Acoustic Radiation of a Water-Filled Piezoelectric Cylinder near a Rigid Plane

The combined finite-element-boundary-element method is used to solve the problem on the radiation of a water-filled piezoceramic cylinder positioned near an infinite plane. For the case of a perfectly rigid plane, the frequency characteristics of the transmitting response of the piezoelectric cylinder are obtained along with the frequency characteristics of the acoustic power, the directional characteristics, and the velocity and pressure distributions over the radiating cylindrical surfaces. It is found that, when the distance between the plane and the piezoelectric cylinder is small relative to the wavelength, the frequency characteristics of the cylinder and the velocity and pressure distributions noticeably differ from those obtained for a piezoelectric cylinder in an infinite space. The effect of the antisymmetric mode, which appears at small wave distances between the cylinder and the plane, on the characteristics of a water-filled piezoelectric cylinder is considered.     

An active noise reduction earplug using a piezoelectric laterally radiating loudspeaker

This paper describes the electroacoustic behaviour of a new piezoelectric Active Noise Reduction (ANR) earplug device. The sensor is a microphone having suitable characteristics chosen from among commercially available electret microphones. The actuator is a cylindrical piezoelectric ceramic loaded with a thin fluid film. An analytic model of laterally radiating loudspeaker, based on fundamental equations of acoustics, which takes into account the effect of viscosity and heat conduction is adapted to describe the acoustic radiation of the actuator. Theoretical and experimental frequency responses in a small cavity and an example of the ANR that can be obtained with the earplug are presented.     

Electric impedance and amplitude-frequency response of a one-dimensional ultrasonic liquid-filled resonator with flat piezoelectric plates

The impedance method is used to determine the electric impedance of a resonator. The amplitude-frequency response of a one-dimensional liquid-filled ultrasonic resonator is calculated by directly solving the wave equations and piezoelectric effect equations under the corresponding boundary conditions. An analysis of the amplitude-frequency response shows that the simple analytical expression obtained from the aforementioned solution is in good agreement with experimental data. An anomalous variation of the electric current in the radiating piezoelectric plate versus the excitation frequency is theoretically revealed near the high-Q resonance peaks. This effect is confirmed experimentally. It gives rise to errors in the measured absorption coefficient and multiply broadens the resonance peaks when the measurements are performed near the resonance frequencies of the piezoelectric plates.     

Optimization of the performance of the sandwich piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer

The resonance and antiresonance frequency, the effective electromechanical coupling coefficient, and the mechanical quality factor of a sandwich piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer are studied and optimized. The effect of the thickness of thick piezoelectric element electrodes on the transducer performance is analyzed. The effect of the length and position of the piezoelectric elements in the transducer is also studied. It is shown that, although using thick electrodes is beneficial for releasing heat produced by the piezoelectric elements, the effective electromechanical coupling coefficient and the mechanical quality factor are reduced. The length and the position of the piezoelectric elements affect the performances of the transducer. Increasing the length of the piezoelectric elements decreases the mechanical quality factor, but the effective electromechanical coupling coefficient increases. When the length reaches a certain value, the effective electromechanical coupling coefficient reaches a maximum value. When the piezoelectric elements are located at the geometrical center or the displacement node, the effective electromechanical coupling coefficient and the mechanical quality factor are maximized.     

高频宽带嵌套式复合材料换能器

研制了一种嵌套式高频宽带复合材料换能器,利用1-3型压电复合材料Q值较低、频带较宽的特点,采用组合式的结构拓展换能器的工作带宽。通过切割框型压电陶瓷、灌注环氧树脂得到压电复合材料框型敏感元件,再将不同厚度的框型敏感元件沿轴向嵌套从而制成多层嵌套的压电复合材料敏感元件。建立1-3型压电复合材料中压电小柱的等效电路,根据等效电路计算出压电小柱的谐振频率,并与1-3型压电复合材料的谐振频率理论计算结果进行对比。通过ANSYS软件对敏感元件结构进行仿真,并根据仿真结果确定了敏感元件的最佳设计方案。最终制作出的换能器进行水下测试,该换能器的谐振频率为310 kHz,最大发送电压响应为188.5 dB,-3 d B带宽可达130 kHz,接收灵敏度最大可达-186.8 dB,-3 dB带宽可达90 kHz,谐振频率处-3 d B的指向性开角约为2.4°。该嵌套式敏感元件可实现换能器宽带发射与接收声波的目标。     

Interaction between light and acoustic microwaves excited by aperiodic multielement transducers. II

Aperiodic multielement piezoelectric transducers operating in the high-frequency part of the microwave range are studied theoretically. The efficiency of interaction between a plane light wave and the acoustic fields excited by the transducers with antiphase adjacent elements is calculated as a function of frequency. Structures where the pitch varies gradually or stepwise and the piezoelectric elements are wide-or narrow-band are analyzed.     

