• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
• /
• v.35 no.6
• /
• pp.452-465
• /
• 2016

In this study, the structure of a concave annular array transducer was optimized to generate high intensity focused ultrasound for medical therapeutic application. The transducer has a phased array structure composed of several concentric channels that have 40 mm as the radius of curvature. We derived theoretical equations to analyze the sound field of the transducer and verified the validity of the equations by comparing the results calculated by the equations with those from finite element analyses. We also checked the possibility of dynamic focusing at around the geometric focal point. Further, the level of a grating lobe occurring at an unwanted position in the transducer sound field was confirmed to be reducible through the relation between the number of channels and the frequency of the transducer. Hence, the structure of the transducer was optimized to place the main lobe within a specific range from the zenith while systematically reducing the level of the maximum sidelobe including the grating lobe. The designed structure showed the performance better than that targeted at all the focal points.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
• /
• v.32 no.5
• /
• pp.393-401
• /
• 2013

In this paper, a $48{\times}64$ channel 2D array ultrasonic transducer with piezoelectric single crystals was designed, fabricated, and evaluated. Structure of the transducer was chosen to facilitate the electric connection on the planar array, and then components were fabricated in accordance with the structure. Detailed structure of the transducer was designed through finite element analyses. In order to improve the performance of the transducer, the crosstalk between adjacent elements was reduced through the control of kerf width and material, and the target frequency bandwidth was achieved through optimal design of the thickness of the single crystal and matching layers. After fabricating a prototype of the transducer according to the design and measuring its characteristics, the results were compared with those of finite element analyses to evaluate the performance of the developed transducer.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
• /
• v.35 no.6
• /
• pp.466-472
• /
• 2016

In this work, a medical linear array ultrasonic transducer working in the range of 20 MHz has been developed for high-resolution ultrasonic imaging. After devising the structure of the transducer suitable for the transmission of high-frequency waves, we optimized the dimension of constituent components. Then, the process to fabricate the transducer was developed to realize the designed structure, and a prototype of the transducer was fabricated and characterized. The center frequency of the fabricated transducer was measured to be 19 MHz, and the fractional bandwidth to be 84.5 %, and the standard deviation of the sensitivity over the entire channels to be 0.74 dB. These measurement results showed good agreement with design data, which confirmed the validity of the high frequency ultrasonic transducer structure developed in this work. It was confirmed that the developed transducer with new structure had wider frequency bandwidth and uniform sensitivity than a conventional 20 MHz transducer.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
• /
• v.39 no.3
• /
• pp.170-178
• /
• 2020

Cymbal transducers are often used as an array rather than single because they have a high quality factor and low energy conversion efficiency. When used as an array, there occurs a big change in the frequency characteristics of the array due to the interaction between constituent transducers. In this study, we designed the structure of a cymbal transducer array to have ultra-wideband characteristics using this property. First, cymbal transducers with specific center frequencies were designed. Then, a 2×2 planar array was constructed with the designed transducers, where the cymbal transducers were arranged to have same or opposite polarization directions. For this structure, we analyzed the effect of the difference in the center frequency of and the spacing between the constituent transducers on the acoustical characteristics of the array. Based on the analysis, we designed the structure of the cymbal transducer array to have the widest possible bandwidth.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.35 no.2
• /
• pp.120-127
• /
• 2015

In this paper, a linear-array transducer capable of overcoming the faults of a single element and phased array transducers with convex shape for non-destructive ultrasonic testing was designed and fabricated. A 5.5 MHz linear-array transducer was designed using the PiezoCAD program based on the KLM analysis and the PZFlex program based on the FEM analysis. A 2-2 composite structure was employed to achieve broad-band characteristics. A 128 element linear-array transducer was fabricated and its performance was compared with the simulation results. The center frequency of the fabricated transducer was 5.5 MHz and the -6 dB frequency bandwidth was 70 %. Thus, we expect that the designed transducer can provide an effective inner image of the test material during non-destructive ultrasonic testing.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.242-247
• /
• 2009

The ability of time reversal techniques to focus ultrasonic beams on the source location is important in many aspects of ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation. In this paper, we investigate the time reversal beam focusing of ultrasonic array sensors on a defect in layered media. Numerical modeling is performed using the commercially available software which employs a time domain finite difference method. Two different time reversal approaches are considered - the through transmission and the pulse-echo. Linear array sensors composed of N elements of line sources are used for signal reception/excitation, time reversal, and reemission in time reversal processes associated with the scattering source of a side-drilled hole located in the second layer of two layer structure. The simulation results demonstrate the time reversal focusing even with multiple reflections from the interface of layered structure. We examine the focusing resolution that is related to the propagation distance, the size of array sensor and the wavelength.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
• /
• v.28 no.2E
• /
• pp.51-59
• /
• 2009

Mutual radiation impedance becomes more important in the design and analysis of acoustic transducers for higher power, better beam pattern, and wider bandwidth at low frequency sonar systems. This review paper focused on literature survey about the researches of mutual radiation impedance in the acoustic transducer arrays over 60 years. The papers of mutual radiation impedance were summarized in terms of transducer array structures on various baffle geometries such as planar, cylindrical, spherical, conformal, spheroidal, and elliptic cylindrical arrays. Then the computation schemes of solving conventional quadruple integral in the definition of mutual radiation impedance were surveyed including spatial convolution method, which reduces the quadruple integral to a double integral for efficient computation.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.199-207
• /
• 2013

In this paper, a $64{\times}8$ channel 1.75D ultrasonic transducer made of piezoelectric single crystals was designed, fabricated, and evaluated. First, a structure of the transducer was selected to be suitable for wiring on a planar array, and components were fabricated to correspond to the structure. Detailed structure of the transducer was designed through finite element analyses. As main performance factors, the crosstalk between neighboring elements was reduced through the control of kerf width and material, and desired frequency bandwidth of the transducer was achieved by designing the optimal thicknesses of the piezoelectric single crystal and matching layers. An experimental prototype of the transducer was fabricated following the design, and its performance was measured. Then the experimental results were compared with those of the finite element analysis, which led to the evaluation of the transducer developed in this work.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
• /
• v.51 no.10
• /
• pp.256-263
• /
• 2014

We have designed and made three kinds of FBG(Fiber Bragg Grating) Acoustic Transducer using Hopper type WDM on the use of recently developed FBG in Korea. The newly designed three kinds of FBG Acoustic Transducer using Hopper type WDM have an excellent merit of practical use with simple structure of sensors arm as well as the merit with existing fiber sensors. It was possible to detect sound waves in the range of 10 Hz to 18 kHz through the newly designed three kinds of FBG Acoustic Transducer and also, possible to detect its signal within the maximum range of 8.6 m by the use of most suitable resonance condition of the transducer. Especially, we can expect the utilization of low-frequency signal detection instead of existing acoustic sensor in the environment of electric noise and inferior condition. Furthermore, they can be developed as the high-sensibility and multi-point signal detection system through the sensor array system.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.329-336
• /
• 2003

Intra-Vascular Ultra-Sound (IVUS) transducers were developed for the application to diagnose coronary diseases. The transducer consists of 32 piezoelectric elements with a front insulation layer and a polymeric acoustic backing layer on a hollow alumina tube. The optimal geometrical structure of the transducer was designed through theoretical analysis of radiation patterns of the transducer. Samples of the IVUS transducers of the diameter of 3㎜ were fabricated to illustrate the design scheme. For the piezoelectric elements, 2-2 mode piezocomposite materials were employed. Experimental performance of the transducers showed good agreement with the design results, which verified feasibility of the transducer for IVUS applications.