Abstract: A piezoelectric acoustic transducer for coupling acoustic energy to a gaseous atmosphere in a pulse-echo ranging system has a tubular housing closed at one end by a thin integral wall to which a radiating plate of a transducer assembly is coupled to radiate acoustic energy by means of a layer of acoustically transmissive matching material. The transducer assembly except for its radiating surfaces is wrapped in an acoustic decoupling material such as cork, and the side wall of the tubular housing, which has a mounting ring behind the transducer assembly, is also internally lined with such material, space around and behind the transducer assembly within the housing being filled with a slightly elastomeric potting compound. This arrangement decouples the mounting ring from the transducer assembly, thus stabilizing the ringing characteristics of the transducer.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
September 28, 1992
Date of Patent:
August 16, 1994
Assignee:
Milltronics Ltd.
Inventors:
William J. Brown, Bogdan Cherek, Henry T. Viuhko