Abstract
In this paper, we describe and present a Virtual Instrument, a tool that allows the determination of the electromechanical, dielectric, and elastic coefficients in polarised ferroelectric ceramic discs (piezoceramics) in the linear range, including all of the losses when the piezoceramics are vibrating in radial mode. There is no evidence in the recent scientific literature of any automatic system conceived and implemented as a Virtual Instrument based on an iterative algorithm issued as an alternative to solve the limitations of the ANSI IEEE 176 standard for the characterisation of piezoelectric coefficients of thin discs in resonant mode. The characterisation of these coefficients is needed for the design of ultrasonic sensors and generators. In 1995, two of the authors of this work, together with other authors, published an iterative procedure that allowed for the automatic determination of the complex constants for lossy piezoelectric materials in radial mode. As described in this work, the procedures involved in using a Virtual Instrument have been improved: the response time for the characterisation of a piezoelectric sample is shorter (approximately 5 s); the accuracy in measurement and, therefore, in the estimates of the coefficients has been increased; the calculation speed has been increased; an intuitive, simple, and friendly user interface has been designed, and tools have been provided for exporting and inspecting the measured and processed data. No Virtual Instrument has been found in the recent scientific literature that has improved on the iterative procedure designed in 1995. This Virtual Instrument is based on the measurement of a unique magnitude, the electrical admittance (Y = G + iB) in the frequency range of interest. After measuring the electrical admittance, estimates of the set of piezoelectric coefficients of the device are obtained. The programming language used in the construction of the Virtual Instrument is LabVIEW 2019®.
Highlights
Piezoceramics present the so-called piezoelectric effect, which consists of the polarisation of the material following a certain polar axis when the piezoceramic is subjected to mechanical traction or compression [1,2]
Piezoceramics present the inverse piezoelectric effect: if the piezoceramic is subjected to an external electric field, it will be compressed or stretched depending on the value and direction of the electric field [1]
The most extended characterisation method of these types of piezoceramic materials is well-known as the resonance method
Summary
Francisco Javier Jiménez 1, * , Amador M. González 1 , Lorena Pardo 2 , Manuel Vázquez-Rodríguez 3 , Pilar Ochoa 1 and Bernardino González 4. Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil-. Departamento de Ingeniería Telemática y Electrónica, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería y Sistemas de Telecomunicación (ETSIST—Campus Sur UPM), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28031 Madrid, Spain;
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