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Piezoelectric Based Smart Material System for Vibration Suppression Medical Devices

Project manager: Professor Elias Siores

Tel ext 01204 903501

With the recent advances in low power electronics it is becoming feasible to solely power devices from piezoelectric harvested energy. Energy harvesting is not a new concept and cranked radios, shake-powered flashlights, wind farms and solar energy have all found commercial uses many times over. Through the use of standard electronic techniques the acquired power can be converted, stored and regulated. The research aims to investigate output levels, efficiency, power conversion, utilisation and storage using multimode excitation, and multiform materials. In order to cancel noise and vibration it is required to generate an equivalent signal (to that creating the vibration), with a phase difference of 180 degrees. By means of sensing the frequency of vibration within a structure through the direct piezoelectric effect, amplifying and phase shifting this signal, before transmitting the signal through the converse piezoelectric effect, it is possible to design a self-powered, non hazards and non invasive vibration suppression technique. The research looks at both macro and micro systems that are able to determine and create necessary phase cancelling vibrations over numerous application-specific frequency ranges.

Academic department the project sits within: CMRI

Funder(s): EPSRC