A Review of Electric Impedance Matching Techniques for Piezoelectric Sensors, Actuators and Transducers

Vivek T Rathod

doi:10.3390/electronics8020169

Abstract

Any electric transmission lines involving the transfer of power or electric signal requires the matching of electric parameters with the driver, source, cable, or the receiver electronics. Proceeding with the design of electric impedance matching circuit for piezoelectric sensors, actuators, and transducers require careful consideration of the frequencies of operation, transmitter or receiver impedance, power supply or driver impedance and the impedance of the receiver electronics. This paper reviews the techniques available for matching the electric impedance of piezoelectric sensors, actuators, and transducers with their accessories like amplifiers, cables, power supply, receiver electronics and power storage. The techniques related to the design of power supply, preamplifier, cable, matching circuits for electric impedance matching with sensors, actuators, and transducers have been presented. The paper begins with the common tools, models, and material properties used for the design of electric impedance matching. Common analytical and numerical methods used to develop electric impedance matching networks have been reviewed. The role and importance of electrical impedance matching on the overall performance of the transducer system have been emphasized throughout. The paper reviews the common methods and new methods reported for electrical impedance matching for specific applications. The paper concludes with special applications and future perspectives considering the recent advancements in materials and electronics.

Highlights

Devices made of piezoelectric materials perform actuation and sensing tasks covering a wide range of applications
Where Nre represents the reactance, Ntr represents the frequency dependent transformer and Nca corresponds to the matrix of the cable as per the transmission line theory is given by sinh(γL)/Z0
Numerical and software tools available to assist in the design the EIM networks (EIMN) have been discussed

Summary

Introduction

Devices made of piezoelectric materials perform actuation and sensing tasks covering a wide range of applications. They fall in the category of smart materials and form a basic building material for sensors, actuators, transducers, and smart structures. The devices for applications like biomedical imaging [6,7,8], acoustic emission [9,10], condition monitoring [11,12], nondestructive evaluation (NDE) [13,14,15,16,17], and structural health monitoring (SHM) [18,19,20,21,22] are to be designed considering the performance as a whole system due to the criticality of the tasks they perform like damage or defect detection. The system here includes the sensors or actuators, driving electronics and the target object. The system involves, not just the sensor or actuator and Electronics 2019, 8, 169; doi:10.3390/electronics8020169 www.mdpi.com/journal/electronics

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Conclusion