Bender transducer design and operation.

Area of Science:

• Acoustics
• Materials Science
• Electrical Engineering

Background:

• Bender transducers are crucial for underwater acoustic applications.
• Understanding their performance across various sizes and frequencies is essential for optimization.
• Existing models may not fully capture complex interactions and scaling behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To empirically investigate bender transducer performance.
• To develop a spherical device model for predicting performance.
• To establish scaling rules for equivalent circuit parameters and analyze sensitivity to operating conditions.

Main Methods:

• Conducted empirical studies across diverse bender transducer sizes and operating frequencies.
• Developed and validated a spherical device model.
• Determined sensitivity factors for equivalent circuit parameters, coupling coefficient (Kc), and electromechanical transformer turns ratio (N).
• Performed high drive tests under realistic conditions.

Main Results:

• A spherical model accurately predicts bender performance, including interaction effects.
• Empirical rules for scaling equivalent circuit parameters based on device geometry were identified.
• Effective spherical radius found to be approximately half the diaphragm radius.
• Sensitivity analyses revealed Kc and N decrease with pressure and increase with voltage.
• High drive tests yielded figures of merit (FOM(V), FOM(M)) comparable to the best underwater transducers.

Conclusions:

• The developed spherical model provides a robust framework for bender transducer design.
• Bender transducers demonstrate high performance and efficiency, potentially outperforming other underwater acoustic devices.
• The identified scaling rules and sensitivity factors enable optimized transducer design for specific operating environments.