SENSORS and

ACTUATORS
Control Systems
Instrumentation

Lecture notes
Instructor: Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 1 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 Lecture 7 (Week 8):
Piezoelectric effect and Acoustic wave

Main contents
1. General principle of Piezoelectric effect
2. Piezoelectric acceleration sensor
3. Piezoelectric pressure sensor
4. General principle of Acoustic wave
5. Ultrasonic sensor
6. Ultrasonic Flow Transmitter
7. Ultrasonic Level Transmitter
8. Radar wave and its applications (Radar Level Transmitter, military
application)

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 2 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 General Principle of Piezoelectric Effect
Piezoelectric effect
The piezoelectric effect consists of the appearance
of a voltage in a material subject to deformation.
This is due to the change in the internal
distribution of the electric charge of an asymmetric
crystal structure.
This redistribution of electric charge gives rise to
the appearance of an excess of positive and
negative electrical charges on opposite faces of the
material

molecule

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 3 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 General Principle of Piezoelectric Effect
Conversely, if any time varying electric potential is applied across the two ends of
the piezoelectric material, the material undergoes deformation and vibrates with a
certain frequency. This is call piezoelectric effect.
Piezoelectric crystal are of two types:
a) Natural crystals – Quartz, Tourmaline, etc.
b) Synthetic Crystals – Rochelle Salt, Lithium Sulphate, Polymers, etc.

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 4 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 Piezoelectric Accelerometer
Piezoelectric materials can be used to
create acceleration sensors. This type
of sensor uses a test mass which,
under acceleration, causes a force on
the piezoelectric material. This force,
in turn, causes a deformation that
results in a voltage that is proportional
to acceleration.

* Constructed components: * Working principle:

- Piezoelectric crystal When the base is subjected to acceleration,
a in any direction, the whole device is
- Seismic mass accelerated. The mass attached with the
- Measuring electrodes crystal is also accelerated.
As a results, the mass m exerts a force, F
on the crystal given by:
𝑭 = 𝒎𝒂

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 5 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 Piezoelectric Accelerometer
• When force acts on the crystal, it
undergoes deformation and produces
an output voltage as per piezoelectric
effect given by:
𝑭
𝑬 = 𝒈𝒕 = 𝒈𝒕𝑷
𝑨
Or
𝒎𝒂
𝑬 = 𝒈𝒕
𝑨

K
𝑨 where : g =
➔ 𝒂= 𝑬 t
𝒈𝒕𝒎 g : Voltagesensitivity ( Vm N ) → const
K : piezoelectric constant → const
➔ E and a are directly proportional to t : thickness of crystal → const
each other m : mass
F : force applied (N)
( )
A : area of the crystal surface m 2 → const
(
P : pressure = F N m 2
A )
Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 6 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.
 Piezoelectric pressure sensor
Piezoelectricity is the charge created across certain materials when a mechanical
stress is applied.
Piezoelectric pressure sensors exploit this effect by measuring the voltage across a
piezoelectric element generated by the applied pressure. They are very robust and
are used in a wide range of industrial applications.
The output is linear over a wide range, typically 0.7 KPa to 70
MPa (0.1 to 10000 psi) with an accuracy of about 1%.

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 7 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 Piezoelectric pressure sensor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQvIdZi8_Lk

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 8 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 General principle of Acoustic wave
General concept:
- An acoustic wave is the alternating
compression and expansion of a
material that can be solid, liquid, or
gaseous. These waves are called to be
sound waves if they have a frequency
between 20 Hz and 20 kHz.
+ Frequencies < 20 Hz → are called
infrasound (hạ âm)
+ Frequencies from 20Hz~20kHZ →
are called acoustic wave or
auditable wave
+ Frequencies ≥20 kHz are called
ultrasound (siêu âm)

