Kenji Uchino

Kenji Uchino is an American electronics engineer, physicist, academic, inventor and industry executive. He is currently an academy professor of Electrical Engineering, Emeritus Academy Institute at Pennsylvania State University, where he also directs the International Center for Actuators and Transducers at Materials Research Institute. He is the former associate director (US Navy Ambassador to Japan) at The US Office of Naval Research – Global Tokyo Office. He is one of the pioneers in piezoelectric actuators and electro-optic displays and is the inventor of topics including lead magnesium niobate (PMN)-based electrostricive materials, cofired multilayer piezoelectric actuators, superior electromechanical coupling relaxor-PbTiO_3 single crystals, magnetoelectric laminated composite sensors, shape memory ceramics, and micro ultrasonic motors. Uchino's work has resulted in over 584 research papers, over 78 books and 33 patents in the ceramic actuator area.

Uchino is a Life Fellow of IEEE, American Ceramic Society and International Association of Advanced Materials, and a senior member of National Academy of Inventors. He chaired the Smart Actuators/Sensors Study Committee in Japan from 1987 till 2014. Uchino is the Editor in Chief of J. Actuators, MDPI, J. Current Applied Materials, J. Current Mechanics and Advanced Materials, Bentham Science Pub. Ltd., and J. Insight-Material Science, PiscoMed Publishing LLT.

Early life and education Uchino was born in Tokyo in 1950, and grew up in Hiroshima. He studied at Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan and completed his B.Sc. degree in physics in 1973. He then received his M.S. and Ph.D. degree in Physical Electronics in 1975 and 1981, respectively. He was awarded his MBA degree from Saint Francis University in 2008.

Uchino was appointed as a Standing Auditor of Tokyo Savor Electronics Co. in the 1990s. He has also served as deputy director of System Technology Laboratory at NF Corporation in Japan.

From 2010 till 2014, he served as an associate director of Asia Office at Office of Naval Research-Global in Japan. He has also contributed significantly to the single crystal growth of piezoelectric transducer materials, and is one of the discoverers of the highest electromechanical coupling factor of 95% in lead zinc niobate - lead titanate single crystals.

Uchino reported the existence of the critical particle size below which all ferroelectric ceramics will lose ferro-electricity. His work led to triggering of later micro/nanotechnology research in the ferroelectric field, specifically in thin film applications.

Uchino contributed to the fundamental phenomenology in relaxor ferroelectrics and proposed a modified Curie-Weiss Law in the early 1980s.

Uchino discovered 'photostrictive effect' and by combining the photovoltaic effect and piezoelectricity, he invented photo-driven actuators. He investigated the basic ceramic compositions in La-doped lead zirconate titanate (PLZT).

Uchino has also worked on high power density piezo-ceramics, and developed a new methodology on measuring three losses separately in piezoelectrics. He also developed practical high power piezo-materials with the maximum vibration velocity.

Device designing Uchino proposed the basic idea of co-fired multilayer actuators in late 1970s which led to the mass-production of piezoelectric multilayer actuators by NEC Corporation. He is also the inventor of Cymbal actuators that consist of a thin multilayer piezoelectric element and two metal end caps with narrow cymbal-shaped cavities bonded together.

In collaboration with Denso Corporation in Japan, Uchino worked on piezoelectric energy harvesting with cymbal transducers from the engine vibration in a car. His work was recognized with an Inventor Award from Center for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems.

Uchino has also worked on compact ultrasonic motors with the minimum components. His original design consisted of only two basic components, and guaranteed reduction of manufacturing cost and improvement of production efficiency and reliability. He combined magnetostrictor and piezoelectric materials and is one of the pioneers in magnetoelectric devices.

Drive/Control techniques Uchino reported the analysis of transient vibration generated by a piezoelectric actuator after applying a pulse voltage. He proposed the idea of health monitoring of piezoelectric actuators by using AE monitoring and/or strain gauge type internal electrodes. He based his idea on the crack propagation mechanisms in multilayer piezo-actuators.

Uchino designed Buck-Converters for resolving the issue of energy harvesting circuit for realizing piezoelectric energy harvesting systems.

Awards and honors 1987 - Best Paper Award, Japanese Society of Oil/Air Pressure Control 1993 - Honorary Membership of KERAMOS 1997 - Fellow of American Ceramics Society 2005 - Adaptive Structures Prize, American Society of Mechanical Engineers 2007 - R&D 100 Award 2007 - Smart Product Implementation Award, Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers 2008 - Outstanding Academic Book Award for ‘’Micromechatronics’’, Japanese Society of Applied Electromagnetics and Mechanics 2010 - Editorial Board Award for Life long contribution to the Editorial Board of Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Japanese Applied Physics Society. 2011 - Premier Research Award, Penn State Engineering Alumni Society 2011 - Inventor Award for “Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting System”, Center for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems, Virginia Tech 2012 - Fellow of IEEE 2013 - Recognition Award, IEEE/UFFC Ferroelectrics 2016 - International Ceramic Award, Global Academy of Ceramics 2017 - Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE UFFC Society 2019 - Wilhelm R. Buessem Award, Center for Dielectrics and Piezoelectrics, Penn State University 2022 - Japan Ceramics Grand Prix from Japanese Ceramics Society