Study of 1-3-2 type piezoelectric composite transducer array

Based on a new structure of precise location and decoupling between the transducer elements, high frequency underwater transmission transducer arrays with 4 elements and 8 elements serried uniform linear array were studied, using novel 1-3-2 type piezoelectric composite as the sensing material. There are ceramic framework supports in the transverse and longitudinal directions in 1-3-2 type piezoelectric composite structure; the transducer is free from the influence of outside mechanical impact and the environment temperature change. Transducer and array samples have been designed, fabricated and measured. The resonant frequency is 150 kHz, resonant transmission response greater than 160 dB, and bandwidth is from 140 kHz to 160 kHz. The results indicate that, the transducer array has wide bandwidth, high sensitivity, stabile performance, and good coherence.     

Thickness-shear vibrations in round variable-thickness piezoelectric crystal plates

A computer algorithm proposed for the numerical solution of the problem of natural vibrations of axisymmetric variable-thickness piezoelectric elements can determine the complete spectrum of thickness-shear vibrations of a given class of piezoelectric elements and their displacements distribution. Examples are given of the calculation of the spectrum of piezoelectric elements with the corresponding vibration topograms and the temperature—frequency characteristics and anharmonic vibrations.Mytishchi Scientific-Research Institute of Radio-Measuring Instruments. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 37, No. 12, pp. 1519–1531, December, 1994.     

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.     

压电陶瓷压电特性的激光调制法测量研究

介绍可测量压电陶瓷压电特性的激光干涉调制测量方法.采用相干检测原理对信号进行提取,不仅可以抑制噪声对干涉信号的影响,而且还可以大大降低光电探测器和电路的1/f噪声.与通常干涉仪测量方法相比,这种方法具有测量灵敏度高等优点.利用该方法对压电陶瓷压电特性进行了测量,讨论了激励电压信号的频率、幅度对压电陶瓷压电常数d₃₁的影响,并对其压电迟滞曲线进行了测量.     

Control of complex components with Smart Flexible Phased Arrays

The inspection is mainly performed in contact with ultrasonic wedge transducers; However, the shape cannot fit the changing geometries of components (butt weld, nozzle, elbow). The variable thickness of the coupling layer, between the wedge and the local surface, leads to beam distortions and losses of sensitivity. Previous studies have shown that these two phenomena contribute to reduce the inspection performances leading to shadow area, split beam.... Flexible phased arrays have been developed to fit the complex profile and improve such controls. The radiating surface is composed with independent piezoelectric elements mechanically assembled and a profilometer, embedded in the transducer, measures the local distortion. The computed shape is used by an algorithm to compute in real-time the adapted delay laws compensating the distortions of 2D or 3D profiles. Those delay laws are transferred to the real-time UT acquisition system, which applies them to the piezoelectric elements. This self-adaptive process preserves, during the scanning, the features of the focused beam (orientation and focal depth) in the specimen. To validate the concept of the Smart Flexible Phased Array Transducer, prototypes have been integrated to detect flaws machined in mock-ups with realistic irregular 2D and 3D shapes. Inspections have been carried out on samples showing the enhancement performances of the "Smart Flexible Phased Array" and validating the mechanical and acoustical behaviors of these probes.     

Mode analysis of trilaminar bender bar transducers using an approximation method

Based on the vibration theory of a thin plate, an analytical treatment of the trilaminar bender bar with piezoelectric elements and inert substrate of various lengths is presented for mode analysis. Resonance frequency and effective electromechanical coupling coefficient are calculated by this method. The impacts of the geometries of the bender bar on the performance of its fundamental and third-order flexural mode are investigated in detail under rigid boundary conditions. It is shown that resonance frequency is extremely sensitive to the thickness of inert substrate. Moreover, the effective electromechanical coupling coefficient has peaks as the length of piezoelectric elements varies. The peaks are achieved when the length of piezoelectric elements equals the length between two nodes having zero strains in the x-direction. The trilaminar bender bar will be effectively excited when the strains on the piezoelectric element are in the same phase, which is important to disclose the vibration mechanisms of this kind of transducer. Also, analytical results are compared with the ones of numerical simulation. The results suggest that effective electromechanical coupling coefficient shares similar patterns with electrical conductance, which can be used to characterize transducer performance to a certain extent. It also demonstrates that the analytical treatment provides an efficient alternative way for optimizing the bender bar transducer design.     

