Journal of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, 2014, 2, 32-37
Published Online October 2014 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/msce
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/msce.2014.210005
How to cite this paper: Wu, L., Chure, M.-C., Wu, K.-K. and Tung, C.-C. (2014) Voltage Generated Characteristics of Piezoe-
lectric Ceramics Cymbal Transducer. Journal of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, 2, 32-37.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/msce.2014.210005
Voltage Generated Characteristics of
Piezoelectric Ceramics Cymbal Transducer
Long Wu, Ming-Cheng Chure, King-Kung Wu, Chia-Cheng Tung
Department of Electronics Engineering, Far-East University, Tainan City, Chinese Taipei
Received August 2014
Abstract
In this study the relation between the generated open circuit output voltages of the piezoelectric
ceramics Cymbal transducers with applied impact mechanical energy is studied. The output vol-
tages of piezoelectric ceramics Cymbal transducers are increased with the increasing of the ap-
plied mechanical energy. Under the same impact mechanical energy, the generated open circuit
output voltages of the piezoelectric ceramics Cymbal transducer is much higher than that of un-
capped piezoelectric ceramics disk alone. The generated open circuit output voltages of the pie-
zoelectric ceramics Cymbal transducer depend on the geometry parameters and the metal thick-
ness of end-cap. The generated open circuit voltage of piezoelectric ceramics Cymbal transducer
with thick metal thickness is small than that with thin metal thickness.
Keywords
Cymbal Transducer, Piezoelectric, Energy Harvester
1. Introduction
After developed by Dogan et al. in 1997 [1], the piezoelectric ceramics Cymbal transducer has been applied in
many fields because of the ease of fabrication and the ability to tailor performance, especially to be used as the
key element of vibration controller, actuator of microstructure, and hydrophone etc. [2]-[6]. Besides being used
as the actuator and sensor, the piezoelectric ceramics Cymbal transducer also can be used as the energy harve-
ster [7]-[12]. Cymbal structure can produce a large in-plane strain under a transverse external force, which is
beneficial for the micro energy harvesting. Kim et al. [7]-[10] reported that piezoelectric energy harvesting
showed promising results under pre-stress cyclic conditions and validated the experimental results with finite
element analysis. The piezoelectric ceramics Cymbal transducer has the ability to generate more electric voltage
output and power output as compared to conventional flextensional mode transducer. In the future research, the
output electrical characteristic of piezoelectric ceramics Cymbal transducer is generated by mechanical vibra-
tions in a dynamic environment. But in this study, the output electrical characteristic of piezoelectric Cymbal
transducer is generated by mechanical vibrations in a static environment study.
2. Experimental Processes
The PZT piezoelectric ceramics used in this study were supplied by Eleceram Technology Co., Ltd., Taiwan.

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The PZT piezoelectric ceramics presented a free dielectric constant εT33(1 kHz) = 2100, a piezoelectric voltage
constant g33 = 24 × 10−3 Vm/N, a piezoelectric charge constant d33 = 470 × 10−12 C/N and d31 = −230 × 10−12
C/N, a planar electromechanical coupling factor kp = 0.70, a thickness electromechanical coupling factor k33 =
0.72, a mechanical quality factor Qm = 65.
The structure of piezoelectric ceramics Cymbal transducer was show in Figure 1. The diameter and the
thickness of PZT piezoelectric ceramics disk was 15 mm and 0.9 mm, respectively. The diameter of the end-cap
dp was the same as that of the PZT piezoelectric ceramics disk and equal to 15 mm, the cavity depth is keep
constant for each sample and equal to 2.0 mm, the dimple diameter de1 = 2, 3, 4 and 5 mm, and the cavity di-
ameter de 2 = 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 mm. Two types of brass foil were used as end-cap metal of the Cymbal transducer,
one with the thickness tb equal to 1.0mm (T-series), and the other equal to 0.6 mm (D-series). There are total 12
types Cymbal transducers with different end-cap parameters were used in this study, 7 for T-series and 5 for
D-series, as shown in Table 1.
The electrical output performance of piezoelectric ceramics Cymbal transducer during applying mechanical
compressive stress was measured using drop weight impact techniques, in a way as shown in Figure 2. A steel
Figure 1. The structure of piezoelectric Cymbal transducer.
Table 1. (a) The end-cap parameters of the T-series Cymbal transducers; (b) The end-cap parameters of the
D-series Cymbal transducers.
(a)
No. dp (mm) transducer diameter de1 (mm) dimple diameter de2 (mm) cavity diameter
T-1 15 2 9
T-2 15 3 8
T-3 15 4 7
T-4 15 5 6
T-5 15 2 7
T-6 15 3 6
T-7 15 2 5
(b)
No. dp (mm) transducer diameter de1 (mm) dimple diameter de2 (mm) cavity diameter
D-1 15 3 8
D-2 15 4 7
D-3 15 2 7
D-4 15 3 6
D-5 15 2 5

