Compact liquid analyzer based on a resonator with a lateral excitation electric field

The study of the influence of the geometry of a lateral electric field resonator on its resonant characteristics

An experimental study of the dependence of the electrical impedance of a lateral electric field resonator on its thickness and the size of the gap between the electrodes was carried out. The resonator was made of PZT-19 piezoceramics in the form of a rectangular parallelepiped with the shear dimensions of 18 × 20 mm2. Two rectangular electrodes with a gap that varied in the range from 4 to 14 mm were applied on one side of the resonator. For each gap width, the frequency dependences of the real and imaginary parts of the electrical impedance were measured using an impedance analyzer. It has been found that increasing the gap width leads to an increase in the resonant frequency and to an increase in the maximum value of the real part of the impedance. Three series of such experiments were carried out for three values of the resonator thickness: 3.02, 2.38 and 1.9 mm. The resonant characteristics of the resonator were also theoretically analyzed by finite element analysis using two models. One resonator model was based on a two-dimensional finite element method. In this case, the vibration modes that existed due to the finite size of the plate in the direction parallel to the gap between the electrodes were not taken into account. The second model of the resonator used a three-dimensional finite element method, which correctly took into account all vibration modes existing in the resonator. Comparison of theory with experiment has shown that the three-dimensional model provides a better agreement between theoretical and experimental results.

Determination of Electrical and Mechanical Properties of Liquids Using a Resonator with a Longitudinal Electric Field

The possibility of determining the elastic modules, viscosity coefficients, dielectric constant and electrical conductivity of a viscous conducting liquid using a piezoelectric resonator with a longitudinal electric field is shown. For the research, we chose a piezoelectric resonator made on an AT-cut quartz plate with round electrodes, operating with a shear acoustic mode at a frequency of about 4.4 MHz. The resonator was fixed to the bottom of a 30 mL liquid container. The samples of a mixture of glycerol and water with different viscosity and conductivity were used as test liquids. First, the frequency dependences of the real and imaginary parts of the electrical impedance of a free resonator were measured and, using the Mason electromechanical circuit, the elastic module, viscosity coefficient, piezoelectric constant and dielectric constant of the resonator material (quartz) were determined. Then, the container was filled with the test sample of a liquid mixture so that the resonator was completely covered with liquid, and the measurement of the frequency dependences of the real and imaginary parts of the electrical impedance of the loaded resonator was repeated. The dependences of the frequency of parallel and series resonances, as well as the maximum values of the electrical impedance and admittance on the conductivity of liquids for various viscosity values, were plotted. It was shown that these dependences can be used to unambiguously determine the viscosity and conductivity of the test liquid. Next, by fitting the theoretical frequency dependences of the real and imaginary parts of the electrical impedance of the resonator loaded with the liquid under study to the experimental dependences, the elastic module of the liquid and its dielectric constant were determined.

Analysis of spurious peaks at series resonance in solidly mounted resonators by combined BVD-Mason modelling

Solidly Mounted Resonators (SMRs) for high frequency RF filters and sensing applications often display spurious resonances that distort their frequency response. In this work, we try to identify the origin of spurious resonances accompanying the main series resonances in AlN-based SMRs with the help of modified Butterworth Van Dyke (BVD) and Mason's models. By manufacturing SMRs of different sizes and shapes and studying the influence of the position of the electrical probing spot, we have demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally that devices with larger areas are more likely to display these additional peaks. Our updated models accurately simulate the frequency response of the SMRs, revealing that spurious peaks are mostly related to the resistance of the electrodes. Our study clarifies the origin of the spurious resonances and offers solutions for both, the optimal design and measurement method of SMRs.

The Effect of Glycerol-Based Suspensions on the Characteristics of Resonators Excited by a Longitudinal Electric Field

This study examines the effect of suspensions based on pure glycerol and diamond powder with different concentrations on the characteristics of resonators with a longitudinal electric field. We used two disk resonators made of the quartz and langasite plates with round electrodes on both sides of the plate and resonant frequencies of 4.4 and 4.1 MHz, operating in shear and longitudinal acoustic modes, respectively. Each resonator was mounted on the bottom of a 30 mL liquid container. During the experiments, the container was filled with the suspension under study in such a way that the resonator was completely immersed in the suspension, and the frequency dependences of the real and imaginary parts of the electrical impedance of the resonator were measured. As a result, the shear modulus of the elasticity and shear coefficient of the viscosity of the studied suspensions were determined. The material constants of the suspensions were found by fitting the theoretical frequency dependences of the real and imaginary parts of the electrical impedance of the resonator to the experimentally measured ones, which was calculated using Mason's equivalent circuit. As a result, the dependencies of the density, shear modulus of elasticity, shear viscosity coefficient, and velocity of the shear acoustic wave on the volume concentration of the diamond particles were constructed.