PI ceramic has launched the P-878 DuraAct Power piezo patch transducer that has an operating voltage of -20V to 120V. The P-878 can be used as piezo actuator, sensor or energy harvester. The active layer of the patch transducer consists of a multilayer piezo element that is embedded in a fibre reinforced plastic.
DuraAct Power multilayer patch transducers use the longitudinal or d33 effect, which describes an elongation parallel to the electric field E and the polarisation direction of the piezo actuator. The d33 piezoelectric deformation coefficients for the longitudinal effect are higher than the d31 coefficients for the transversal effect and consequently the attainable displacement is higher too.