ZnO薄膜硅微压电矢量水听器

提出了一种基于ZnO压电薄膜的硅微压电矢量水听器,其核心部件是利用微电子机械系统(MEMS)技术制作的悬臂梁结构压电加速度计。由近似解析和有限元分析,得出加速度计的灵敏度和谐振频率,并在此基础上对其进行了优化设计。研制了MEMS压电加速度计,并装配后构成MEMS矢量水听器。测试结果表明:加速度灵敏度在20~1,200 Hz范围内约为0.83 mV/(m/s2)。经过液柱法测量,在1 kHz时,MEMS矢量水听器等效声压灵敏度为-229.5 dB (ref.1V/μPa),比同类型压阻式MEMS矢量水听器的灵敏度高17 dB以上。      

Influence of nonparallelism of the surfaces of a piezoelectric layer on the frequency band of an electroacoustic piezoelectric transducer

The influence of nonparallelism of the surfaces of a piezoelectric transducer on its impedance and frequency band is analyzed theoretically. The model of a wedge-shaped piezoelectric layer taken for the analysis consists of a set of n plane-parallel elements arranged in succession along the length of the transducer with a gradual increase in the thickness of the piezoelectric layer. The analysis performed demonstrates the possibility of significantly expanding the band of working frequencies of a piezoelectric transducer when its electroacoustic conversion efficiency is reduced. In some cases, however, a decrease in conversion efficiency can be employed to optimize an acoustic device, for example, in creating a filter-type piezoelectric transducer, where electromagnetic energy is converted into acoustic energy successively from one cell of the filter to another. The proposed method for expanding the frequency band can be useful, for example, in creating high-frequency acousto-optic Bragg cells. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 69, 72–73 (March 1999)     

Broad-band driving of echographic arrays using 10 ns-500 V efficient pulse generators

To obtain a good dynamic range on echographic signals produced by broad-band piezoelectric arrays with frequencies > 4 MHz, it is necessary to excite each of the array elements with very fast electric spikes. Therefore, for most depths used in medical echographic visualization, or NDT applications, electric pulses of some hundreds of volts with a rise-time of < 30 ns are required. This Paper outlines an analysis of the required characteristics of the high voltage excitation stages for each of the elements of a linear piezoelectric array designed for scanning and electronic focussing. An efficient basic unit for multichannel pulse generation up to 500 V with a rise-time of 10 ns is described. This unit has been especially designed for the impulsional driving of broadband piezoelectric array elements in the frequency range 1–30 MHz. The generated electric pulse shape is studied as a function of the generator internal parameters and its external load, and some experimental results for different real transduction conditions are resented.     

Micromachined ultrasound transducers with improved coupling factors from a CMOS compatible process

For medical high frequency acoustic imaging purposes the reduction in size of a single transducer element for one-dimensional and even more for two-dimensional arrays is more and more limited by fabrication and cabling technology. In the fields of industrial distance measurement and simple object recognition low cost phased arrays are lacking. Both problems can be solved with micromachined ultrasound transducers (MUTs). A single transducer is made of a large number of microscopic elements. Because of the array structure of these transducers, groups of elements can be built up and used as a phased array. By integrating parts of the sensor electronics on chip, the cabling effort for arrays can be reduced markedly. In contrast to standard ultrasonic technology, which is based on massive thickness resonators, vibrating membranes are the radiating elements of the MUTs. New micromachining technologies have emerged, allowing a highly reproducible fabrication of electrostatically driven membranes with gap heights below 500 nm. A microelectronic BiCMOS process was extended for surface micromechanics (T. Scheiter et al., Proceedings 11th European Conference on Solid-State Transducers, Warsaw, Vol. 3, 1997, pp. 1595-1598). Additional process steps were included for the realization of the membranes which form sealed cavities with the underlying substrate. Membrane and substrate are the opposite electrodes of a capacitive transducer. The transducers can be integrated monolithically on one chip together with the driving, preamplifying and multiplexing circuitry, thus reducing parasitic capacities and noise level significantly. Owing to their low mass the transducers are very well matched to fluid loads, resulting in a very high bandwidth of 50-100% (C. Eccardt et al., Proceedings Ultrasonics Symposium, San Antonio, Vol. 2, 1996, pp. 959-962; P.C. Eccardt et al., Proceedings of the 1997 Ultrasonics Symposium, Toronto, Vol. 2, 1997, pp. 1609-1618). In the following it is shown how the BiCMOS process has been modified to meet the demands for ultrasound generation and reception. Bias and driving voltages have been reduced down to the 10 V range. The electromechanical coupling is now almost comparable with that for piezoelectric transducers. The measurements exhibit sound pressures and bandwidths that are at least comparable with those of conventional piezoelectric transducer arrays.     

