Piezoelectric Transducer Research Articles

Piezoelectric generator harvesting bike vibrations energy to supply portable devices

With the decrease in energy consumption of portable electronic devices, the concept of harvesting renewable energy in human surrounding arouses a renewed interest. In this context, we have developed a piezoelectric generator that harvests mechanical vibrations energy available on a bicycle. Embarked piezoelectric transducer, which is an electromechanical converter, undergoes mechanical vibrations therefore produce electricity. A static converter transforms the electrical energy in a suitable form to the targeted portable application. Values of generated electrical power are reported and commented.

A multisource energy harvesting circuit for vibration and light energy with MPPT

SummaryThe article presents a multisource energy harvesting circuit (MEHC) for vibration and light energy with maximum power point tracking (MPPT). The MEHC has a cold start capability and extracts energy from piezoelectric transducers (PZTs) and photovoltaic cells (PVs) simultaneously when the multi PZTs reach their peak open‐circuit (OC) voltage, detected by the peak voltage detector and the PV1 cell voltage exceeds the MPP voltage (MPP voltage is approximately 0.7 times the PV cell's OC voltage) during the off‐peak time of the PZTs. The experimental results indicate that the output power of the MEHC is 2.8 mW under certain conditions, and the maximum energy extraction efficiency of the PVs is about 75%. The output power of the MEHC is 4.59 times of that without PVs.

Increasing the robustness of electrodynamic WPT systems with hybrid electromechanical transduction

In this paper, we compare the electrical damping capability of low-frequency electrodynamic wireless power transmission (EWPT) systems based on a resonant electromechanical receiver in the context of increasing their mechanical robustness. This study is carried out for piezoelectric (PE) and electrodynamic (ED) transducers. The receiver studied, excited by a distant transmitter coil, consists of a magnet and a resonant cantilever beam, and both ED and PE transducers (hybrid system). A strategy based on dual energy conversion is proposed that takes advantage of each transduction characteristic: the receiver with high-quality-factor is sufficiently sensitive to very weak excitation fields far from the transmitter, while it is robust to strong magnetic fields close to the transmitter by damping its motion. This approach is particularly relevant to increase the robustness of resonant receivers powering moving sensor nodes as the field strength seen by the receiver can vary greatly. This paper aims to evaluate three energy transduction strategies (PE-only, ED-only and hybrid) to both harvest more power and increase EWPT systems robustness by overdamping. An analytical model of the system is presented along with comparison with experimental results from a 71.7 cm3 prototype. When the motion amplitude is limited to 0.7 mm to limit aging, the receiver output 19 mW which outperforms the PE and ED modes alone by a factor of 1.5 and 1.8, respectively. Furthermore, the hybrid receiver can limit the amplitude of motion to 0.7 mm under a magnetic field up to 3.6 mT, which is 2.5 and 1.2 times higher than PE and ED alone, respectively.

Application of synchro spline-kernelled chirplet transformation in nonlinear ultrasonic wave modulation: self-sensing method with temperature protection

The purpose of this work is to investigate the synchro spline-kernelled chirplet extracting transformation (SSCET) method for defect detection in the nonlinear ultrasonic wave modulation (NUWM) method. To implement the NUWM method using only one piezoelectric transducer, the self-sensing method is used. Self-sensing has many advantages, but it is sensitive to temperature changes. To reduce the temperature effects, a novel circuit has been designed and implemented. A sandwich beam with bolt loosening and an aluminum beam with boundary loosening damages are used to test the results of the SSCET method on the signal received from the self-sensing circuit. First, an aluminum beam with a loosened boundary is modeled based on beam theory including self-sensing circuits with temperature effects. In this study, SSCET results are compared with those of other time–frequency methods for the detection of the loosened boundary. Based on the temperature effects, the theoretical results are compared with the experimental results of the circuit. To quantify defect detection, a damage index calculated based on instantaneous frequency is provided. Three piezoelectric configurations are also compared with the self-sensing method damage index results. SSCET is then used to check bolt loosening in a sandwich beam for further investigation. The proposed method is compared to a previous self-sensing temperature compensation method. Based on the SSCET method, the severity of the bolt loosening is determined.

