Product category:
Positioners, servo drives
News Release from: PI (Physik Instrumente) | Subject: PI Brochure
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 22 November 2007
PI Brochure on 'Piezo Composite Patch
Transducers'
PI (Physik Instrumente) - a leading manufacturer of piezo-based precision motion-control equipment for industry, OEM and research - offers a new brochure on DuraAct Piezoelectric Patch Transducers
The new brochure contains a tutorial and explains applications for piezoceramic composites in fields such as noise and vibration cancellation, adaptive surface control, structural deformation and stabilisation, structural health monitoring, energy harvesting and high-dynamics force sensing Commercial applications of piezo composite patch transducers:
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 12 Jul 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
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The brochure can be ordered from PI.
A PDF is also available for download.
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PI is the industry leader in ultra-precision motion control devices for nanoscale manufacturing, test and research applications.
PI has been developing and manufacturing standard and custom precision products with piezoelectric and electromagnetic drives for 35+ years.
The company has been ISO 9001 certified since 1994 and provides innovative, high-quality solutions for OEM and research.
PI is present worldwide with eight subsidiaries and total staff of 450+.
The working principle of PI piezo-based equipment.
The term piezo is derived from the Greek word for pressure.
In 1880 Jacques and Pierre Curie discovered that an electric potential could be generated by applying pressure to quartz crystals; they named this phenomenon the piezo-electric effect.
Later they ascertained that when exposed to an electric potential, piezoelectric materials change shape.
This they named the inverse piezo-electric effect.
The piezo effect is used for sensor functionality, while actuator behaviour uses the inverse piezo effect.
The piezoceramic plates in DuraAct patch transducers resemble a capacitor.
The ceramic acts as a dielectric between its metallised surfaces.
When voltage is applied, an electric field is created inside the ceramic.
The field causes a uniform lateral contraction of the ceramic perpendicular to the direction of the electric field.
This behaviour is called the transverse piezoelectric effect (d31 effect).
The electric field strength determines the magnitude of the lateral contraction.
This is the key to simple control of the transducer modules.
When the modules are glued to a substrate, they effectively transfer force over the whole surface, not only at selected points, as with conventional actuators.
Conversely, DuraAct patch transducers transform changes in shape into electric current, thereby enabling their use as sensors or energy sources.
The piezoceramic response to a change of the electric field or to deformation is extremely fast.
Vibrations in the kilohertz range can be produced or detected.
Different excitation voltages are required and different contraction amounts possible, depending on the ceramic type and its dimensions.
The correlation between displacement and applied voltage is not linear. Request a free brochure from PI (Physik Instrumente) ...
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