Novel piezoelectric structures for sensor applications

Piezoelectric ceramic devices have been formed into the helical spring shapes from tubular extrudates. These structures are shown to possess low compliance and low natural resonant frequencies. Equations are presented allowing the prediction of the resonant frequencies of the devices; these are shown to be in good agreement with measured responses. Using the design criteria a device has been constructed to exhibit a low fundamental resonance and a clear spectrum up to 500 Hz. The frequency response is shown for this device and compared to a conventional electromagnetic geophone. The results show that the device acts as a displacement sensor providing an output charge of 0.427 mC/m with no observed spurious resonances.