Search results for "piezoelectricity"
showing 10 items of 99 documents
Carrier Transport in GaAs Nanowires Using Surface Acoustic Waves
2012
ABSTRACTThe oscillating piezoelectric field of a surface acoustic wave (SAW) is employed to transport photoexcited electrons and holes in GaAs nanowires (NWs) transferred to a SAW beam line on a LiNbO3 crystal. We show that carriers generated in the NW by a focused light spot can be acoustically transported to a second location, where they recombine emitting short light pulses. The results presented here demonstrate the high-frequency manipulation of carriers in NWs without the use of electrical contacts, which opens new perspectives for applications in opto-electronic devices operating at GHz frequencies.
A Strain Sensing Structural Health Monitoring System for Delaminated Composite Structures
2012
Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) for composite materials is becoming a primary task due to their extended use in safety critical applications. Different methods, based on the use of piezoelectric transducers as well as of fiber optics, has been successfully proposed to detect and monitor damage in composite structural components with particular attention focused on delamination cracks.In the present paper a Structural Health Monitoring model, based on the use of piezoelectric sensors, already proposed by the authors for isotropic damaged components, is extended to delaminated composite structures. The dynamic behavior of the host damaged structure and the bonded piezoelectric sensors is m…
A regular variational boundary model for free vibrations of magneto-electro-elastic structures
2011
In this paper a regular variational boundary element formulation for dynamic analysis of two-dimensional magneto-electro-elastic domains is presented. The method is based on a hybrid variational principle expressed in terms of generalized magneto-electro-elastic variables. The domain variables are approximated by using a superposition of weighted regular fundamental solutions of the static magneto-electro-elastic problem, whereas the boundary variables are expressed in terms of nodal values. The variational principle coupled with the proposed discretization scheme leads to the calculation of frequency-independent and symmetric generalized stiffness and mass matrices. The generalized stiffne…
Low-Temperature Solution Processable Electrodes for Piezoelectric Sensors Applications
2013
Piezoelectric thin-film sensors are suitable for a wide range of applications from physiological measurements to industrial monitoring systems. The use of flexible materials in combination with high-throughput printing technologies enables cost-effective manufacturing of custom-designed, highly integratable piezoelectric sensors. This type of sensor can, for instance, improve industrial process control or enable the embedding of ubiquitous sensors in our living environment to improve quality of life. Here, we discuss the benefits, challenges and potential applications of piezoelectric thin-film sensors. The piezoelectric sensor elements are fabricated by printing electrodes on both sides of…
On the repeatability of the EMI for the monitoring of bonded joints
2015
We study the feasibility and the repeatability of the electromechanical impedance (EMI) method for the health monitoring of lightweight bonded joints. The EMI technique exploits the coupling between the displacement field and the potential field of a piezoelectric material, by attaching or embedding a piezoelectric transducer to the structure to be monitored. The sensor is excited by an external voltage and the electrical admittance which is the ratio between the electric current and the applied voltage is measured as it depends on the mechanical coupling between the transducer and the host structure. Owing to this interaction, the admittance may represent a signature for the health of the …
Numerical Analysis of Piezoelectric Active Repair in the Presence of Frictional Contact Conditions
2013
The increasing development of smart materials, such as piezoelectric and shape memory alloys, has opened new opportunities for improving repair techniques. Particularly, active repairs, based on the converse piezoelectric effect, can increase the life of a structure by reducing the crack opening. A deep characterization of the electromechanical behavior of delaminated composite structures, actively repaired by piezoelectric patches, can be achieved by considering the adhesive layer between the host structure and the repair and by taking into account the frictional contact between the crack surfaces. In this paper, Boundary Element (BE) analyses performed on delaminated composite structures …
Piezoelectric energy harvesting from raised crosswalk devices
2015
This paper presents the main characteristics of an experimental energy harvesting device that can be used to recover energy from the vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The use of a piezoelectric bender devices leads to a innovative approach to Henergy Harvesting. The study focuses on the definition and specification of a mechanical configuration able to transfer the vibration from the main box to the piezoelectric transducer. The piezoelectric devices tested is the commonly used monolithic piezoceramic material lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT). The experimental results estimate the efficiency of this device tested and identify the feasibility of their use in real world applications. The results…
A boundary element model for structural health monitoring using piezoelectric transducers
2013
In this paper, for the first time, the boundary element method (BEM) is used for modelling smart structures instrumented with piezoelectric actuators and sensors. The host structure and its cracks are formulated with the 3D dual boundary element method (DBEM), and the modelling of the piezoelectric transducers implements a 3D semi-analytical finite element approach. The elastodynamic analysis of the structure is performed in the Laplace domain and the time history is obtained by inverse Laplace transform. The sensor signals obtained from BEM simulations show excellent agreement with those from finite element modelling simulations and experiments. This work provides an alternative methodolog…
Piezoelectric Rainfall Energy Harvester Performance by an Advanced Arduino-Based Measuring System
2018
This paper presents the performances of rainfall energy harvesting through the use of a piezoelectric transducer and an Arduino-based measuring system. Different studies agree on the possibility of generating electricity from rainfall, but to date, a study on measuring the quantity of energy produced during rainfall is still missing. The present study begins with results obtained from laboratory researchers using piezoelectric transducers and oscilloscopes, finalized to measure the energy produced from a single raindrop, and concludes with an ad hoc Arduino-based measuring system, aimed to measure the actual amount of electrical energy produced by a piezoelectric transducer that is exposed …
Structural Health Monitoring of Cracked Beam by the Dual Reciprocity Boundary Element Method
2012
In this paper a 2D boundary element model is used to characterize the transient response of a piezoelectric based structural health monitoring system for cracked beam. The BE model is written for piezoelectric non-homogeneous problem employing generalized displacements. The dual reciprocity method is used to write the mass matrix in terms of boundary parameters only. The multidomain boundary element technique is implemented to model non-homogeneous and cracked configuration, unilateral interface conditions are also considered to prevent the physical inconsistence of the overlapping between interface nodes belonging to the crack surfaces. To assess the reliability and the effectiveness of th…