Affiliations: Department of Embedded Systems Engineering, University
of Incheon, Yeonsu-Gu, Incheon, South Korea | Department of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University,
Nam-Gu, Incheon, South Korea | Department of Mechnical and Automotive Engineering,
Andong National University, Andong, Kyungpook, South Korea
Note: [] Corresponding author: Young-Sup, Lee, Department of Embedded
Systems Engineering, University of Incheon, 12-1 Songdo-Dong, Yeonsu-Gu,
Incheon, South Korea. E-mail: YSL@incheon.ac.kr
Abstract: A piezoelectric cantilever type sensor for locating the precise
weak-impact or touch position on a plate is presented in this paper. Since the
importance of human-computer interface such as a touch panel system has been
rapidly increasing recently, this study could suggest an appropriate sensor for
the detection of a weak-impact point effectively and accurately for such a
system. This sensor detects the out-of-plane vibration of a panel when a touch
with a finger or pen is applied on it. The sensor is made with a steel beam and
a single crystal PMN-PT patch is bonded on the beam, which is designed to
detect the base vibration of the panel. The sensor was designed, manufactured
to verify the detect ability of a weak-impact and attached on two different
plates of a glass of 400 × 400 × 4 mm and a wooden MDF of 600
× 600 × 9 mm. The experiment result of the sensor was compared with
that of an accelerometer which can also be used for the same purpose and shows
clear weak-impact responses with a narrow-band property at its resonant
frequency. It is expected that the cantilever type sensor in this study could
be applied to make a simple flat plate into a touch panel when the time
difference of arrivals method is used to locate the weak-impact point.
Keywords: Piezoelectric cantilever sensor, weak-impact locating, wave dispersion, narrow-band response, time difference of arrivals
