Project Description:

Lear Corporation desires our group to design a method to fully characterize a flexible ceramic piezo provided by them.  The three main characteristics they are interested in are energy, pulse width, and the amplitude, all of the first positive pulse.  These values are to be collected from an impact force caused by a mass dropped onto the apparatus, which was also provided.  To obtain a wide variety of data, we will drop the mass from varying heights, as well as with multiple bends in the piezo.  By testing multiple bends, we gain valuable information as to how the piezo physically reacts to a change in orientation.  Part of our design will require a software package to extract and analyze the data captured.  This software package will be designed from MATLAB. A graphical user interface will be necessary for ease of analysis.  Once all the data is captured and analyzed, the piezo is then fully characterized and can be used in various applications based upon our results.

 

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