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Figure 2. Schematic drawing of the impact
testing.
ball (38.6 mm in diameter, 16.5 g in weight) was dropped from a height from 30 to 120 mm, through a steel
guide pipe, there by applying an impact to the test piezoelectric ceramics Cymbal transducer. The electrical re-
sponse of piezoelectric ceramics Cymbal transducer to applied stress was displayed on a digital storage memory
oscilloscope (Agilent MSO-X 3054A) with an input resistance R of 107 Ω, which was connected to a personal
computer (PC) for data acquisition and analysis.
3. Results and Discussions
Figure 3 and Figure 4 have shown the relation between applied mechanical energy and generated open circuit
voltage of piezoelectric ceramics Cymbal transducer with the thickness of end-cap metal equal to 1.0 mm (T-
series) and 0.6mm (D-series), respectively. From the results of Figure 3 and Figure 4, it found that no matter
how is the geometry parameter of end-cap, the generated open circuit output voltage of each piezoelectric ce-
ramics Cymbal transducer is increased with the increasing of applied mechanical energy.
In compared with the previous study [13], it found the generated open circuit output voltage of piezoelectric
ceramics Cymbal transducer is much larger than that of uncapped piezoelectric ceramic disk alone. From the
results of previous study [13], it found when the applied mechanical energy is equal to 45 mJ, the generated
open circuit output voltage of uncapped piezoelectric ceramic disk with diameter equal to 15 mm and thickness
equal to 0.9 mm is about 10 V, but when the same piezoelectric disk used as the piezoelectric element in pie-
zoelectric ceramics Cymbal transducer, the generated open circuit output voltage will increased to about 160 V
to 220 V, dependent on the end cap geometry. The amplification factor of piezoelectric ceramics Cymbal trans-
ducer used in this study is equal to 16 to 22, depend on the geometry of the end-cap.
The generated open circuit output voltage of piezoelectric ceramics Cymbal transducer is depend on the geo-
metry of the end-cap structure, and is varies with the ratio of (dimple diameter de1/cavity diameter de2). The gen-
erated open circuit output voltage of piezoelectric ceramics Cymbal transducer is increased with the increasing
of (dimple diameter de1/cavity diameter de2) ratio, as shown in Figure 5 and Figure 6. In which, Figure 5 is the
results of T-series piezoelectric ceramics Cymbal transducer, and the Fig ure 6 is the results of D-series piezoe-
lectric ceramics Cymbal transducer.
Figure 7 shows the relation between generated open circuit voltage and de1/de2 of T-series and D-series pie-
zoelectric ceramics Cymbal transducer with same end-cap structure under different impact mechanical energy.
From the results of Figure 7, it found with the same applied mechanical energy and the same end-cap structure,
the generated open circuit voltage of piezoelectric ceramics Cymbal transducer with thick metal thickness is
small than that with thin metal thickness. The decreased of generated open circuit voltage with the increased of
metal thickness is due to the deff decreased with an increase in the end-cap metal thickness [7].
4. Conclusion
Open circuit output voltage of piezoelectric ceramic Cymbal transducer increased with the increasing of the ap-
plied mechanical energy. Under the same impact mechanical energy, the generated open circuit output voltages
of the piezoelectric ceramic Cymbal transducer are much higher than that of uncapped piezoelectric ceramic
disk alone. The generated open circuit output voltage of piezoelectric ceramic Cymbal transducer depends on
the geometry parameters of the end-cap structure, and is increased with the increasing of (dimple diameter

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35
Figure 3. Relation between applied mechanical energy and
generated open circuit voltage of T-series piezoelectric ce-
ramics Cymbal transducer.
Figure 4. Relation between applied mechanical energy and
generated open circuit voltage of D-series piezoelectric ce-
ramics Cymbal transducer.
Figure 5. Relation between generated open circuit voltage and
de1/de2 of T-series piezoelectric ceramics Cymbal transducer.

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36
Figure 6. Relation between generated open circuit voltage and
de1/de2 of D-series piezoelectric ceramics Cymbal transducer.
(a)
(b)
Figure 7. Relation between generated open circuit voltage and
de1/de2 of T-series and D-series piezoelectric ceramics Cymbal
transducer with same end-cap structure under low impact
energy.

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37
de1/cavity diameter de2) ratio. Besides the geometry of the end-cap structure, the generated open circuit output
voltages of the piezoelectric ceramic Cymbal transducer also depend on the metal thickness of end-cap, the gen-
erated open circuit voltage of piezoelectric ceramic Cymbal transducer with thick metal thickness is smaller than
that with thin metal thickness.
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