Often Asked Questions About Piezo Transducers, Actuators And Piezoresistive Sensors

Piezo Impact:

The piezoelectric effect can be found in certain substances (like quartz) that possess a nuclear lattice structure forming a rhomboid or cubic mobile. When pressure (mechanical pressure) is placed on the construction, it generates an electrical charge and, as soon as an electrical field is used, a mechanical deformation happens. “Piezo” is derived from the Greek term for stress.

Piezo Transducer:

A piezo transducer converts electrical energy from mechanical energy or vice versa. Basically any sort of piezo mechanism could be referred to as a transducer. Piezoelectrics can react quite quickly to induce voltage fluctuations and therefore are frequently utilized to create sound or vibrations. Piezo transducers are employed in microphones, guitar audio pickups, speakers, buzzers, headphones, etc. The benefit of a piezo speaker over a magnetically driven speaker can be found in, compactness, efficiency and robustness of the piezo ceramic plates that are utilized to maneuver the speaker diaphragm picture.

Sonar and ultrasound imaging will also be predicated on piezoelectrics. In cases like this, the ultrasonic transducers are driven in their mechanical resonance frequency, a phenomenon that considerably increases the amplitude whilst reducing the input at precisely the exact same period, i.e. the machine is controlled at its greatest efficiency.

Piezo Actuator vs. Transducer:

In motion control applications, piezo mechanic components are often known as piezo actuators. A piezo actuator is generally utilized to create forces or to place loads very accurately. In motion control applications piezo actuators are often operated well under their mechanical resonant frequency.

Piezo resistive detectors:

Piezoresistive sensors are cheap, mass produced, generally silicon-based detectors that are quite commonly used for stress sensing applications. They are occasionally used together with piezo actuators to give position feedback or force feedback, for example on closed-loop microscope placement phases. Piezoresistive implies that the resistance varies with the applied pressure. Unlike piezo sensors, piezoresistive sensors don’t create a fee (energy) and they cannot convert mechanical in electric energy and vice versa. In precision nano-positioning applications, piezoresistive sensors are a good selection for entry-level systems. Other detectors are accessible when trimming edge performance is demanded.