar X-Y positioner designs combining several degrees of freedom.