Report on Pizo-electrical

Sensor
Introduction
A transducer can be anything which converts one form of energy to another.
Piezoelectric material is one kind of transducers. We squeeze this material or
we apply force or pressure on this material it converts it into electric voltage
and this voltage is function of the force or pressure applied to it. The material
which behaves in such a way is also known as piezoelectric sensor. The
electric voltage produced by piezoelectric Sensor can be easily measured by
voltage measuring instruments, which can be used to measure stresses or
forces. The physical quantity like mechanical stress or force cannot be
measured directly. Therefore, piezoelectric Sensor can be used.

Circuit diagram

Schematic symbol and electronic model of a piezoelectric

sensor

A piezoelectric transducer has very high DC output impedance and can be

modeled as a proportional voltage source and filter network. The voltage V at
the source is directly proportional to the applied force, pressure, or strain.
The output signal is then related to this mechanical force as if it had passed
through the equivalent circuit.
Frequency response of a piezoelectric sensor; output voltage vs applied force
A detailed model includes the effects of the sensor's mechanical construction
and other non-idealities. The inductance Lm is due to the seismic mass and
inertia of the sensor itself. Ce is inversely proportional to the mechanical
elasticity of the sensor. C0 represents the static capacitance of the
transducer, resulting from an inertial mass of infinite size. Ri is the insulation
leakage resistance of the transducer element. If the sensor is connected to a
load resistance, this also acts in parallel with the insulation resistance, both
increasing the high-pass cutoff frequency.
Report on Pizo-electrical
Sensor
In the flat region, the sensor can be modeled as a voltage source in series
with the sensor's capacitance or a charge source in parallel with the
capacitance
For use as a sensor, the flat region of the frequency response plot is typically
used, between the high-pass cutoff and the resonant peak. The load and
leakage resistance must be large enough that low frequencies of interest are
not lost. A simplified equivalent circuit model can be used in this region, in
which Cs represents the capacitance of the sensor surface itself, determined
by the standard formula for capacitance of parallel plates.[8][9] It can also
be modeled as a charge source in parallel with the source capacitance, with
the charge directly proportional to the applied force, as above.

Working principles
The main principle of a piezoelectric Sensor is that a force, when applied on
the quartz crystal, produces electric charges on the crystal surface. The
charge thus produced can be called as piezoelectricity. Piezo electricity can
be defined as the electrical polarization produced by mechanical strain on
certain class of crystals. The rate of charge produced will be proportional to
the rate of change of force applied as input. As the charge produced is very
small, a charge amplifier is needed so as to produce an output voltage big
enough to be measured. The device is also known to be mechanically stiff.
For example, if a force of 15 kiloN is given to the transducer, it may only
deflect to a maximum of 0.002mm. But the output response may be as high
as 100KiloHz.This proves that the device is best applicable for dynamic
measurement.
The figure shows a conventional piezoelectric Sensor with a piezoelectric
crystal inserted between a solid base and the force summing member. If a
force is applied on the pressure port, the same force will fall on the force
summing member. Thus a potential difference will be generated on the
crystal due to its property. The voltage produced will be proportional to the
magnitude of the applied force.
Report on Pizo-electrical
Sensor

Piezoelectric Sensor can measure pressure in the same way a force or an

acceleration can be measured. For low pressure measurement, possible
vibration of the amount should be compensated for. The pressure measuring
quartz disc stack faces the pressure through a diaphragm and on the other
side of this stack, the compensating mass followed by a compensating
quartz.

Field of application
Piezoelectric sensors are versatile tools for the measurement of various
processes. They are used for quality assurance, process control, and for
research and development in many industries. Pierre Curie discovered the
piezoelectric effect in 1880, but only in the 1950s did manufacturers begin to
use the piezoelectric effect in industrial sensing applications. Since then, this
measuring principle has been increasingly used, and has become a mature
technology with excellent inherent reliability.
They have been successfully used in various applications, such as in medical,
aerospace, nuclear instrumentation, and as a tilt sensor in consumer
electronics, or a pressure sensor in the touch pads of mobile phones. In the
automotive industry, piezoelectric elements are used to monitor combustion
when developing internal combustion engines. The sensors are either
directly mounted into additional holes into the cylinder head or the
spark/glow plug is equipped with a built-in miniature piezoelectric sensor.
However, it is not true that piezoelectric sensors can only be used for very
fast processes or at ambient conditions. In fact, numerous piezoelectric
applications produce quasi-static measurements, and other applications work
in temperatures higher than 500 C.
Report on Pizo-electrical
Sensor
Piezoelectric sensors can also be used to determine aromas in the air by
simultaneously measuring resonance and capacitance. Computer controlled
electronics vastly increase the range of potential applications for
piezoelectric sensors

Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Devices: An Alternative

Energy Source for Wireless Sensors
The recent advances in ultralow power device integration, communication
electronics, and micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology have
fuelled the emerging technology of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). The
spatial distributed nature of WSNs often requires that batteries power the
individual sensor nodes. One of the major limitations on performance and
lifetime of WSNs is the limited capacity of these finite power sources, which
must be manually replaced when they are depleted. Moreover, the
embedded nature of some of the sensors and hazardous sensing
environment make battery replacement very difficult and costly. The process
of harnessing and converting ambient energy sources into usable electrical
energy is called energy harvesting. Energy harvesting raises the possibility of
self-powered systems which are ubiquitous and truly autonomous, and
without human intervention for energy replenishment. Among the ambient
energy sources such as solar energy, heat, and wind, mechanical vibrations
are an attractive ambient source mainly because they are widely available
and are ideal for the use of piezoelectric materials, which have the ability to
convert mechanical strain energy into electrical energy. This paper presents
a concise review of piezoelectric micro generators and nanogenerators as a
renewable energy resource to power wireless sensor.