Getting Started

Welcome to our support docs!  This article explains how to use these docs and what the Piezo.com brand means.

Using our Help Docs

Why the Docs?

Up until recently, we did everyone does, offer a PDF user manual and a PDF datasheet.  Initially, this worked well but we discovered two primary disadvantages of this approach:

• User manuals are static - Our product line is continually advancing with new features and products constantly.  We found the user manual continually being out-of-date and not including different new elements.  We needed more dynamic documentation that we could update frequently and easily.
• User manuals are difficult to search through - Our user manual, as of recently, is 80 pages.  A small percentage of people liked being able to print out and read the user manual front-to-back, but most customers found such a long document difficult to traverse through to find the topic they were interested in.

These new help docs address both of these concerns directly.  Our customer success team can easily edit articles within the same portal that we use for emails and chat.  And these docs are easily searched to help you find your answer faster!

Structure

The help docs are structured with several topic categories shown on the homepage or when you are in an article, on the left side. Each category will have the main overview page that will include links to specific articles with more details on a topic.  The overview article will also include a few relevant FAQs. Once in an end article, there will be a brief introduction and then a table of contents for that article (like this page!).

A big element of the site is the search bar which is on the top left of every page or front and center on the main page.  Please let us know if you are searching for something and can't find it, we can add keywords to relevant articles to help these come up in searches (and we can write more articles if/when the current content doesn't address the question!). Another tip is that  this link will provide a list of the most popular articles that are dynamically generated.

Printing an Article

You'll notice that on the top right of every article will be a print icon that will format the articles appropriately for a printer-friendly version (navigation is hidden and all links are shown).

Who is Piezo.com?

Many of you know us as Mide or Piezo Systems, so what is this Piezo.com name and why?

Our Story

In 2017 Mide and Piezo Systems combined to form Piezo.com.  Both have a long and storied past around piezoelectric design and manufacturing.

Piezo Systems

Piezo Systems began as part of Piezoelectric Products Incorporated in the late 1980s.  Then Piezo Systems Incorporated formed in 1989 with the core team of Rob Carter, Don Murphy, Dick Kensley, and Roger Mathews. Since then they have been committed to designing and manufacturing piezo systems.  They started by designing proprietary bonding and dicing processes and began offering standard products through their website in the mid-1990s.  In the early 2000s, they expanded upon their product offerings with electronics and better mounting and electrical wiring options.  Throughout their entire journey, they have always been excited to work with other firms to develop custom solutions and then produce and deliver these.  We look forward to bringing that commitment and excitement forward with you!

Mide

Mide began in 1989 as a research and development firm.  For many years we focused on smart materials including piezoelectrics. In 2001 Active Controls Experts (ACX) was acquired by Cymer.  Mide acquired the piezoelectric production line from ACX that got us into more of a production viewpoint - not just engineering.  Since 2001 we have worked to grow the piezoelectric product line with investments in an e-commerce website and standard product growth with piezo fan, haptics, updated packaging etc.

Our Mission

Our mission is to Partner with You to Engineer and Deliver High-Value Piezoelectric Solutions. This simple mission statement highlights several areas of focus for us moving forward.

Partnering with You

We recognize that every application and team is different, we can't force fit a handful of standard configurations for your use.  We also know from experience that customization efforts work best when both parties are actively engaged and working together.  This is why we built our website with an education focus first.  We ultimately want our customers to understand piezoelectrics to succeed and find interesting applications to utilize the wonderful characteristics of piezo crystals - we're here to help in that journey!

Engineer

Our highly technical team has many years of experience modeling and designing piezoelectric systems with an emphasis on function, not form and fit.  We start designs by looking at the requirements and working towards the form and fit that meets those requirements of the customer. We have advanced analysis and modeling with FEA to confidently predict the performance of often complicated systems that piezo's electromechanical coupling introduces.

Deliver

Not only are we an engineering and design firm, we also have many production capabilities and support a large number of OEM customers that require tens of thousands of units per year.  Our production capabilities include bonding and laminating piezo sheets, but also include mechanical machining and assembly and electronics manufacturing.

High-Value Piezoelectric Solutions

There are many options to you in your design of a piezo-based system.  Our focus is not on cheap, low quality, and very high quantity.  Instead, we specialize in value-added designs that require an understanding of many systems (the piezo, supporting structure, electronic interface etc.) and not just the small sheet of piezo.  Although we sell bare piezoelectric ceramic, our passion lies with applying this exciting material and designing that system.