The transport industry will continue to benefit from piezoelectric technologies. The automotive industry requires sensors to measure engine performance and ensure passenger safety. Piezoelectric materials are the basic component of these sensors, in particular accelerometers and infra-red detectors.

Improvement of sensor performance will improve security and decrease fuel consumption. Piezoelectric motors are an interesting alternative to conventional electromagnetic motors, in particular because their torque is very high, even when they are not rotating. Their cost, using thick film ceramic technology, can be very low, and they can be easily miniaturised.

Piezoelectric multilayer actuators are increasingly being used in many applications where speed and accuracy of positional control is needed. Although one of the benefits of using piezoelectric actuators over any other actuation mechanism is their infinite positional control, in some applications, particularly where fast response time is required, all that is needed is an on/off control.

The control of diesel injection valves is one such application, where the introduction of diesel fuel into the combustion chamber is controlled by the opening and closing of a fine needle valve. The response of a piezoelectrically-driven valve enables much more controlled fuel combustion, which leads to cleaner emissions and quieter engines.

However in order to achieve these potential benefits the piezoelectric actuators are being driven far above the normal linear operation regime. New measurement methods and models are required to predict performance.