Us measuring the voltage of the piezo board
Our previous tests so far have been on only a single piezo transducer. This week we devoted most of our time to learning the most effective ways to gain the most energy out of multiple piezo crystals. We first created a cardboard cut-out of a traced shoe, lovingly donated by one of our group members. However, we realized the best way to start would be using a square shape, like a breadboard for a proof of concept. Taking inspiration from numerous sources online, we found that the best way to arrange the piezo crystals was in series horizontally, with a parallel arrangement running vertically at the ends. It was also learned that having a stud, or any other hard, non-conductive object placed on top of the piezo would increase the electrical output via focusing the pressure to a smaller area. These two facts led us to our "piezo board," a proof of concept design that output a steady charge of 20 volts. Outside of lab, it was also learned that piezo crystals have the largest output, when attached to a foam, or any other easily compressible surface.
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