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″Moonie Type″ of Piezoelectric Transformer as a Magnetic Field Detector

L. Kozielski^,1, M. Bućko^,2

¹ Institute of Technology and Mechatronics, University of Silesia, 12 Źytnia St.,41 – 200 Sosnowiec, Poland
² AGH – University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Materials Science and Ceramics, al. Mickiewicza 30, Krakow, Poland

received August 17, 2016, received in revised form November 18, 2016, accepted December 20, 2016

Vol. 8, No. 1, Pages 13-18   DOI: 10.4416/JCST2016-00054

Abstract

The present study proposes a new method for determining magnetic field intensities from a composite piezoelectric – magnetostrictive transformer response. In contrast to the previous detector models, which utilize more popular piezoelectric transformer geometries, in the present method the authors introduce the high voltage amplification effect of the "Moonie" transformer. An increased inherent voltage response to the magnetic field is an added value of this almost unknown piezoelectric transformer structure. The new device overcomes several deficiencies of previous detectors. Such drawbacks include the inability to use conventional multimeters instead of lock-in amplifiers due to the low signal to noise ratio. Consequently, the presented device provides low cost and is undisturbed by the noise magnetic field measurements, taking advantage of the "resonant personality" of this disk-type transformer and its exclusively high voltage gain.

To summarize, the paper introduces an efficient method of magnetism sensing based on Moonie piezoelectric transformer geometry within which the force of magnetic field changes its performance. The voltage gain characteristics confirmed the excellent sensitivity and linearity of the composite to magnetic field.

Keywords

Piezoelectric transformer, magnetic field sensor, magnetoelectric effect, measurement techniques

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Göller Verlag GmbH