Hi out there in Usenet electronics land.

Was hoping to get a little help on something that should be pretty
simple.

I want to vibrate a metal plate at different frequencies using a piezo
buzzer or transducer of some type for some Cymatic experiments.

I can use the output from a computer or stereo to generate lots of
tones but how do I drive a piezo element with a speaker output ?

This question is probably embarassingly easy to answer but I have
never used a piezo element for anything other than creating a spark to
light my cigarettes.

Thank you in advance.

On Wed, 22 Aug 2007 12:11:02 -0800, Canyonero wrote:
>
> Was hoping to get a little help on something that should be pretty
> simple.
>
> I want to vibrate a metal plate at different frequencies using a piezo
> buzzer or transducer of some type for some Cymatic experiments.
>
> I can use the output from a computer or stereo to generate lots of
> tones but how do I drive a piezo element with a speaker output ?
>
> This question is probably embarassingly easy to answer but I have
> never used a piezo element for anything other than creating a spark to
> light my cigarettes.
>
> Thank you in advance.


http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=pi ... er+circuit


Good Luck!
Rich

On Wed, 22 Aug 2007 12:11:02 -0800, Canyonero <email@goeshere.com>
wrote:

>
>Hi out there in Usenet electronics land.
>
>Was hoping to get a little help on something that should be pretty
>simple.
>
>I want to vibrate a metal plate at different frequencies using a piezo
>buzzer or transducer of some type for some Cymatic experiments.
>
>I can use the output from a computer or stereo to generate lots of
>tones but how do I drive a piezo element with a speaker output ?
>
>This question is probably embarassingly easy to answer but I have
>never used a piezo element for anything other than creating a spark to
>light my cigarettes.
>
>Thank you in advance.

Piezo transducers have very non-linear and limited frequency response.
If you are working over a narrow range of high frequency it may make
sense.

A voice coil drive makes more sense. Back in the old days there was
an article in Popular Electronics about a "Sonic Shake Table."

Small transistor oscillator driving a loudspeaker - you could put a
fluid in the speaker cone and adjust the frequency to see standing
waves in the fluid (fluid being things like mercury, and dry powders
so as not to hurt the paper cone).
--

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