Design optimization of a Class VII Flextensional Transducer

Class VII Flextensional Transducers (FTs) have been proposed as a means of overcoming the limitation of very high prestress in Class IV FTs. These transducers are made from shells shaped like dog bone and hence are also known as dog-bone shell transducers. In this work, we report design optimization of a low frequency aluminum shell Class VII FT, resonating at 2.5 kHz, using piezoelectric drive. Two and three dimensional Finite Element Modeling (FEM), with the help of a commercially available package ATILA have been used for the design optimization. Dimensional details of the base model have been adapted from previous literature. Parametric analyses have been done with respect to various aspects like type of rubber, shell height, shell material, etc. in order to optimize the design. Experimental results obtained from an initial prototype are also presented. The results match fairly well with the predicted values.     

Ⅳ型弯张换能器振动辐射特性分析

本文利用等效电路支路阻抗分析方法,研究了IV型弯张换能器振动辐射特性与换能器结构之间的关系,得出一系列对换能器设计有用的结论。     

低频宽带大功率“星型”柱面发射换能器

提出一种具有水平无指向性、低频、宽带、大功率特点的新结构换能器——“星型”柱面发射换能器,换能器由共享后质量块的6个复合棒换能器按“星型”方式组成柱面结构。采用有限元方法对换能器进行了分析设计并制作了换能器样机。在1—10 kHz内,换能器有3个主要工作模态,前两阶工作模态对换能器工作带宽的展宽有贡献,第三阶模态显示出较强的指向性,水池测试换能器具有1倍频程的工作带宽,最大声源级为199.1 dB。有限元模拟结果和实验结果符合较好。研究结果表明,新结构换能器在满足水平无指向性的前提下,利用复合棒的纵振及辐射面的弯曲振动实现了低频、宽带、大功率的要求,提供了一种设计该特性换能器的新思路。      

Loss effects on adhesively-bonded multilayer ultrasonic transducers by self-heating

Multilayer ultrasonic transducers are widely being used for high power applications. In these applications, typical Langevin/Tonpilz structures without any adhesive bondings however have the disadvantage of limited bandwidth. Therefore adhesively-bonded structures are still a potential solution for this issue. In this paper, two-layer piezoelectric ceramic ultrasonic transducers with two different adhesive bondlines were investigated comparing to a single-layer transducer in terms of loss effects during operation with excitation signals sufficient to cause self-heating. The theoretical functions fitted to the measured time–temperature dependency data are compared with experimental results of different piezoelectric transducers. Theoretical analysis of loss characteristics at various surface displacements and the relationship with increasing temperature are reported. The effects of self-heating on the practical performance of multilayer ultrasonic transducers with adhesive bondlines are discussed.     

变张换能器的等效电路支路阻抗分析方法

本文提出了适用于弯张换能器的等效电路支路阻抗分析方法,归纳总结了一些描述IV型弯张换能器振动辐射的特性参量,通过支路阻抗分析方法计算这些特性参量可以进行换能器局部结构的优化设计.     

Finite element three-dimensional analysis of the vibrational behaviour of the Langevin-type transducer

The vibrational behaviour of the Langevin transducer is usually analysed using 1D Mason model which is valid when the lateral dimensions of the transducer are smaller than a quarter wavelength at the fundamental longitudinal resonance. In this work a 3D finite element analysis of the Langevin transducer's behaviour operating in the underwater sonar range of frequencies (30-140 kHz) is presented. Several samples with total length greater, comparable to, and smaller than the diameter of the transducer are analysed. For each sample, the resonance frequencies in the observed frequency range are computed and compared with those obtained experimentally from the measurements carried out using several in-house built prototypes. For the most important aspect ratios the resonance displacement distributions are presented and discussed. The results obtained permit to gain insight into the coupling phenomenon between thickness-extensional and radial modes and suggest that in practical applications transducers with diameters comparable to or greater than total length of the active stack can also be used. The trade-off between the efficiency and power handling ability for different designs is also discussed.     

