• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.17-29
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• 2016

Ultrasonic tomography is a powerful tool for identifying defects within an object or structure. But practical application of ultrasonic tomography to solids is often limited by time consuming transducer coupling. Air-coupled ultrasonic measurements may eliminate the coupling problem and allow for more rapid data collection and tomographic image construction. This research aims to integrate recent developments in air-coupled ultrasonic measurements with current tomography reconstruction routines to improve testing capability. The goal is to identify low velocity inclusions (air-filled voids and notches) within solids using constructed velocity images. Finite element analysis is used to simulate the experiment in order to determine efficient data collection schemes. Comparable air-coupled ultrasonic signals are then collected through homogeneous and isotropic solid (PVC polymer) samples. Volumetric (void) and planar (notch) inclusions within the samples are identified in the constructed velocity tomograms for a variety of transducer configurations. Although there is some distortion of the inclusions, the experimentally obtained tomograms accurately indicate their size and location. Reconstruction error values, defined as misidentification of the inclusion size and position, were in the range of 1.5-1.7%. Part 2 of this paper set will describe the application of this imaging technique to concrete that contains inclusions.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.189-206
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• 2012

This paper focuses on the actuation system combined with a piezoelectric transducer and an electric circuit, which leads to a new insight; the electric actuation system is equivalent to mechanical variable-stiffness actuation systems. By controlling the switch in the circuit, the electric status of the piezoelectric transducer is changed, and consequently a variable-stiffness mechanism is achieved on the electric actuator. This proposed actuator features a shift in the equilibrium point of force, while conventional electrically-induced variable-stiffness actuators feature the variation of the stiffness value. We intensively focus on the equilibrium shift in the actuation system, which has been neglected. The stiffness of the variable-stiffness actuator is periodically modulated by controlling the switch, to suppress the vibration of the system in an open-loop way. It is proved that this electric actuator is equivalent to its mechanical counterpart, and that the electrical version has some practical advantages over the mechanical one. Furthermore, another kind of electrically-induced variable-stiffness actuator, using an energy-recycling mechanism is also discussed from the viewpoint of open-loop vibration control. Extensive numerical simulations provide comprehensive assessment on both electrically-induced variable-stiffness actuators employed for open-loop vibration control.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.324-329
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• 2022

This paper proposes a shift-register-based multichannel ultrasonic focusing delay control method using a complex programmable logic device (CPLD) for a high resolution of ultrasonic focusing system. The proposed method can achieve the ultrasonic focusing through the delay control of driving signals of each ultrasonic transducer of an ultrasonic array. The delay of the driving signals of all ultrasonic channels can be controlled by setting the shift register in the CPLD. The experiment verified that the frequency of the clock used for the delay control increased, the error of the focusing point decreased, and the diameter of the focusing point decreased as the length of the shift register in the proposed method. The proposed method used only one CPLD for ultrasonic focusing and did not require to use complex hardware circuits. Therefore, the resources required for the design of an ultrasonic focusing system could be reduced. The proposed method can be applied to the fields of human computer interaction (HCI), virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).

• Journal of KSNVE
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.967-974
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• 1997

Distributed piezoeletric sensor and actuator have been designed for efficient vibration control of a cantilevered beam. Both PZT and PVDF have been used in this study, the former as an actuator and the latter as a sensor for the integrated structure. We have optimized the position and the size of the PZT actuator and the electrode shape of the PVDF sensor. Finite element method is used to model the structure and the optimized actuators, we have designed the active electrode width of the PVDF sensor along the span of the beam. Actuator design is based on the criterion of minimizing the system energy in the control modes under a given initial condition. Model control forces for the residual (uncontrolled) modes have been minimized during the sensor design to minimize the observation spill-over. Genetic algorithm and sequential quadratic programming technique have been utilized as an optimization scheme. Discrete LQG control law has been applied to the integrated structure for real time vibration control. Performance of the sensor, the actuator, and the integrated smart structure has been demonstrated by experiments.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.393-399
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• 2020