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 9 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 General principle of Acoustic wave
General concept:
Infrasound: There are two types of sources of infrasonic
sound: manmade and natural sources:
a) Manmade sources: Some human activities of everyday
life creates infrasound waves such as by the engine of
a vehicle, gunshots, etc. Apart from those, infrasound
waves are also generated by sonic booms, nuclear or
chemical explosions, or by machinery such as wind
turbines, diesel engines.
b) Natural sources: Natural sources of infrasound waves
are storms, volcanoes, earthquakes, waterfalls, calving
of icebergs, meteors, lightning, nonlinear ocean waves,
etc.
c) The detection of infrasound is used in the structural
analysis of buildings, earthquake prediction,... When
infrasound has a significant magnitude, it can be felt
by humans, even causing psychological effects (panic,
fear, etc.)

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 10 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 General principle of Acoustic wave
General concept:
Animals are extremely sensitive to infrasound, and use different ranges of sound waves
for communication among them:
- Elephants use infrasound to communicate up to 10 miles of distance.
- Jelly fish can hear a storm from the many kilometers by the infrasound produced by the
waves on the surface of the ocean, and they dive deep before the storm can cause harm
to them

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 11 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 General principle of Acoustic wave
General concept:
Audible waves: can be created by vibrating strings (stringed musical
instruments), vibrating columns of air (wind instruments), and vibrating plates
(some vibrating instruments, vocal cords, and speakers).

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 12 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 General principle of Acoustic wave
There are two commonly used types of waves:
• Longitudinal waves — in which the motion of the particles made according to
the direction of propagation;
• Tangential (transverse) waves — in which the motion of the particles is
perpendicular to the direction of propagation .

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 13 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 General principle of Acoustic wave
The characteristic acoustic impedance of material reflects the opposition that this
material offers to the displacement of particles by sound waves and is defined as:
𝑍0 = 𝑐𝜌
Where 𝜌 is the material density and c is the speed of sound in that material.

Example:
Example of the loss of signal due to
the interface between water and
steel:
Water and steel have acoustic
impedances of 1.5 Mpa.s/m and 45
MPa.s/m, respectively. Notice that
only 12% of the transmitted signal
penetrates the steel.

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 14 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 Ultrasound (ultrasonic) sensor
Ultrasounds: are typically used for measuring distance. A wave is emitted at a
certain point, and it takes time to return from this point after a given object
reflects it; that time is measured to determine the distance traveled by the
wave. One of the first practical applications of this type was used in sonar to
detect submarines underwater.

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 15 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 Ultrasound (ultrasonic) sensor
Ultrasound sensor is also used to measure the distance between two points,
with applications in mapping, determining the geometry of objects, detection
of obstacles, and as an aid for car parking, among others.
Operational principle :The waves are emitted by a transmitter and received by
a receiver. The time between emission and reception (Δt) is used to estimate the
distance, knowing the propagation velocity (v)
𝑑 = 𝑣. ∆𝑡

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 16 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 Ultrasound (ultrasonic) sensor
There are three typical configurations:
• Emitter and receiver face to face;
• Emitter and receiver side by side;
• The same transducer as the transmitter and the receiver

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 17 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 Ultrasound (ultrasonic) sensor
Computation:
Let ∆𝑡 is total time delay from transmit to
receive.
v is speed of sound (~343m/s in dry air 20
degC)
D is a distance measured
Notes: 343m/s = 0.0343 cm/us or sound will
takes 29.145us to travel one centimeter.
Therefore we have two methods to calculate
a distance D:
t
D v
2
t 2 t
Or : D
29.154 58

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 18 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 Ultrasound (ultrasonic) sensor
Application of ultrasound :

Thickness measurement

Parking

Despina Bazou, Nir Maimon, "Effects of Low Intensity Continuous

Ultrasound(LICU) on Mouse Pancreatic Tumor Explants", Applied Science, 2017

temperature measurement
Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 19 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.
 Ultrasound (ultrasonic) sensor
Application of ultrasound :

Level
measurement Detecting flaws in materials

Radar, mapping application Object detection

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 20 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.
 Ultrasound (ultrasonic) sensor
Application: use sonar sensor to detect an object

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 21 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 Ultrasound (ultrasonic) sensor
Application:

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 22 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 Ultrasound (ultrasonic) sensor
Application: video of UAV obstacle avoidance, sonar sensor is used to detect an object

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 23 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 Ultrasound (ultrasonic) sensor
Ultrasonic flow meter uses ultrasonic waves to calculate the speed of the moving
liquid in any tube or pipe.

