• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.169-174
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• 2006

The outstanding mechanical property of optical fiber and the merits of acoustic emission sensing technique are unified for novel sensor system. The generated ultrasonic wave from piezoelectric generator are propagated along the optical fiber and also sensed. The propagated wave can be influence by external pressure on the optical fiber or environmental circumstance. The optical fiber sensor using ultrasonic wave has advantages compare with existing sensor system. In this study, the sensitivity of the optical fiber sensor is experimentally investigated. As the applications of the optical fiber sensor system using piezoelectric ultrasonic waves, the point load on the optical fiber is measured and the monitoring system for the void fraction of two phase flows is developed. The experimental results show the linear relationship between sensed voltage and void fraction.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.106-112
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• 2019

Flexible impact force sensors composed of piezoelectric PZT/PDMS composite sandwiched between Al/PET films were fabricated and their voltage signal characteristics were evaluated under varying impact forces for electronic mitt applications. The piezoelectric impact force sensor on an ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) substrate exhibited an output voltage difference of no greater than 40 mV a periodical impact test in with the impact load was increased by as much as 240 N by a restoration time of 5 s in a five-time experiment, implying good sensing ability. Moreover, the impact force sensor embedded four electronic mitts showed a reliable sensitivity of less than 1 mV/N and good repeatability under 100 N-impact force during a cycle test executed 10,000 times. This indicated that the fabricated flexible piezoelectric impact sensor could be used in electronic mitt applications. However, the relatively low elastic limit of substrate material such as EVA or poly-urethane slightly deteriorated the sensitivity of the impact sensor embedded electronic mitt at over 200 N-impact forces.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.307-311
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• 2022

With the development of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, numerous people worldwide connect with various electronic devices via Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs). Considering that HMIs are a new concept of dynamic interactions, wearable electronics have been highlighted owing to their lightweight, flexibility, stretchability, and attachability. In particular, wearable strain sensors have been applied to a multitude of practical applications (e.g., fitness and healthcare) by conformally attaching such devices to the human skin. However, the stretchable elastomer in a wearable sensor has an intrinsic stretching limitation; therefore, structural advances of wearable sensors are required to develop practical applications of wearable sensors. In this study, we demonstrated a 3-dimensional (3D), porous, and piezoelectric strain sensor for sensing body movements. More specifically, the device was fabricated by mixing polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and polyvinylidene fluoride nanoparticles (PVDF NPs) as the matrix and piezoelectric materials of the strain sensor. The porous structure of the strain sensor was formed by a sugar cube-based 3D template. Additionally, mixing methods of PVDF piezoelectric NPs were optimized to enhance the device sensitivity. Finally, it is verified that the developed strain sensor could be directly attached onto the finger joint to sense its movements.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.10 no.6 s.52
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• pp.125-132
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• 2006

This paper presents the feasibility of a lateral mode piezoelectric oscillator to detect damages in civil infrastructures. The lateral mode oscillator sensor is composed of an electronic feedback oscillator circuit and a piezoelectric lateral mode vibrator to be attached to a structure of interest. Damage to the structure causes a change in the impedance spectrum of the structure, which results in a corresponding change of a resonant frequency of the structure. The oscillator sensors can instantly detect the frequency change in a very simple manner. Feasibility of the piezoelectric oscillator sensor was verified in this work with a sample aluminum plate where artificial cracks of different lengths and number were imposed in sequence. Validity of the measurement was confirmed through comparison of the experimental data with the results of finite element analyses of a plate with cracks.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.321-341
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• 2011

Acoustic emission (AE) monitoring was conducted for mortar specimens under three types of static loading patterns (cubic-splitting, direct-shear and pull-out). Each of the applied loading patterns was expected to produce a particular fracture process. Subsequently, the AEs generated by various fracture or damage processes carried specific information on temporal micro-crack behaviors of concrete for post analysis, which was represented in the form of detected AE signal characteristics. Among various available characteristics of acquired AE signals, frequency content was of great interest. In this study, cement-based piezoelectric sensor (as AE transducer) and home-programmed DEcLIN monitoring system were utilized for AE monitoring on mortar. The cement-based piezoelectric sensor demonstrated enhanced sensitivity and broad frequency domain response range after being embedded into mortar specimens. This broad band characteristic of cement-based piezoelectric sensor in frequency domain response benefited the analysis of frequency content of AE. Various evaluation methods were introduced and employed to clarify the variation characteristics of AE frequency content in each test. It was found that the variation behaviors of AE frequency content exhibited a close relationship with the applied loading processes during the tests.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.6 no.5_6
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• pp.689-709
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• 2010

