SELF-GENERATING

SENSORS
Dr. Amer Alsaraira
 Self-Generating Sensors
• Self-generating sensors yield an electric signal from a measurand without requiring any
electric supply.
• They offer alternative methods for measuring many common quantities—in particular,
temperature, force, pressure, and acceleration.
• Furthermore, because they are based on reversible effects, these sensors can be used as
actuators to obtain nonelectric outputs from electric signals.
 THERMOELECTRIC SENSORS: THERMOCOUPLES
• A thermocouple consists of two different types of metals joined together at
one end (hot junction) and terminated at another end (cold junction).
• When the hot junction is heated or cooled, it generates a voltage known as
the thermoelectric voltage.
• A thermocouple consists of two different types of metals joined together at one end (hot junction) and
terminated at another end (cold junction).

• When the hot junction is heated or cooled, a voltage

created can be correlated back to the temperature.

• Theoretically, any pair of dissimilar materials can be

used for the construction of a thermocouple.
• But practically, only a few materials have found useful
for measuring temperature.
• The following table shows common types of
thermocouple materials with their temperature range.
 THERMOELECTRIC SENSORS: THERMOCOUPLES
• The thermocouple works on the principle of Seebeck effect.
• Thomas Johan Seebeck discovered that temperature difference(thermal energy) can produce electrical energy.
• In a thermocouple, two conductors of different type of metals are connected forming two common junctions.
• When these two junctions are exposed to two different temperatures, a net thermal emf is produced.
• The value also depends on the materials used and is proportional to the temperature difference between hot and
cold junctions.
• The output of a thermocouple can be measured directly by a millivoltmeter.
• It can be also measured with the help of a dc potentiometer or using amplifiers with an output device.
 THERMOELECTRIC SENSORS: THERMOCOUPLES
• The basic idea of a thermocouple is shown in following Figure.
• A voltmeter is connected using any conductor to the reference junction, whose temperature is already known.
• Then different metals (having different Seebeck coefficients) are used to make the connection to the sensing
junction, which is at an unknown temperature.
• The reference junction is held at a fixed temperature or is measured using another type of temperature sensor.
• Typically, the reference junction would be somewhat close to room temperature.
• The Figure shows four temperature gradients, and
hence four Seebeck voltages.
• The thermoelectric voltages in the copper cancel out,
because they have the same temperature gradient and
use the same conductor for each direction.
• Therefore, the measured voltage only depends on the
temperature difference between Tsense and Tref, and the
choice of metals for conductors A and B.
 THERMOELECTRIC SENSORS: THERMOCOUPLES
The application of thermocouples to temperature measurement is subject to several limitations.
• we must select the type of thermocouple so that it does not melt in our application.
• we must keep the current along the thermocouple circuit very small.
• Otherwise, because the Peltier and Thomson effects are reversible, the temperatures of the conductors and
particularly those of the junctions would differ from that of the environment because of the heat flow to and
from the circuit.
• Another limitation is that one of the junctions must be kept at a fixed temperature if the temperature at the other
junction is to be measured.
• Any change in that reference junction would result in a serious error because the output voltage is very small,
typically from 6 μV/oC to 75 μV/oC.
 THERMOELECTRIC SENSORS: THERMOCOUPLES
In spite of the above limitations, thermocouples have many advantages and are by far the most frequently used
sensors for temperature measurement.
• They have a very broad measurement range, as a group from -270 oC to 3000 oC ,and each particular model has a
broad range.
• They also display acceptable long-term stability and a high reliability.
• Furthermore, at low temperatures they have higher accuracy than RTDs. T
• heir small size also yields a fast speed of response, on the order of milliseconds.
• They are also robust, simple, and easy to use, and very low-cost models are available suitable for many
applications.
• Because they do not need excitation, they do not have the self-heating problems suffered by RTDs, particularly in
gas measurements.
• They also accept long connection wires.
 PIEZOELECTRIC SENSORS
• The piezoelectric effect is the appearance of an electric polarization in a material that strains under stress.
• It is a reversible effect. Therefore, when applying an electric voltage between two sides of a piezoelectric
material, it strains.
• piezoelectric effect exists in
• natural crystals (e.g. quartz - SiO2)
• artificially polarized (e.g. ceramics and polymers)
• quartz crystal model as helix
• one silicon and two oxygen atoms alternating around helix
• single cell (slice of helix) contains 3 Si atoms and 6 O atoms
• Si has 4 positive charges, O has 2 negative charges
• cell is electrically neutral
• compressing force in X direction leads to positive charge at top
• stretching force in Y direction leads to negative charge at top
 PIEZOELECTRIC SENSORS
• When pressure or acceleration is applied to the material, an equivalent amount of electrical charge gets
generated across the crystal faces.
• Electrical charge will be proportional to the applied pressure.
• Working of a Piezoelectric Sensor can be summarized as,
1. In a piezoelectric crystal the charges are exactly balanced in
unsymmetrical arrangement also.
2. The effect of the charges cancel out with each other and hence no net
charge will be found on the crystal faces.
3. When the crystal is squeezed, the charge in the crystal becomes
unbalanced.
4. Hence, from now on the effect of charge does not cancel with each
other which make net positive and negative charge to appear on the
opposite faces of the crystal.
5. Therefore, by squeezing the crystal, voltage is produced across the
opposite face, and this is known as piezoelectricity.
 PIEZOELECTRIC SENSORS
Piezoelectric Sensor Circuit
• charge on electrodes due to force F d – piezoelectric charge constant (pC/N)

• charge constant depends on position of force and electrodes

• capacitor relates charge and voltage

• crystal has conductive properties

• resistive path between electrodes
• electrical equivalent circuit for sensor
• capacitor and resistor form HPF

• cut-off frequency
PIEZOELECTRIC SENSORS
Example – piezoelectric sensor

A) what is the output voltage when a weight of 40 kg is applied to the sensor?

B) what is the minimal frequency of a dynamic compression for an allowed amplitude error of 5%?
Solution:
A) output voltage of the sensor

B) and