{"id":672,"date":"2025-05-19T21:14:40","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T21:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alvaro-varela.com\/?page_id=672"},"modified":"2025-05-26T23:29:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T23:29:10","slug":"aml100-membrane-vibration-sensor-proof-of-concept","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/alvaro-varela.com\/index.php\/sample-page\/aml100-membrane-vibration-sensor-proof-of-concept\/","title":{"rendered":"Membrane Vibration Sensor PoC (2024)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-style-default\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1278\" height=\"962\" src=\"https:\/\/alvaro-varela.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/vibe-poc.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-695\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alvaro-varela.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/vibe-poc.jpg 1278w, https:\/\/alvaro-varela.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/vibe-poc-300x226.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alvaro-varela.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/vibe-poc-1024x771.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/alvaro-varela.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/vibe-poc-768x578.jpg 768w, https:\/\/alvaro-varela.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/vibe-poc-650x489.jpg 650w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1278px) 100vw, 1278px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-left\">Background<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">We were using a low-cost ceramic piezo sensor to detect impact (vibration). The low-cost sensor presented a number of challenges:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In order to detect impacts, the sensor had to be directly, mechanically affixed to a surface where that impact was taking place; once the sensor was affixed to a surface INSIDE of a housing, it was not sensitive enough to detect events.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Having a sensor external to the housing was unacceptable from a usability perspective; the piezo wires were thin and prone to breaking and the user experience of having to attach an external sensor is fiddly and cumbersome.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I designed and prototyped a 3D-printed solution made up of a stretched membrane (internal to the device housing) that the sensor was affixed to. The membrane utilized a tensioning mechanism (similar to a drum head) used to keep the membrane tight enough for vibrations to travel through. It worked well, but we ended up spec&#8217;ing a different sensor (film type) instead to reduce mechanical complexity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\" scoped>.rbs_gallery_69f267568c24eSpinner{\r\n\t\t\t\tmargin: 50px auto;\r\n\t\t\t\twidth: 50px;\r\n\t\t\t\theight: 40px;\r\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\r\n\t\t\t\tfont-size: 10px;\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\t\t\t.rbs_gallery_69f267568c24eSpinner > div{\r\n\t\t\t  background-color: #333;\r\n\t\t\t  height: 100%;\r\n\t\t\t  width: 6px;\r\n\t\t\t  display: inline-block;\r\n\t\t\t  -webkit-animation: rbs_gallery_69f267568c24e-stretchdelay 1.2s infinite ease-in-out;\r\n\t\t\t  animation: rbs_gallery_69f267568c24e-stretchdelay 1.2s infinite ease-in-out;\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\t\t\t.rbs_gallery_69f267568c24eSpinner .rbs_gallery_69f267568c24eRect2 {\r\n\t\t\t  -webkit-animation-delay: -1.1s;\r\n\t\t\t  animation-delay: -1.1s;\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\t\t\t.rbs_gallery_69f267568c24eSpinner .rbs_gallery_69f267568c24eRect3 {\r\n\t\t\t  -webkit-animation-delay: -1.0s;\r\n\t\t\t  animation-delay: -1.0s;\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\t\t\t.rbs_gallery_69f267568c24eSpinner .rbs_gallery_69f267568c24eRect4 {\r\n\t\t\t  -webkit-animation-delay: -0.9s;\r\n\t\t\t  animation-delay: -0.9s;\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\t\t\t.rbs_gallery_69f267568c24eSpinner .rbs_gallery_69f267568c24eRect5 {\r\n\t\t\t  -webkit-animation-delay: -0.8s;\r\n\t\t\t  animation-delay: -0.8s;\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\t\t\t@-webkit-keyframes rbs_gallery_69f267568c24e-stretchdelay {\r\n\t\t\t  0%, 40%, 100% { -webkit-transform: scaleY(0.4) }  \r\n\t\t\t  20% { -webkit-transform: scaleY(1.0) }\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\t\t\t@keyframes rbs_gallery_69f267568c24e-stretchdelay {\r\n\t\t\t  0%, 40%, 100% { \r\n\t\t\t    transform: scaleY(0.4);\r\n\t\t\t    -webkit-transform: scaleY(0.4);\r\n\t\t\t  }  20% { \r\n\t\t\t    transform: scaleY(1.0);\r\n\t\t\t    -webkit-transform: scaleY(1.0);\r\n\t\t\t  }\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\t\t<\/style><div class=\"robo-gallery-wrap robo-gallery-wrap-id1258 robo-gallery-grid\" ><div id=\"rbs_gallery_69f267568c24e-block-loader\" class=\"rbs_gallery_69f267568c24eSpinner\"><div class=\"rbs_gallery_69f267568c24eRect1\"><\/div> <div class=\"rbs_gallery_69f267568c24eRect2\"><\/div> <div class=\"rbs_gallery_69f267568c24eRect3\"><\/div> <div class=\"rbs_gallery_69f267568c24eRect4\"><\/div> <div class=\"rbs_gallery_69f267568c24eRect5\"><\/div><\/div><div id=\"robo_gallery_main_block_rbs_gallery_69f267568c24e\" class=\"robogallery-gallery-1258\" style=\"width:100%; 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The low-cost sensor presented a number of challenges: I designed and prototyped a 3D-printed solution made up of a stretched membrane (internal to the device housing) that the sensor was affixed to. The membrane utilized a tensioning mechanism (similar to a drum &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"full-width-page.php","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-672","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alvaro-varela.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alvaro-varela.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alvaro-varela.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alvaro-varela.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alvaro-varela.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/alvaro-varela.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1262,"href":"https:\/\/alvaro-varela.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/672\/revisions\/1262"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alvaro-varela.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alvaro-varela.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}