Re: Source of piezo


"Martin" <mrbgoogle@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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Jon Slaughter wrote:
"jacksan" <none@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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Digikey sells piezo 'elements' (such as #102-1126).
j


You wouldn't happen to know the variance in utility of these things? On
all
electronics there are several piezo elements for under a dollar but they
all
seem like they were for a specific application(piezoelectric speaker).
I'm
wondering if there are limited applications for many of these
configurations
or if I can pretty much interchange them. e.g., like rip up an old cheap
microphone that I don't use and get the crystal in there and then use it
for
some ultrasonic stuff? I guess what I'm trying to ask is how general are
these devices? (Obviously dimension and quality would be important
factors
but I have no idea how much)

Take a porshe and try to haul a grand piano to a new house ...
Take a U-haul truck and try to race on a twisty track ...
Kinda works but not quite optimum ....

The dimensions and shapes (and even the housings and mountings)
strongly affect how well the piezo buzzers will work for a given
application.

Using speakers as microphones and vice versa can work, as can using
stuff in frequency ranges it's not designed for ... but it may work
well, or it may work REALLY crappy, or anywhere in between ...
depending on a lot of factors (some of which I can guess at, others I
have no clue)

FWIW, years ago I bought a bunch of radioshacks cube shaped piezo
super tweeters
when they were discontinued.
I was able to use them as both ultrasonic senders and recievers,
although efficiency was probably low.

Have fun experimenting if you like, but realize that good results are
STRONGLY dependent on matching device characteristics to application.



Sure. I think though at this point I don't need to worry about those issues.
I mean, I'd like to try some ultrasonic stuff, say above 100khz and below 1M
but if I'm going to have to have special piezo's to get any decent results
then I suppose its not worth it unless these things are cheap enough to buy
for fun.

I've just been reading up lately on all the applications these things have
and its quite amazing. I want to play around with and see for myself how
they work but don't want to deal with it if its to much of a hassle.

Thanks,
Jon


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