i have a piezoelectric sensor with no specification. how will i know what force gives what voltage?

Question

I have a Peizoelectric sensor. it doesnt bear a manufacturer or supplier name nor does it bear and details pertaining to range, resolution, sensitivity etc... how do i know what force (input to sensor) gives what voltage (output from sensor). what components shud be used on the output side?? -- (like amplifier, conditioner, Voltmeter)

Answer 1

The output wire would need to connnect to a sensitive charge amplifier if it has no amplifier inside. In this case it would have only one small coax wire going out from its body and no other wires.

If it has a charge amp inside, there would be no coax wire. The output wires would be a differential voltage pair. And the input wires would need a DC excitation voltage, many use 10V.

After connecting it up electrically, then you vibrate it to test its sensitivity. PR and VC accelerometers detect static g-field and the more sensitive of them may be tested by flipping up and down to read the 1g and -1g outputs. PE accelerometers detect vibrations so you need to vibrate it to its range of frequencies, pressing it does nothing. Depending on its size, if the size is about the pencil-attached erasor, then its frequency response Bode plot should start out at negative tens of dB at near DC frequencies, ramp up to the flat gain sensitivity segment at maybe around one kHz, keep relatively flat until about 1/10 of an octave from its natural frequency which, for a pencil size sensor, should be higher than 50 kHz. At natural frequency, the sensitivity shoots up by tens of dB then dies out quickly going to higher frequencies.

Hope that helped!

Answer 2

Set up your own scale and then later convert it to the standard scale by comparing it with the scale given in the voltmeter.

Answer 3

Set up your own scale and then later convert it to the standard scale by comparing it with the scale given in the voltmeter