Design, preparation and electromechanical characteristics analysis of piezoelectric 1-3-type composites with sandwich polymer structures

Aiming at the shortcomings of the traditional 200 kHz 1–3 piezoelectric composites with a thickness of 7.5 mm, which have a lower electromechanical coupling coefficient, lower resolution and larger acoustic impedance, a piezoelectric 1–3-type composites with sandwich polymer structures with higher electromechanical coupling coefficient and lower acoustic impedance was designed in this paper. First, the piezoelectric composites with different volume fractions of piezoelectric ceramics and silicone rubber were simulated by COMSOL software, and the optimal volume fractions of piezoelectric ceramics and silicone rubber were obtained. Second, the first and second lateral mode frequencies of the piezoelectric 1–3-type composites with sandwich polymer structures with different kerf widths were calculated. Then, based on the electromechanical equivalent circuit, the electromechanical characteristics of the piezoelectric 1–3-type composites with sandwich polymer structures were analyzed, and the equivalent performance parameters of the piezoelectric composite were obtained. Compared with other 7.5 mm thickness 1–3 piezoelectric composites, it was found that the electromechanical coupling coefficient of the piezoelectric 1–3-type composites with sandwich polymer structures is significantly increased, and the acoustic impedance is significantly decreased. Therefore, the piezoelectric 1–3-type composites with sandwich polymer structures has great potential advantages in the preparation of high-performance piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers.

Combustion performance and flame front morphology of producer gas from a biomass gasification-based cookstove

The present work investigates the last phase of the biomass gasification-based cookstove, which is the combustion process of biomass producer gas (BGP). A constant volume combustion bomb and kinetic simulation are used to characterize the behavior of the biomass producer gas and its pollutant emissions under a conventional premixed combustion process. The BGP combustion processes of two types of biomasses available in Colombia (Pinus Patula and Cordia Alliodora) are studied under certain conditions of pressure, temperature, and equivalence ratio. To characterize the combustible mixture of gases obtained after biomass gasification, a combustion chamber with cylindrical geometry equipped with a Schlieren optical diagnostic system to visualize the combustion process, and a piezoelectric pressure transducer to register the instantaneous pressure are used. By visualizing the flame front, the flame propagation speed at which the flame propagates through the combustion chamber and the morphology of the flame are studied. Instantaneous pressure is the input of a two-zone diagnostic model through which variables, such as burning velocity, temperature, mass burned fraction, etc., are obtained to characterize the combustion process of the mentioned gasification gases. Experimental results are compared and complemented with kinetic modeling results obtained with the Cantera package using the Gri-Mech 3.0 and Aramko 1.3 kinetic mechanisms, in terms of laminar burning velocity and NO, NO2, CO, and CO2 exhaust emissions. Results show that Cordia Alliodora presents higher burning velocities than Pinus Patula BP. However, lower CO2 emissions are obtained during the Cordia Alliodora combustion, and NOx emissions are not influenced by the type of biomass considered.

A Deep Learning Approach for Autonomous Compression Damage Identification in Fiber-Reinforced Concrete Using Piezoelectric Lead Zirconate Titanate Transducers.

Effective damage identification is paramount to evaluating safety conditions and preventing catastrophic failures of concrete structures. Although various methods have been introduced in the literature, developing robust and reliable structural health monitoring (SHM) procedures remains an open research challenge. This study proposes a new approach utilizing a 1-D convolution neural network to identify the formation of cracks from the raw electromechanical impedance (EMI) signature of externally bonded piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) transducers. Externally bonded PZT transducers were used to determine the EMI signature of fiber-reinforced concrete specimens subjected to monotonous and repeatable compression loading. A leave-one-specimen-out cross-validation scenario was adopted for the proposed SHM approach for a stricter and more realistic validation procedure. The experimental study and the obtained results clearly demonstrate the capacity of the introduced approach to provide autonomous and reliable damage identification in a PZT-enabled SHM system, with a mean accuracy of 95.24% and a standard deviation of 5.64%.

