Thin-film piezo sensors offer proportional mechanical transducer capabilities

Variohm EuroSensor is now stocking a selection of piezo thin-film sensor products from Measurement Specialties Inc. Piezo films offer versatile transducer capabilities, producing voltage in proportion to compressive or tensile mechanical stress and strain. They provide a compact and reliable solution as low-cost dynamic strain gauges, vibration sensors, accelerometers or dynamic switch elements. Piezo Film is also ideally suited for high fidelity transducers operating throughout the high audio (>1kHz) and ultrasonic (up to 100MHz) ranges. The range includes piezo cable, piezo film sheets and piezo film elements in addition to components such as piezo switches and ultrasonic sensors. Application areas for these materials and components are as diverse as the products. Piezo cable for instance can be a very effective medium for cost effective road vehicle axle counting systems where its compressive qualities - where voltage is generated proportional to the stress - can help determine both the number and load size of vehicles sampled. Piezo film finds uses in simple loudspeakers for instruments or as anti-tamper film for packaging. Piezo film elements are sub-components that can be used in dynamic strain gauges or as vibration sensors for alarms whilst piezoelectric ultrasound transmitters and receivers offer 'unique' advantages for two-dimensional positioning applications such as digitising pens, object detectors or distance measurement devices. A range of piezoelectric laboratory amplifiers is also available to aid development, says the company.