A poly vinylidene fluoride (PVF/sub 2/) piezoelectric film based accelerometer

The paper presents an accelerometer built by means of a piezoelectric film, poly vinylidene fluoride-PVF/sub 2/. The piezoelectric effect of this is explored and shown to have better mechanical sensitivity than piezoelectric ceramics due to the short thickness of the film. The design is based on a typical piezoelectric ceramic seismic system, which uses the sensitiveness of the piezoelectric element through the strain of a plate in which the sensorial element is glued. The inflected film exploration presents advantages, in terms of sensitivity, to the order of 50 times, in relation to the exploitation of the piezoelectric effect in compression (4 V/80 mV). For the accelerometer resolution determination, it is used in the viscosity discrimination process of Newtonian fluids. The electronic signal conditioning is presented and the accelerometer characterization is effected by the determination of its functional and operational characteristics. The test results recommend the utilization of film-based piezoelectric accelerometers in the determination of the standard vibratory process of the industrial machines, either of great or medium size.