Ultrasonic monitoring of hydration behavior of cement paste doped with triethanolamine using novel piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer

The propagation of ultrasonic wave in cement paste is closely related to its physical properties, and therefore shows a potential application in fields of online monitoring of hydration and hardening properties of the cementitious materials. Here, the hydration characteristics of cement paste doped with triethanolamine were studied based on the ultrasonic transmission method using the tailor-made horizontal omnidirectional piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer. The results show that clear ultrasonic waveforms can be observed at hydration age of 2 h. The dominant frequency of the reception wave is low at early hydration age and shifts towards the high frequency direction with hydration. The amplitude of the head wave increases sharply before hydration of 24 h, and the increasing extent decreases gradually until hydration of 166 h. The hydration process of cement at early hydration age can be classified into three stages based on amplitude changes of the head wave, that is, the induction period before 4 h, the acceleration period during 4–12 h, and the deceleration period after 12 h. The acoustic parameters of cement paste at early hydration age conform well to the logistic function distribution. The research finding might provide a new method to estimate hydration and hardening properties of cementitious materials, especially on large construction sites.

Repetition Frequency Control of a Mid-Infrared Ultrashort Pulse Laser

In this study, a method for controlling the repetition frequency of a mid-infrared ultrashort pulse laser with a central wavelength of 2.8 µm is developed. A ring cavity that is insensitive to the polarization state of the laser light emitted from the fiber end was constructed to stabilize the oscillation of the mid-infrared ultrashort pulse laser. More oscillation conditions for the ultrashort pulse laser based on nonlinear polarization rotation are found than the conventional method. To confirm that the pulse oscillation is mode-locked, ultrashort pulse oscillation was confirmed by an autocorrelator. The pulse repetition frequency of this robust ultrashort pulse laser was controlled. The control method was based on the phase-locked loop (PLL) control. A wedge window was inserted into the cavity and mounted on a linear stage driven by a piezoelectric transducer. By driving the piezoelectric transducer, the position of the wedge window changed, and the resulting optical path length also changed. The repetition frequency was controlled based on this principle. Optical path length control by the wedge window and temperature control provides an Allan deviation of approximately 1 mHz.

Novel method of multiaxis weaving and impact analysis of the ensuing composites

The study aims to develop a novel method of weaving multiaxis preform on conventional weaving machines and analyse impact tolerance of the ensuing composites along with development of finite element analysis model. An extra set of 200 tex carbon fibres, referred as bias fibres, were integrated into carbon fibre plain woven fabric during the weaving stage on a conventional closed reed weaving machine. This was achieved by partial carbon fibre weft insertion at regular intervals from both edges of the fabric. The multiaxis preform was used as ply on top of plain woven carbon fabric plies, each of 160 g per square meter aerial density. The carbon fibre composites were manufactured by infusing bisphenol F epoxy resin as a matrix and 4 plies of carbon fabric by hand layup method. The composites were subjected to low-velocity impact loading at 0.4 m height of 5.12 kg impactor, and force-time history was recorded by the piezoelectric transducer. A comparison of impact loading results showed that the multiaxis woven composites increase impact strength by 18.3% due to the reinforcement of bias fibre. Based on the test results, a finite element analysis model was developed in Ansys v.19 to simulate the stress distribution during impact loading of the multiaxis woven composites.