Advantage analysis of PMN-PT material for free-flooded ring transducers

The acoustic radiation characteristics of free-flooded ring transducers made of PZT4 and PMN-PT materials are calculated and compared.First,the theoretical formulae for free-flooded ring transducers are studied.The resonant frequencies of a transducer made of PZT4 and PMN-PT materials are calculated.Then,the transmitting voltage responses of the free-flooded ring transducers are calculated using the finite element method.Finally,the acoustic radiation characteristics of the free-flooded ring transducers are calculated using the boundary element method.The calculated results show that the resonant frequencies of the free-flooded ring transducer made of PMN-PT are greatly reduced compared with those made of PZT4 with the same size.The transmitting voltage response of the transducer made of PMN-PT is much higher than that of the transducer made of PZT4.The calculated 3-dB beamwidth of the acoustic radiated far-field directivity of the free-flooded ring transducer made of PZT4 at the resonant frequency 1900 Hz is 63.6 and that of the transducer made of PMN-PT at the resonant frequency 1000 Hz is 64.6.The comparison results show that the free-flooded ring transducer made of PMN-PT material has many advantages over that made of PZT4.The PMN-PT is a promising material for improving the performance of free-flooded ring transducers.     

Class IV Flextensional Transducer with a reflector

Class IV Flextensional Transducers (FTs), which are the most popular among the various FTs used for underwater sound projection, are inherently omni-directional and therefore their possible application areas are limited. In this work, we investigate the possibility of getting directional performance from a 3 kHz Class IV FT, using a reflector. Finite element modeling (FEM), with the help of a commercially available package ATILA, has been made use of. Results indicate that a parabolic reflector with a air–water interface as the reflecting surface, would give an excellent directivity of 60° (3 dB) with a front-to-back ratio better than 30 dB. Experimental results, making use of a sound-reflecting coating as the reflector has shown a directivity of 82°, with a front-to-back ratio of 21 dB. It is also observed that the reflector causes the FTs to vibrate in asymmetrical modes, the long-term implications of which needs to be studied to ensure the reliability of the device.     

Estimation of frequency characteristics of the Tonpilz piezoelectric transducer with a bending piezoelectric disk

A Tonpilz piezoelectric transducer which has a bending piezoelectric disk on the radiation surface for widening the frequency band to improve sonar detection performance in shallow water has been proposed. Variance of transmitting voltage response of this transducer depend on the phase difference between signals which applies to the ring-stack and the bending-disk piezoelectric resonators. Thus, an estimation of an optimal phase difference, which can be applied for obtaining the maximum value of transmitting voltage response, is important factor to assemble sonar array with sonar transducers. In this paper, we applied three methods to estimate transmitting voltage response at an arbitrary phase difference from a few measurements, and the estimation errors of those methods affected by internal impedances of power sources and/or noise are investigated to select the best method. The effectiveness of the best method was verified by water-pool experiments.     

Study on the compound multifrequency ultrasonic transducer in flexural vibration

A new type of compound multifrequency ultrasonic transducer is analyzed in this paper. The compound multifrequency ultrasonic transducer consists of two sandwiched ultrasonic transducers and a rectangular radiator. In virtue of the coupling between longitudinal vibration of the sandwiched ultrasonic transducers and flexural vibration of the rectangular radiator, the compound multifrequency ultrasonic transducer can produce several resonance frequencies. Some compound multifrequency ultrasonic transducers are designed and simulated by finite element method (ANSYS), and modal shapes and harmonic response are analyzed. The compound multifrequency ultrasonic transducers are designed and manufactured. The resonance frequencies are measured and compared with the numerical results. The effect of the geometrical dimensions of the compound multifrequency ultrasonic transducer and the location of two sandwiched ultrasonic transducers on the compound multifrequency ultrasonic transducer is discussed. It is shown experimentally and numerically that the compound multifrequency ultrasonic transducer has several resonance frequencies.     

Broadband flextensional transducer with major axis lengthened

The bandwidth of the Class IV flextensional transducer is narrow for its high mechanical quality factor.For improving its bandwidth performance,a flextensional transducer with major axis lengthened was proposed by the theory of multiple-mode-coupling based on the oval shell.The transducer driven by novel relaxor ferroelectric single crystal lead magnesium niobate-lead titanate(PMNT)was designed and analysed using finite element software ANSYS and a prototype of the transducer was developed.The transmitting voltage response of the transducer reaches to 136 dB with fluctuation 7.8 dB from 1.6 kHz to 16 kHz.Based on the theoretical analysis and experimental results,it proves that the flextensional transducer with major axis lengthened has a much broader bandwidth than the ClassⅣflextensional transducer combing with the advantages of low frequency and high response.     

