A Piezoelectric Flow Sensor for Wake-Up Switch of Wireless Sensor Network Node

Abstract

Power management technology is a fundamental issue in wireless sensor network. In this paper, we propose a concept of a piezoelectric flow sensor for a wake-up switch of a wireless sensor node to reduce the power consumption. The sensor detects air flow change surrounding the wireless sensor node by using a cantilever with Pb(Zr, Ti)O3 (PZT) thin film. We fabricated a prototype of the flow sensor and measured the relationship between the flow velocity change and the piezoelectric voltage of the cantilever. The sensor responded when the flow velocity changed. The output voltage increases with the increase of the flow velocity change.