In this paper, a low cost, low power but multifunctional wireless sensor node is presented for the impedance-based SHM using piezoelectric sensors. Firstly, a miniaturized impedance measuring chip device is utilized for low cost and low power structural excitation/sensing. Then, structural damage detection/sensor self-diagnosis algorithms are embedded on the on-board microcontroller. This sensor node uses the power harvested from the solar energy to measure and analyze the impedance data. Simultaneously it monitors temperature on the structure near the piezoelectric sensor and battery power consumption. The wireless sensor node is based on the TinyOS platform for operation, and users can take MATLAB$^{(R)}$ interface for the control of the sensor node through serial communication. In order to validate the performance of this multifunctional wireless impedance sensor node, a series of experimental studies have been carried out for detecting loose bolts and crack damages on lab-scale steel structural members as well as on real steel bridge and building structures. It has been found that the proposed sensor nodes can be effectively used for local wireless health monitoring of structural components and for constructing a low-cost and multifunctional SHM system as "place and forget" wireless sensors.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.11 no.9
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• pp.3184-3189
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• 2010

To develop gasoline engine fuel pump, it is needed to measure the rotational speed of the pump. In general, because gasoline fuel pump is submerged in the fuel tank, it is difficult to measure the rotational speed directly. Currently, there are two popular methods measuring the rotational speed. One of them is using a piezoelectric accelerometer, and the other is using a current sensor. Originally, a piezoelectric accelerometer had been applied to measure the frequency of the motor vibration. A current sensor is measuring current frequency of the commutator slot. In this study, both the piezoelectric accelerometer and the current sensor have been applied on the fuel pump to calculate the rotational speed at the same time. As a result, the current sensor delivered highly accurate rotational speed information compared with that of the piezoelectric accelerometer. Especially, low rotational speed region, the current sensor shows very robust measuring characteristics. To measure the rotational speed within 1% error, the piezoelectric accelerometer needs to be set with less then 0.5Hz datum storage interval, and the current sensor needs to be set with less then 2.0Hz datum storage interval.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.311-317
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• 2019

Rotating devices are commonly installed in power plants and factories. This study proposes a self-powered sensor node that is powered by converting the vibration energy of a rotating device into electrical energy. The self-powered sensor consists of a piezoelectric harvester for self-power generation, a rectifier circuit to rectify the AC signal, a sensor unit for measuring the vibration frequency, and a circuit to control the light emitting diode (LED) lighting. The frequency of the vibration source was measured using a piezoelectric-cantilever-type vibration frequency sensor. A green LED was illuminated when the measured frequency was within the normal range. The power generated by the piezoelectric harvester was determined, and the LED operation was assessed in terms of the vibration frequency. The piezoelectric harvester was found to generate a power of 3.061 mW or greater at a vibration acceleration of 1.2 g ($1g=9.8m/s^2$) and vibration frequencies between 117 and 123 Hz. Notably, the power generated was 4.099 mW at 122 Hz. As such, our self-powered sensor node can be used as a module for monitoring rotating devices, because it can convert vibration energy into electrical energy when installed on rotating devices such as air compressors.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.915-921
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• 2009

Cellulose based electro-active paper(EAPap) is considered as a new smart material which has a potential to be used for biomimetic actuators and sensors. Beside of the natural abundance, cellulose EAPap is fascinating with its biodegradability, lightweight, high mechanical strength and low actuation voltage. When the external stress is applied to EAPap, it can generate the electrical output due to its piezoelectric property. Using piezoelectric behavior of EAPap, we studied the feasibility of EAPap as mechanical strain sensor applications and compared to commercial strain sensor. By measuring the induced output voltage from the thin piezoelectric cellulose EAPap under static and dynamic force, we propose cellulose EAPap film as a potential strain sensor material.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.239-243
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• 2022

We investigate the influence of nonlinear viscoelastic damping on the response of a cantilever sensor covered by piezoelectric layers in a symmetric or asymmetric configuration. We formulate an initial-boundary-value problem which consistently incorporates both geometric and material nonlinearities including the effect of viscoelastic damping which cannot be ignored for micro- and nano-mechanical sensor operation in a vacuum environment. We employ an asymptotic multiple-scales methodology to yield the system nonlinear frequency response near its primary resonance and employ a model-based estimation procedure to deduce the system damping backone curve from controlled experiments in vacuum. We discuss the effect of nonlinear damping on sensor applications for scanning probe microscopy.