In this paper, the design method and experimental validation for the two-degree-of-freedom (2DOF) electromagnetic energy harvester are presented. The harvester consists of the rigid body suspended by four tension springs and electromagnetic transducers. Once the two resonant frequencies and the mass properties are specified, both the constant and the positions for the springs can be determined in the closed form. The designed harvester can locate two resonant peaks close to each other and forms the extended frequency bandwidth for power harvesting. Halbach magnet array is also introduced to enhance the output power. In the experiment, two resonant frequencies are measured at 34.9 and 37.6 Hz and the frequency bandwidth improves to 5 Hz at the voltage level of 207.9 mV. The normalized peak power of 4.587 mW/G² is obtained at the optimal load resistor of 367 Ω.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1063-1083
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• 2015

The main purpose of this research is to utilize simple mathematical models to depict the vibration behavior and the resulted sound field of a piezoelectric disk for ultrasonic transducers. Instead of using 1-D vibration model, coupled effect between the thickness and the radial motions was considered to be close to the real vibration behavior. Moreover, Huygens-Fresnel principle was used in both incident and reflected waves to analyze the sound field under obstacles in finite distance. Results of the tested piezoelectric disk show that, discrepancies between the simulation and experiment are 2.5% for resonant frequency and 12% for resulted sound field. Therefore, the proposed method can be used to reduce the complexity in modeling vibration problems, and increase the reliability on analyzing piezoeletric transducers in the design stage.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.267-284
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• 2014

This paper aims to present the analytical solutions of 2-2 cement based piezoelectric transducers in series electrically based on the theory of piezo-elastic dynamics. The solutions of two different kinds of 2-2 cement based piezoelectric transducers under external harmonic load are obtained by using the displacement method. The effects of electrical connection of piezoelectric layers, loading frequency, thickness and distance of piezoelectric layers on the characteristics of the transducers are discussed. Comparisons with other related experimental investigations are also given, and good agreement is found. The proposed 2-2 cement based piezoelectric transducers have a great potential application in monitoring structural health in civil engineering and capturing mechanical energy or monitoring train-running safety in railway system and traffic safety in road system.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2005.10b
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• pp.123-126
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• 2005

The IEEE 1451.4 standards defines an architectural model for interfacing smart transducers for sensors & actuators. This standard allows analogue transducers to communicate their identification and calibration data in a digital format. A digital format is called TEDS(transducer electronic data sheet). However, the standard template of IEEE 1451.4 TEDS do not supports gas sensors to use in electronic nose system, such as array sensors. In this paper, a solution to standardize sensors for electronic nose systems is presented.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.185-197
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• 2013

We developed a simultaneous strain measurement and damage detection technique using a pair of surface-mounted piezoelectric transducers and a fiber connecting them. This is a novel sensor configuration of the fiber acoustic wave (FAW) piezoelectric transducer. In this study, lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) transducers are installed conventionally on a plate's surface, which is a technique used in many structural health monitoring studies. However, our PZTs are also connected with an optical fiber. A FAW and Lamb wave are simultaneously guided in the optical fiber and the structure, respectively. The dependency of the time-of-flight of the FAW on the applied strain is quantified for strain sensing. In our experimental results, the FAW exhibited excellent linear behavior and no hysteresis with respect to the change in strain. On the other hand, the well-known damage detection function of the surface-mounted PZT transducers was still available by monitoring the waveform change in the conventional Lamb wave ultrasonic path.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.444-454
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• 2005

The IEEE 1451.4 standards defines an architectural model for interfacing smart transducers for sensors & actuators. This standard allows analogue transducers to communicate their identification and calibration data in a digital format. A digital format is called the TEDS (transducer electronic data sheet). However, the standard template TEDS of IEEE 1451.4 do not supports sensors to use in electronic tongue system, such as arrayed-potentiometric and voltametric sensors. In this paper, a solution to standardize sensors for E-Tongue (electronic tongue) and electronic tongue systems is presented.