Bill Heeter

Porter High School
Engineering Teacher
Porter, Texas
wheeter@newcaneyisd.org

Craig Maddux

Porter High School
Engineering Teacher
Porter, Texas
cmaddux@newcaneyisd.org

Using Piezoelectric Film to Capture Voltage


Abstract:
Piezoelectric Film is an enabling transducer technology with unique capabilities. Piezoelectric Film produces voltage in proportion to compressive or tensile mechanical stress or strain, making it an ideal dynamic strain gage. It makes a highly reliable, low-cost vibration sensor, accelerometer or dynamic switch element. Piezo Film is also ideally suited for high fidelity transducers operating throughout the high audio (>1kHz) and ultrasonic (up to 100MHz) ranges. The Piezoelectric Film can become a power source that can be used to power another device. By flexing the PVDF film a voltage is created, that voltage can then be captured and stored until needed.

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Science


"Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge." - Carl Sagan

Technology


"The real problem is not whether machines think, but whether men do." -B. F. Skinner

Engineering


"Engineering stimulates the mind. Kids get bored easily. They have got to get out and get their hands dirty: make things, dismantle things, fix things. When the schools can offer that, you'll have an engineer for life." -Bruce Dickinson

Mathematics


"Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas." -Albert Einstein