Electro Ceramics
Specialists In Innovative Piezo Solutions
Although the piezo-electric effect has been known for more than a century, the development of piezo ceramics in the early 1960s by companies such as Morgan provided the breakthrough to its industrial use.
These ceramics offered the major advantage that their properties could be optimized for specific applications-opening the way for truly customized product development. We have been at the forefront of these developments from the very beginning and our specialties include co-developed precision products for leading equipment manufacturers in a broad range of professional and industrial areas.
Innovative Developments Include:
- bimorph sensors for pressure and acceleration sensing (e.g. for triggering air-bags in motor vehicles) as well as for knock sensing in internal combustion engines and ultrasonic proximity sensing
- bimorph actuators for coin selectors, safety switches and ink-jet printers
- reinforced bimorph actuators for textile manufacturing systems
- precision machined piezo-ceramic disks for automatic level and distance sensing in industrial equipment and for gas and fluid-flow measurement
- micro-actuators for precision head positioning in hard-disk drives
- high powered actuators for fuel-injection valves
Current R&D projects being conducted by our Development Laboratories are focusing on new piezoceramic based fuel-injection systems, high-resilience piezo materials, ultra-thin (120 um) piezo-ceramic plates and electroless nickel/gold electrode layers offering exceptionally high bonding strength.
Though it has existed for more than 40 years, piezo ceramic has only recently come into its own, stimulated by the ever growing penetration of electronics into all walks of life. Nowadays miniaturization is the byword, in electronic circuitry, in power supplies and associated mechanical systems. This means the days of the solenoid-operated electromechanical transducer are virtually over and equipment designers are looking more to piezo ceramic as an attractive alternative.
Offering The Benefits Of:
- easy miniaturization
- virtually no electromagnetic interference (EMI)
- high efficiency with excellent power-conversion characteristics
- high positional accuracy
- well-defined dynamic characteristics
- easy interfacing with modern electronic circuitry
The piezo-ceramic transducer is certainly the nearest thing to the perfect electromechanical interface for today's electronic circuits.
Exceptional Versatility
Ideal for all kinds of electromechanical transducers, piezo ceramic is used to make:
- Sensors (converting mechanical force or movement into an electrical signal) such as acceleration and pressure sensors
- Generators (converting mechanical energy into electrical energy) such as spark igniters and solid-state batteries
- Actuators (converting electrical energy into mechanical displacement) such as pneumatic valves, precision position adjusters, braille reading aids, hydraulic valves, fuel injectors, ABS actuators, headlamp-height adjusters, circuit breakers and piezo motors
- Sonic and ultrasonic transducers (converting electrical energy into mechanical energy) such as atomizers, echo sounders, ultrasonic cleaners and loudspeakers
Please see Piezoelectric & Dielectric for more information on Electro Ceramics or visit the ElectroCeramics website at www.morganelectroceramics.com.
