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Low-voltage transducers enable safe design

A Noliac product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Aug 22, 2008

Because multilayer piezo rings operate from a lower voltage supply than standard bulk piezo material, electrical safety is less of a design issue.

Multilayer piezos from Noliac allow a drastic reduction of the operating voltage while maintaining the same performance as bulk or monolayer piezo components.

This reduced voltage in turn reduces the degree of electrical safety measures required in applications such as dental devices.

Ultrasonic transducers work by rapidly changing size when excited by an electrical signal.

This creates a compression wave in the liquid of the tank.

These compression waves actually tear the liquid apart, leaving behind a void or partial vacuum bubble.

When these bubbles (and there are many millions of them in an active ultrasonic tank) collapse, they collapse with enormous energy.

When sufficient energy is built up in the bubble or cavitation, the cavitation collapses violently.

Such ultrasonic transducers are usually composed of bulk piezo rings which are bolted to a coupling horn.

However, if the bulk piezo rings are replaced with multilayer piezo rings the operating voltage can be dramatically reduced while maintaining the same performance - with reduced electrical security requirements when operating in the human body.

A multilayer component is composed of several layers of piezoelectric material, alternating with internal electrodes.

Internal electrodes are successively positive and negative.

All positive electrodes are connected together by one external electrode on one side of the component; negative electrodes are connected on the other side of the component.

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