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From the development of smaller heart
pumps, more compact audio speakers, robotic "bugs"
that walk, and controls for airflow in automobile engines, to
quieting the roar of aircraft engines, society can benefit from
these advancements and more--all due to a little wafer with a
big "wiggle." NASA's piezoelectric wafer technology
has now been commercialized, sparking a broad range of potential
applications in industry and scientific marketplaces.
NASA's Langley Research Center invented and patented the Thin-Layer
Composite-Unimorph Ferroelectric Driver and Sensor (originally
called THUNDER®, a trademark later registered
by Face International Corporation). This technology is also known
as Prestressed Piezoelectric Composites (PPC).
Several years ago, NASA researchers were exploring the well-known
phenomenon exhibited by piezoelectric materials, which generate
mechanical movement when subjected to a voltage. Such a property
can be applied in electronics, optics, noise cancellation, pumps,
valves, suppression of irregular motion, and a variety of other
fields. This technology can also be used as a sensor in such
applications as microphones, non-destructive testing, and vibration
testing.
A remarkable feature of these devices is their ability to
provide inordinately large mechanical output displacements, as
high as 40 to 50 times the thickness of the device itself. That
"wiggle" is an order of magnitude greater than existing
devices operating in the same frequency range. What's more, these
composite piezoelectric structures are tougher than current commercially
available piezoelectric materials. The revolutionary devices
have greater mechanical load capacity and can easily be produced
at a relatively low cost, lending themselves well to mass production.
The fabrication process for these devices is readily controllable,
resulting in a highly uniform production.
NASA has granted licenses to two Virginia-based companies:
Face International Corporation of Norfolk, Virginia, and Virginia
Power and Electric Company of Richmond, Virginia.
Face International has successfully commercialized its line
of THUNDER® piezoelectric wafers. While offering
piezoelectric actuators and sensors as standard products, Face
International also sells "made-to-order" wafers, integrating
customers' special configurations, hence, fulfilling the custom
needs of clients.
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Face International's THUNDER®
devices provide inordinately large mechanical output displacements.
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Face International has exclusive license to develop actuator
systems suitable for shaking concrete and processing other slurried
materials. The company owns patents for using controlled acoustic
energy (i.e., vibration or sound) to achieve the rapid setting
of freshly poured concrete. They are also developing THUNDER®-based
tools for surface finishing of wet concrete. These tools will
impart certain vibrations to plastic concrete, facilitating the
finishing of the slab. According to Face International officials,
using piezoelectric devices to generate "smart" vibrational
energy to work fresh concrete has never been done before. In
addition, the company own patents for THUNDER®-based
pumps, switches, and circuit breakers.
Face International is selling a variety of THUNDER®
devices and is now capable of producing these and similar devices
by the thousands on a monthly basis. By the first quarter of
2000, the company's manufacturing capacity is forecast to extend
into the tens-of-thousands per month. Plans call for fully automated
high-speed, high-volume production that can churn out quantities
of a million-plus by the end of 2000.
Development of Virginia Power's NASDRIVTM devices
is currently underway. The company is authorized to sublicense
in a wide range of applications, excluding concrete-related applications.
The commercial possibilities for this small and forceful technology
are staggering.
THUNDER® is a registered trademark
of Face International Corporation
NASDRIVTM
is a trademark of Virginia Power and Electric Company
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