Piezo Sensor ApplicationsPiezo sensors represent another broad area of piezoelectric applications. Apart from classical vibration recorders to detect imbalances of rotating machine parts or in crash detectors in the automotive industry, they are being used more and more in ultrasonic level measurement and flow rate measurement applications. There, for example, the propagation time of the reflected echo of an ultrasonic wave is evaluated. Flow rate measurements are based on propagation time measurements or on the Doppler effect (measurement of phase difference). Further typical applications of “soft“ piezo ceramics are to be found in object identification and surveillance (e. g. surveillance sensors for cars, glass tampering detectors, etc.), sound transmitters (buzzers) and sound receivers (microphones), to their use in the sound pickups of musical instruments. The most important applications of the “hard“ piezo ceramic materials are for the generation of high-powered ultrasonic waves. The advantages of these PZT materials are their moderate permittivity, piezoelectric high coupling factors, high Q-factors and very good stability under high mechanical loads and operating field strengths. Low dielectric losses facilitate their continuous use in resonance mode with only low intrinsic warming of the component. Practical examples of their applications can be found in the fields of ultrasonic cleaning (typically kHz range), the machining of materials (ultrasonic welding, bonding, drilling etc.), ultrasonic processing (e. g. liquid dispersion), in the medical field (ultrasonic dental scale removal, surgical instruments, etc.) and also in sonar technology. And many cannot imagine everyday life without the familiar piezo igniters!
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