Piezoelectric and Smart Material Devices

  • Compact Narrowband High-Acoustic Sound Source for Enhanced HVAC Filtering (C111-108)
  • Low-Cost Liquid Atomization and Dispensing with a Miniature Piezoelectric Device
  • Extreme Amplitude Piezoelectric Noise Source for HUMVEE Air Filter Cleaning
  • High-Temperature Piezoelectric Alarm for Personnel Safety Devices
  • Micro-Robot Swarms for Desktop Manufacturing (N11A-T037)

Compact Narrowband High-Acoustic Sound Source for Particle Agglomeration

KCF Technologies is developing a robust and efficient sound generator for separation/isolation of aerosols in HVAC filters. The primary solution is a new, high intensity piezoelectric sound generator combined with a Helmholtz resonator. Conventional piezoelectric sound generators experience degradation in performance over long periods of operation, poor electro-acoustic efficiencies at high amplitude drive levels, and large tolerances in their acoustic performance. KCF is solving these performance limitations with a redesign of the piezo device, boundary condition, acoustic resonator and system housing. Applications include enhancements to HVAC systems and other air filters in industrial processes.

Low-Cost Liquid Atomization and Dispensing with a Miniature Piezoelectric Device

KCF Technologies has designed a piezo device to pump and disperse fragrance for industrial and commercial applications. The technology involves capillary flow and pumping to transport the fluid from a reservoir to the nozzle. Once at the nozzle, capillary forces are used to prevent fluid from prematurely leaving the nozzle of the nebulizing element. The piezoelectric device atomizes the liquid and projects it at a distance similar to that of aerosols, but with the advantage of improved controllability and environmental friendliness.

Extreme Amplitude Piezoelectric Noise Source for HUMVEE Air Filter Cleaning

The military has experienced problems with clogging of air filters on its vehicles when operating in desert conditions such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan. The air filter in military vehicles traditionally needed to be removed periodically and tapped against the vehicle's tire several times to clean it. This operation must be done twice a day in order for the filter to last about 10 days before needing to be replaced. KCF Technologies has developed an acoustic cleaning system for military vehicle air filtration systems. The process involves applying sound vibrations to clean the air filter using a piezoceramic speaker, which is smaller and less bulky than traditional speakers. The technology applies to a variety of applications for high-temperature and high-amplitude applications, including fire alarms, industrial alarms, vehicle back-up alarms, and more.

High-Temperature Piezoelectric Alarm for Personnel Safety Devices

KCF Technologies has developed a high-temperature piezoelectric sound source for a commercial man-down alarm. This component enables the Personal Alert Safety System (PASS) to sound a loud, piercing alarm whenever a firefighter becomes disabled or lies motionless for 30 seconds. The technology has been in production since 2007 and is available for application in other piezoelectric sound source markets.

Micro-Robot Swarms for Desktop Manufacturing

KCF Technologies is developing an additive manufacturing, micro-robot unit to perform advanced adaptive energy harvesting material fabrication and assembly. This application responds to the Navy's need for miniature energy harvesting to enable ubiquitous and low-cost wireless sensing (for condition-based maintenance, status indicators, electro-magnetic field measurements, persistent surveillance, etc.) in surface ships, submarines, and rotorcraft. Micro-robotic assembly is required in these applications because the real potential of many basic materials is difficult to realize when the sizes of the component features are decreased to the micron scale. This is particularly the case for high energy conversion, storage, and actuation coefficients of single crystal PMN-PT, electro-active polymers (EAP's), and flexoelectric materials.