Developing and testing an amplifier system for piezoelectric sensors

Abstract

Piezoelectric sensors are used in condition monitoring system to monitor forces, vibration, strain, acoustic emission and for other applications. The sensors produce a small electric charge which needs to be amplified using a charge amplifier. Then a voltage amplifier will be used to increase the level of the voltage to a suitable level for data capturing using a digital acquisition system. The task to be performed is to build and test a charge amplifier that could be used with piezoelectric sensors re-using an old PC for the power supply and recycle the casing of the computer for the device to be built. Nowadays recycling is very important when you manufacture any product given the fact that we can get economic and environmental benefits without affecting the product quality. Specifically in this project an old computer which was going to be doomed, has been used to make the casing for our device and also to feed the charge amplifier through its power supply. The amplifier has been manufactured by the welding of integrated circuits. It has taken three stages of amplification which highlights the operational amplifiers LF 356 and LF 351. We should add that this is not a conventional project of design, but a project mainly based on electronics and recycling. The most important thing is the proper functioning of the device and it complies with the requirements of the market, given that it is mostly a product that it has been recycled and reused.