Design and performance evaluation of a pendulous piezoelectric rotational energy harvester through magnetic plucking of a fan-shaped hanging composite plate

Over the past decade, there has been significant interest in harvesting energy from rotational motion through piezoelectric transduction, with the aim of providing energy-autonomous structural health monitoring systems for rotating machinery. Unlike most existing separated-type magnetically plucked piezoelectric rotational energy harvesters (PREHs) where a separate stationary support is frequently required to place either exciting or excited magnets, we proposed a pendulous piezoelectric rotational energy harvester (P-PREH) which was characterized by the structural integration and simultaneous motion of the piezoelectric transducer and actuator to harvest energy from rotating machines without stationary support. Structure simulation, fabrication, and experimental testing were performed to verify the structural feasibility and investigate the effect of structure and exciting parameters. The results showed that the P-PREH can generate relatively stable output voltage within a wide range of rotary speeds because of the random swing of exciting disk. Besides, the load resistance-dependent power indicated that P-PREH with swing radius of proof mass of 160 mm and the exciting magnet quantity ratio of 0.82 could yield a maximum output power of 0.65 mW at 20 kΩ and 1120 r/min. Also, 50 blue LEDs, array of different color LEDs and a low-power light strip could be lighted by the P-PREH.

Waveguide‐Based On‐Chip Photothermal Spectroscopy for Gas Sensing

AbstractOn‐chip waveguide spectroscopic sensors have attracted considerable attention due to its potential for large‐scale integration. However, existing waveguide gas sensors based on direct absorption spectroscopy (DAS) suffer from limited sensitivity and measurement range. Here waveguide‐based on‐chip photothermal spectroscopy (PTS) is demonstrated for gas detection with high sensitivity and large dynamic range. On‐chip photothermal field due to non‐radiation relaxation of gas molecules and the resulted photothermal phase modulation are analyzed. By selecting chalcogenide glass (ChG) as the core‐layer material and fabricating thermally‐isolated ChG‐on‐SU8 waveguide for thermal field accumulation, a twofold increase in photothermal phase modulation is achieved as compared to ChG‐on‐SiO2 waveguides. Different from the major concern of multi‐path etalon noise in DAS, piezoelectric transducer noise in the interferometer is identified as the main source in this PTS. For a fair comparison, acetylene (C2H2) detection experiments are conducted using PTS and DAS with a 2 cm‐long ChG‐on‐SU8 waveguide. A remarkable sensitivity of 4 parts‐per‐million (ppm) is achieved, which is 16 times better than that of DAS. The dynamic range extends over five orders of magnitude for PTS, ≈3 orders of magnitude larger than that of DAS. Such high performance opens the possibility of fully‐integrated chip‐level sensors for low‐power, light‐weight applications.

Metasubstrate-based SH guided wave piezoelectric transducer for unidirectional beam deflection without time delay

Focusing the energy of a guided wave along a desired direction is of great significance in structural health monitoring (SHM), since it can improve the sensitivity to defects and reduce the complexity of signal interpretations. The phased array method is the most common approach for beam deflection, which requires a high uniformity of each element and the support of expensive and complex electronics. Moreover, the mirrored wave beam cannot be avoided for a linear array, resulting in the difficulty of distinguishing the defects at the symmetric positions. In this work, a metasubstrate-based piezoelectric transducer (MSBPT) is developed for unidirectional SH0 wave (the fundamental shear horizontal wave) beam deflection under a single driving source. The proposed MSBPT is constituted by a metasubstrate and two columns of thickness-shear mode PZT wafers. The metasubstrate is designed to provide the required phase gradient for unidirectional beam deflection, so no extra time delay is needed during excitation and reception. An analytical model is proposed to guide the design of the transducer to obtain the desired wave beam. The beam deflection properties of the MSBPT are validated by finite element simulations and experiments. It is observed that the MSBPT can concentrate the energy of the generated SH0 mode only in one desired direction with a small divergence angle. Moreover, the MSBPT can also serve as a sensor that only receives the SH0 mode propagating from the deflection angle and filters out the wave energies from other incident angles. Due to the simple configuration, the proposed MSBPT will be helpful in the controllable generation and reception of SH0 mode in SHM.

