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Abstract:
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Transducers utilizing single crystal piezoelectrics as the active elements have been shown to exhibit broader operating bands , higher response levels , and higher power efficiency than transducers using piezoceramics while also reducing the size and mass of the transducer (Moffett et al . , J . Acoust . Soc . Am . , 2007 ) . The key to these high performance characteristics is the piezocrystal's inherent high electromechanical coupling coefficient . One potential application is to replace multiple narrowband piezoceramic transducers with a single broadband piezocrystal transducer which reduces the system's weight and size . This is very important for the new generation of smaller and power efficient unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs ) . A third application is for use in very broadband communication networks . The work presented here focuses specifically on the design , modeling , and construction of Tonpilz transducers using piezoelectrics as the active material . The modeling includes lumped element and finite element analysis to approximate the performance of these transducers . These models serve as the main structure of an overall iterative design process . The objective of this research is to compare the performance characteristics of a piezocrystal and a piezoceramic Tonpilz transducer and to validate the models by comparing the model predictions with experimental results . |