A liquid column resonance transducer driven by Class IV flextensional transducer

Abstract

A liquid column resonance (LCR) transducer, also referred to as an organ pipe transducer, is a type of transducer that utilizes the liquid column resonance mode to produce acoustic energy underwater. Traditional transducers, such as piezoelectric rings or Janus transducers, are commonly used as the driving source in LCR transducers. A flextensional transducer (FT) is introduced into the LCR transducer as the driving source because of the relatively larger volume velocity at low frequencies. Moreover, the eigen-mode of the Class IV FT is easier to couple with the LCR mode to broaden the bandwidth of a LCR transducer. To overcome the problems associated with the low stiffness of elliptical metal pipes, an improved aluminum pipe, which has a cross-beam to increase the stiffness, was proposed and utilized in a LCR transducer driven by a Class IV FT. The fabricated LCR transducer prototype driven by the Class IV FT has two resonance peaks from 700–2000 Hz, and the transmitting voltage response values of these peaks are 132.1 and 137.8 dB (re 1 μPa/V @1 m). Comparing with an LCR transducer driven by a 33-mode ring, the results show that the LCR transducer driven by a Class IV FT provides good efficiency and broadband characteristics.