Effects of coupled vibrations on the acoustical performance of underwater cylindrical shell transducers

An experimental investigation of the effects of coupled vibrations on the acoustical performance of underwater transducers made from radially polarized, thin walled, air-backed, piezoelectric cylinders as a function of their height-to-diameter aspect ratio is presented. Characteristics of the frequency response, directivity patterns, and effectiveness of the transducers are considered in comparison with analogous characteristics for the transducers comprised of mechanically separated rings, otherwise having the same geometry. Recommendations are made on the application of cylindrical piezoelectric elements with different aspect ratios for underwater transducer applications.     

Mathematical modeling of the population dynamics of “dark” states of a three-level system

Mathematical modeling of the population dynamics is performed for states of a three-level system (atom) with a V-type configuration transforming a light pulse. It is assumed that the excited eigenstates of the atom are degenerate and coupled by coherent interaction, one of the states being radiating (radiative), while the other state is nonradiating (??dark??). The population dynamics of atomic states is described on the basis of numerical solutions of equations for the matrix elements of the density operator. The dependence of the efficiency of population of the atomic dark state from the values of the parameters of an irradiation pulse and from the ratio of the period of population oscillations of excited atomic states (caused by their coherent interaction) to the lifetime of the atomic radiating state is determined. Typical examples of the time dependence of the population of states of the atom considered are presented for the cases of irradiation by a short (as compared to the lifetime of the radiating state) sinusoidal light pulse and by a long rectangular light pulse with the resonance carrier frequency.     

A study of a 1-3-2 type piezoelectric composite

A novel 1-3-2 type piezoelectric composite is developed. There are piezoelectric ceramic framework supports at transverse and longitudinal directions in its structure, so it is free from the influence of any outside mechanic impact and environmental temperature change. The sample characteristic is good coherence. It has many advantages, such as a high piezoelectricity, lower density and acoustic impedance matching with water and tissue easily. Based on Newnham's series and parallel theory of composites, the calculation formulae of dielectric and piezoelectric constants of a 1-3-2 type piezoelectric composite are deduced. The sample's characteristics indicate that a 1-3-2 type piezoelectric composite's theoretic calculation values are in good agreement with the measurement results. Element samples have been designed, manufactured and measured. The results indicate that the resonant frequency, resonant impedance, piezoelectricity and static capacity of these samples are stable. It is easy to design sensor array elements using this material.     

外接LC电路的可调压电换能器的频率特性

压电换能器往往因受到温度与负载的影响,导致其谐振频率、反谐振频率和机械品质因数等特征参数发生变化。通过在压电换能器中设计用于调节的压电陶瓷片,并在调节压电陶瓷片两端外接电负载,可以实现压电换能器的频率调节,修正由于温度和负载导致的频率漂移。基于压电换能器的Mason等效电路,建立外接LC调节电路的压电换能器的谐振频率、反谐振频率模型,分析LC调节电路中调节电感对频率调节特性的影响;通过实验研究外接LC调节电路对可调压电换能器机械品质因数的影响,并验证调节电感对频率调节特性的影响。理论分析和实验研究的结果表明:随着调节电感的增大,调节电容对频率的调节灵敏度提高,可调压电换能器的频率调节宽度拓宽,但也会使压电换能器的机械品质因数降低。合理选择调节电感和调节电容能兼顾频率调节宽度和机械品质因数的要求。此研究可为后续自适应压电换能器的频率调节系统设计提供指导。