Measurement of background noise in sound-insulated rooms

Problems concerning measurement of stationary background noise levels below the dynamic limits of normal transducers are studied. The use of very sensitive large transducers is possible, but in general is restricted to rather low frequencies due to their extreme directional characteristics. Thus a 10 inch transducer may be used up to approximately 250 Hz. Two-transducer approaches based on correlation techniques cover a much wider frequency range because ordinary small transducers are applicable. Measurement errors due to diffraction or to unavoidable spacing of the two transducers generally become significant for transducer diameters in excess of one-quarter of a wavelength at the upper limiting frequency, although an exception to this occurs in the particular case of a plane progressive wave. The use of extremely small insensitive transducers is restricted by the necessity of having very impractical integration times. If measurements of levels down to ?20 dB re 20 μPa are carried out with condenser microphones in one-third octave frequency bands a practical compromise seems to be employment of $\text{1}\text{2}$ inch microphones in the range of center frequencies from 25 Hz to 5 kHz. This range may in practice be doubled (e.g., extended to 10 kHz) if measurements in the range 2·5–5 kHz are carried out with both 1 inch and $\text{1}\text{2}$ inch transducers so that corrections can be obtained for extended range measurements from 5 kHz performed with $\text{1}\text{2}$ inch transducers only.     

Study on the multifrequency Langevin ultrasonic transducer

Langevin ultrasonic transducers are widely used in high-power ultrasonics and underwater sound. In ultrasonic cleaning, a matching metal horn rather than a metal cylinder is used as the radiator in order to enhance the radiating surface and improve the acoustic matching between the transducer and the processed medium. To raise the effect of ultrasonic cleaning, the standing wave in the cleaning tank should be eliminated. One method to eliminate the standing wave in the tank is to use the multifrequency ultrasonic transducer. In this paper, the Langevin ultrasonic horn transducer, with two resonance frequencies, is studied. The transducer consists of two groups of piezoelectric ceramic elements: the back metal cylinder, the middle metal cylinder and the front matching metal horn. The vibrational modes of the transducer are analysed, and resonance frequency equations of the transducer in the half-wave and the all-wave vibrational modes are derived. According to the resonance frequency equations, transducers with two resonance frequencies are designed and made. The resonance frequencies, the effective electromechanical coupling coefficients and the equivalent electric impedances of the transducers are measured. It is shown that the measured resonance frequencies are in good agreement with the computed results, and the transducer can be excited to vibrate at two resonance frequencies, which correspond to the half-wave and the all-wave vibrational modes of the transducer.     

稀土Tonpilz换能器的有限元设计法

当Tonpilz换能器组件迥横截面面积之间相差较大时,应力,应变会有一定的突破,边界条件将不很连续,用四端网络方法设计会带来较大的误差,本文用有限元方法,设计并研制了一稀土Tonpilz型换能器 实验测试表明,与四端网络设计法相比,有限元方法具有更好的设计精度。     

一种弯张换能器及其共振频率计算方法

提出一种弯张换能器即欧米伽换能器,推导出其共振频率和位移振形函数。把欧米伽换能器分成四个构成部分,利用旋转薄壳理论和压电理论分别求出各部分的能量并进行相加,得到整个欧米伽换能器能量的泛函表达式;把几何边界连续条件和包含待定系数的位移振形函数代入到欧米伽换能器能量泛函中,运用Rayleigh-Ritz法求出欧米伽换能器的共振频率,再把共振频率代入Rayleigh-Ritz偏微分方程和边界方程中求出位移振形函数的待定系数以获得确定的位移振形函数。该方法也被推广到对钹式换能器共振频率和位移振形函数的求解上。上述求解结果与实验结果和数值软件相结合论证了该方法的有效性。可获得以下结论:(1)欧米伽换能器陶瓷片的径向振动与金属端帽顶部的纵向振动同相,减少了声场中的反相分量,易作为低频换能器使用;(2)为解决欧米伽换能器和钹式换能器的优化设计提供了理论支持;(3)文中求解共振频率和位移振形函数的方法,即可以应用在由旋转薄壳组成的弯张换能器上也可以应用在由旋转薄壳组成的其它结构上,具有普遍性。      

