Piezoelectric Accelerometers
Piezoelectric Sensing Element Certain materials, when deformed, are capable
of generating an electric charge. The best known of these is the quartz crystal. This
property of generating an electric charge when deformed makes piezoelectric
materials useful sensors in several common types of transducers. Figure 0.00( a) shows
a piezoelectric material under compression. The faces have been coated with a
conducting material such as silver. When the load is applied, electrons move to one of
the conducting faces and away from the other, which results in a charge being stored by
the inherent capacitance of the piezoelectric material itself. For the arrangement