Shaping of piezoelectric polyvinylidene fluoride polymer film for tip position sensing of a cantilever beam

This paper describes a novel tip position sensor made of a triangularly shaped piezoelectric PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) film for a cantilever beam. Due to the boundary condition of the cantilever beam and the spatial sensitivity function of the sensor, the charge output of the sensor is proportional to the tip position of the beam. Experimental results with the PVDF sensor were compared with those using two commercially available position sensors: an inductive sensor and an accelerometer. The resonance frequencies of the test beam, measured using the PVDF sensor, matched well with those measured with the two commercial sensors and the PVDF sensor also showed good coherence over wide frequency range, whereas the inductive sensor became poor above a certain frequency.