钹型换能器的优化设计*

本文研究的钹型换能器,是由一个压电陶瓷圆环和一个金属浅球壳组成。为了得到这种钹型换能器的解析解和它在不同介质中的机电性能。首先,根据前人得出的压电陶瓷圆环和金属浅球壳的理论模型,用等效电路法从理论上计算出了该换能器的共振频率并与仿真结果做了对比,发现二者近似吻合,验证了理论计算的可靠性,为这种钹型换能器的优化设计提供了理论指导。然后利用COMSOL Multiphysics分别模拟了压电陶瓷为圆盘和圆环的钹型换能器的共振频率,仿真结果表明：同等条件下,当圆环的外径和圆盘的半径相等时,压电陶瓷为圆环的钹型换能器共振频率更低,使其具有频率低、体积小的特点更加明显。利用数值方法,分析了钹型换能器的几何尺寸对其共振频率、反共振频率及有效机电耦合系数的影响。最后模拟了钹型换能器在水中的机电特性及声压分布。     

压电管堆式宽带换能器*

研究了一种具有管状叠堆结构的圆管换能器,其敏感元件是由纵向极化压电陶瓷单元组成的薄壁管状压电叠堆,探讨利用管状叠堆纵向和径向振动耦合实现宽带发射。利用压电柱壳振动理论推导了管堆的频率方程,分析了换能器的纵向和径向模态的振动耦合特性。在理论分析的基础上利用有限元方法对换能器的带宽和发射电压响应进行优化并研制换能器样机。测试结果表明,纵向极化的管状压电叠堆结构具有良好的发射电压响应和宽带特性,与理论及仿真结果相符。     

Modeling of functionally graded piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers

The application of functionally graded material (FGM) concept to piezoelectric transducers allows the design of composite transducers without interfaces, due to the continuous change of property values. Thus, large improvements can be achieved, as reduction of stress concentration, increasing of bonding strength, and bandwidth. This work proposes to design and to model FGM piezoelectric transducers and to compare their performance with non-FGM ones. Analytical and finite element (FE) modeling of FGM piezoelectric transducers radiating a plane pressure wave in fluid medium are developed and their results are compared. The ANSYS software is used for the FE modeling. The analytical model is based on FGM-equivalent acoustic transmission-line model, which is implemented using MATLAB software. Two cases are considered: (i) the transducer emits a pressure wave in water and it is composed of a graded piezoceramic disk, and backing and matching layers made of homogeneous materials; (ii) the transducer has no backing and matching layer; in this case, no external load is simulated. Time and frequency pressure responses are obtained through a transient analysis. The material properties are graded along thickness direction. Linear and exponential gradation functions are implemented to illustrate the influence of gradation on the transducer pressure response, electrical impedance, and resonance frequencies.     

Study on the Langevin piezoelectric ceramic ultrasonic transducer of longitudinal-flexural composite vibrational mode

In this paper, the Langevin longitudinal-flexural composite mode piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer is studied. This type of transducers consists of slender metal rods and longitudinally polarized piezoelectric ceramic rings. The resonance frequency equations for the longitudinal and flexural vibrations in the transducer are derived. By correcting the length of the metal slender rods, the simultaneous resonance of the longitudinal and flexural vibrations in the transducer is acquired. The experimental results show that the measured resonance frequencies of the transducers are in good agreement with the computed ones, and the measured resonance frequencies of the longitudinal and the flexural vibrations in the composite transducers are also in good agreement with each other.     

Vibration characteristics of piezoelectric torsional transducers

The vibrational characteristics of Langevin-type torsional transducers, which consist of two piezoelectric torsional disks and two elastic blocks, are studied theoretically and experimentally in this paper. The differential equations of piezoelectric torsional motions are derived in terms of the circumferential displacement and the electric potential. Solutions of the boundary-value problem yield the natural frequencies and mode shapes of the transducers, and the natural frequencies are verified by comparing the numerical results with the experimental ones. The theoretical results enable one to quantitatively predict the effect of the elastic blocks on the reduction of the natural frequencies of a Langevin-type torsional transducer.