SMART monitoring and treatment of fracture healing: Piezoelectric transducers and stepper motor actuators

SMART monitoring and treatment of fracture healing: Piezoelectric transducers and stepper motor actuators

Smart Shoe Electricity Generation via Piezo-electric Transducers

Smart Shoe, also referred to as intelligent wearable footwear, has become increasingly popular. In recent times, the primary concern has been the challenges associated with generating electricity, largely stemming from the excessive use of existing resources. The need for power is growing more and more with each passing day. With the continuous advancements in technology and the utilization of sophisticated methods, wearable devices have been developed to generate electricity. Our research aims to produce renewable energy from the environment without any associated costs or negative impact on the environment. This objective can be accomplished through the utilization of Smart Shoes. The intelligent footwear has the capability to generate electricity, making it a highly effective solution. Our proposed system utilizes piezoelectric transducers to convert the mechanical foot pressure exerted by humans into electrical energy. This energy can then be harnessed to charge various devices that are commonly used in our daily commercial activities, such as smartphones. This type of technology is widely used for fall detections, posture monitoring, foot progression, angle monitoring, human activity recognition and these are all rely on the intellectual ability of shoe. Wearing a ‘Smart Shoe’ represents a minor advancement towards a more intelligent future.

Image segmentation method of rail head defects and area measurement of selected segments

The operation safety of railway transport, which is the most important economic and social factor, is largely determined by the technical condition of the rail track and measures to maintain the quality of its track management system. One of the system elements for ensuring the accident-free operation of the track is the technical diagnosis of rails using a method complex of non-destructive control of rails, such as acoustic (ultrasonic), magnetic, combined, etc., and monitoring of the track using methods of measuring the geometry of the rail track and its disturbances. When the wheel interacts with the rail, especially on high-speed and load-stressed sections, defects and damage inevitably occur in the rails. A rather large share of such defects are on the rolling surface of the rail head. Formed defects develop rapidly, which seriously complicates the safety of train traffic. Therefore, accurate and quick detection of defects on the rolling surface of the rail head is very important. However, it is quite difficult to detect defects on the rolling surface of the rail by the acoustic (ultrasound) method due to the violation of tight contact between the rolling surface of the rail head and the piezoelectric transducer. In this case, it is quite convenient to detect surface defects of the rail head using video control. The article provides a comparative analysis of segmentation methods. There has been presented the method of image segmentation of main rail defects based on general contour preparation and parallel-hierarchical (PH) transformation using their classification. The parallel-hierarchical transformation method allows to increase the segmentation accuracy of individual areas in the original image compared to similar ones. The algorithm of pyramidal generalized-contour preparation and the criterion system allows, by calculating the threshold for each level of the gray scale, to present the study of the image with the corresponding contour preparations at the segmentation level. Modeling of recursive generalized-contour preparation and PH transformation method for image segmentation problem of rail head defects shows that, compared to the segmentation method based on the increase of areas, the accuracy of image segmentation is better. A modified method of calculating the image contour area based on the coding of lines forming the boundaries of the black and white areas of the two-gradation image has been given.

Adhesive Porosity Analysis of Composite Adhesive Joints Using Ultrasonic Guided Waves.

Adhesively bonded composite joints can develop voids and porosity during fabrication, leading to stress concentration and a reduced load-carrying capacity. Hence, adhesive porosity analysis during the fabrication is crucial to ensure the required quality and reliability. Ultrasonic-guided wave (UGW)-based techniques without advanced signal processing often provide low-resolution imaging and can be ineffective for detecting small-size defects. This article proposes a damage imaging process for adhesive porosity analysis of bonded composite plates using UGWs measured by scanning laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV). To implement this approach, a piezoelectric transducer is mounted on the composite joint specimen to generate UGWs, which are measured over a densely sampled area. The signals obtained from the scan are processed using the proposed signal processing in different domains. Through the utilization of filter banks in frequency and wavenumber domains, along with the root-mean-square calculation of filtered signals, damage images of the adhesive region are obtained. It has been observed that different filters provide information related to different void sizes. Combining all the images reconstructed by filters, a final image is obtained which contains damages of various sizes. The images obtained by the proposed method are verified by radiography results and the porosity analysis is presented. The results indicate that the proposed methodology can detect the pores with the smallest detectable pore area of 2.41 mm2, corresponding to a radius of 0.88 mm, with an overall tendency to overestimate the pore size by an average of 11%.