• When fluid is not moving then the

waves have the same frequency.
• But when fluid is moving then the
frequency of a reflected wave is different
from the sending wave according to the
Doppler Effect.
• With the increment in the speed of
liquid, the variation in the frequency also
increases. The transmitter works on the
signal received from the transmitted
wave and reflected wave to find the rate
of flow of fluid.

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 24 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 Ultrasonic Flow Meter sensor

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 25 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 Ultrasonic Flow Meter sensor

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 26 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 Ultrasonic Flow Meter sensor

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 27 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 Ultrasonic Flowmeter sensor
video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRKlR4YgMHw

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 28 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 Ultrasound Level Transmiter
Ultrasonic Level meter uses ultrasonic waves to calculate the distance from sensor
head to Liquid surface.

Ultrasonic level sensor uses a single ultrasonic element

for both emission and reception. In a reflective model
ultrasonic level sensor, a single oscillator emits and
receives ultrasonic waves alternately.

Level = Range – Distance

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 29 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 Ultrasound Level Transmitter
Datasheet of ultrasonic level transmitter

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 30 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 Radar Sensor
The use of ultrasound allows measuring distances of a few centimeters to a few
meters. They achieve a greater range than capacitive or inductive sensors but a
smaller range than sensors using electromagnetic waves. It has, however, the
advantage over these last ones of being easier to use.
Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation. Radio waves
have frequencies 30 hertz (Hz) to 300 (GHz). (Radar application)
• RADAR acronym for Radio Detection and Ranging.
• Using an electromagnetic wave for the detection and location of target objects such
as aircraft, ships, spacecraft, vehicles, people, and the natural environment which
can reflect a signal back.
• It uses electromagnetic radio waves to determine the angle, range, or velocity of
objects.
• Radar covers a range of 1cm–104km.

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 31 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 Radar Sensor
Electromagnetic radiation
Radar Frequencies from 30 hertz (Hz) to
𝑚
300 (GHz), velocity 𝑐 = 3. 108 [ 𝑠 ]
Major advantage of radar:
- it works under all weather conditions.
- It is able to detect multiple target speed,
heading, size.

c *t
D
2
c 3 108 m s
t : time to receive return signal

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 32 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 Radar Level Sensor
• Radar Level Sensor: Radar liquid level sensors are measurement devices which
transmit and receive high frequency radio waves (microwaves) to measure the
distance to the surface of a liquid based substance.
Video:

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 33 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 Radar Level Sensor
• Datasheet example

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 34 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 Radar Sensor
Application in Military
- Pulse are emitted as the radar dish rotates around on its platform.
- Antenna receives the return signal from the target
- Angle of target = vector display angle = angle of antenna dish
- Target distance = distance from center of screen = traveled time of
reflected pulse

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 35 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 Radar Sensor
Application in Military

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 36 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 Radar Sensor
Applications

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 37 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

 HCMUTE Univ. - FME
https://fme.hcmute.edu.vn/

Lecture notes info

Sensors and Actuators
Fall Semester, 2021
------------------------------------------------

© Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.

Email: thanh.hlnn@hcmute.edu.vn
Sites: https://sites.google.com/view/halenhungocthanh/courses?authuser=0

Mechatronics Engineering - Sensors and Actuators 38 © Ha Le Nhu Ngoc Thanh, Ph.D.