CMUT as a Transmitter for Microbubble-Assisted Blood-Brain Barrier Opening.

Focused ultrasound (FUS) combined with microbubbles (MBs) has emerged as a promising strategy for transiently opening the blood-brain barrier (BBB) to enhance drug permeability in the brain. Current FUS systems for BBB opening use piezoelectric transducers as transmitters and receivers. While capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers (CMUTs) have been suggested as an FUS receiver alternative due to their broad bandwidth, their capabilities as transmitters have not been investigated. This is mainly due to the intrinsic nonlinear behavior of CMUTs, which complicates the detection of MB generated harmonic signals and their low-pressure output at FUS frequencies. Various methods have been proposed to mitigate CMUT nonlinearity; however, these approaches have primarily targeted contrast enhanced ultrasound imaging. In this study, we propose the use of polyphase modulation (PM) technique to isolate MB emissions when CMUTs are employed as transmitters for BBB opening. Our calculations for a human scale FUS system with multiple CMUT transmitters show that 10-kPa peak negative pressure (PNP) at 150-mm focal distance will be sufficient for MB excitation for BBB opening. Experimental findings indicate that this pressure level can be easily generated at 400-800 kHz using a readily available CMUT. Furthermore, more than 50-dB suppression of the fundamental harmonic signal is obtained in free field and transcranial hydrophone measurements by processing receive signals in response to phase-modulated transmit waveforms. In vitro validation of PM is also conducted using Definity MB flowing through a tube phantom. MB-filled tube phantoms show adequate nonlinear signal isolation and SNR for MB harmonic detection. Together our findings indicate that PM can effectively mitigate CMUT harmonic generation, thereby creating new opportunities for wideband transmission and receive operation for BBB opening in clinical and preclinical applications.

Employing finite element analysis for assessing the condition monitoring of sandwich beams

In engineering and transportation, beams are frequently utilized as structural elements for both static and dynamic loads. This paper focuses on a smart structure method that incorporates ANSYS software for modeling and simulation. Piezoelectric transducers are employed for actuation and sensing throughout the structure. The governing equation of a finite element that converts the mechanical energy of the structure into the electric energy of the piezoelectric material is derived using Hamilton's principle. Debonding of piezoelectric sensors/actuators is caused by structural alterations in sandwich beams, and this leads to a notable fluctuation in both static and dynamic responses. It has been shown that Finite Element Modeling with ANSYS software yields accurate numerical solutions over a broad range of related parameters. The results are displayed and vibration modes are animated by utilizing the graphical post processing capabilities. It has been observed that the material and structural alterations are what cause the increase in natural frequencies. With an input of 1 V, the load is adjusted between 0 and 5000 Hz for every material configuration.

Coupled vibration of a radially polarized piezoelectric cylinder with a co-axial elastic cylinder of varying height.

The cylindrical piezoelectric transducer has the advantages of large radiation area, high electromechanical coupled coefficient, and omni-direction radiation along the radius. In this paper, a piezoelectric transducer consisting of a radially polarized piezoelectric cylinder and an outer metal cylinder of varying height is presented. The metal cylinder of varying height is approximated as the radial superposition of multiple uniform height metal cylinders, and the equivalent impedance of the transducer's coupled vibration is obtained by using the impedance matrix method, and then the resonance frequency, anti-resonance frequency, effective electromechanical coupled coefficient, and displacement amplification coefficient are obtained. In this paper, the relationship between the vibration characteristics of the cylindrical piezoelectric transducer and its geometric dimensions is studied. An experimental sample of the transducer is fabricated and assembled, and its electrical impedance curve is measured. The measured results are in good agreement with the simulation results and the theoretical calculation results. The displacement distribution of the radiation surface of the transducer at resonance frequency is measured, which verifies that the two coupled vibration modes of the transducer can be effectively excited.