• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.227-233
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• 2011

The ultrasonic guided wave phased array using magnetostrictive patch transducers is proposed. The magnetostrictive transducer has received much attention because it is cost-effective and capable to generate ultrasonic waves with a simple configuration. However, it has not been used for ultrasonic guided wave phased array applications until now. In this paper, we propose a magnetostrictive transducer based phased array system consisting of a multi-channel function generator, power amplifiers and Lamb wave magnetostrictive transducers. To check the performance of the ultrasonic guided wave phased array, several Lamb wave focusing experiments were carried out in an aluminum plate. The results demonstrated the capability of the developed array to focus the Lamb waves at specific target points.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.24 no.4 s.175
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• pp.972-981
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• 2000

The phased array transducer has two distinct advantages. One is rapid scanning comparing with the conventional mechanical or manual scanning system. Therefore, output image is represented in real-time. The other is the dynamic focusing and the dynamic steering of ultrasonic beam. Only the delay times that are controlled electrically are used to focus and to steer beam without any lenses or wedges. In this study, the profile of the ultrasonic beam for the phased array transducer has been simulated in the Huygens principle with varying the inter-element spacing of the linear phased array transducer. From the result of this study, it was found that the ultrasonic beam spread wider as the inter-element spacing was decreased. However, the focusing effect was improved, even when the number of the element was not big. In addition, there was grating lobes that are constructed when the inter-element spacing is more than half wavelength. However, this grating lobe has lower amplitude than the main lobe.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.207-216
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• 1999

A phased array is a multi-element piezoelectric device whose elements are individually excited by electric pulses at programmed delay time. One of the advantages of using phased array in nondestructive evaluation (NDE) application over conventional ultrasonic transducers is their great maneuverability of ultrasonic beam. There are some parameters such as the number and the size of the piezoelectric elements and the inter-element spacing of the elements to design phased array transducer. In this study, the characteristic of ultrasonic beam for phased array transducer due to the variation of the number of elements has been simulated for ultrasonic SH-wave on the basis of Huygen's principle. Ultrasonic beam directivity and focusing due to the change of time delay of each element were discussed due to the change of the number of piezoelectric elements. It was found that ultrasonic beam was much more spreaded and hence its sound pressure was decreased as steering angle of ultrasonic beam was increased. In addition, the ability of ultrasonic bean focusing decreased gradually with the increase of focal length at the same piezoelectric elements. However, the ability of beam focusing was improved as the number of consisting elements was increased.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.629-636
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• 2003

It will be very convenient if the directivity characteristics of ultrasonic transducer array are controllable by the purpose of use in the fields of sonar system or ultrasonic diagnostic system, In this paper, a control method of the directivity characteristics was suggested. The transducer array was consisted of two-layered piezoelectric vibrators. Efficiency of each vibrator is controlled in 2nd harmonic mode by electrical capacitance. Therefore, the beam width of the transducer array can be controlled by changing the capacitance. The directivity characteristics of the array were analyzed experimentally and theoretically. As the results, it is confirmed that -3 dB beam width of main lobe can be controlled in the range of 7.6°∼16.2°.

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

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.208-216
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• 2003

In one dimensional linear array type piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers widely used for medical diagnosis, the acoustic cross talk caused by the structural acoustic coupling between the adjacent piezoelectric elements reduces significantly their performance. In the study, we have proposed an acoustic wall to reduce the acoustic cross talk by wave propagation through the surface the transducer which can not be prevented by conventional kerf and have analyzed using a finite element method the acoustic cross talk level with respect to the shape, size and materials of the acoustic wall mounted on a convex one dimensional piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer. We expect that the simulated results provide us with a valuable information to make an optimized design of the way type ultrasonic transducer minimizing the acoustic cross talk level.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.466-472
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• 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
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.56-61
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• 2002

In piezoelectric ultrasonic linear array transducers widely used for diagnosis, the cross talk caused by the structural cross-coupling between adjacent elements inside the transducer affects the probe performance in a significant manner. In this study, we constructed a finite element model of a piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer, and analyzed its cross talk level with respect to the shape of and materials inside the kerf, The results of this work can be utilized in optimal design of the transducers for medical diagonosis and treatment as well as W applications.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.302-312
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• 2014

This article describes the design and performance characteristics of a broadband ultrasonic mosaic transducer. We focus on the improved bandwidth in the high frequency band of a previously designed broadband ultrasonic transducer (Lee et al., 2014). The improvement in the pulse-echo bandwidth was achieved by employing twelve $2{\times}2$ element subarrays, operating at different resonance frequencies, and utilizing the mosaic array concept. We found that the -6 dB and -12 dB bandwidths of the newly developed broadband ultrasonic mosaic transducer, were up to 155% and 170% of the previously designed model, with a quality factor of 1.71 and 1.25, respectively. The averaged TVR (transmitting voltage response), SRT (receiving sensitivity), and FOM (figure of merit) values in a nearly flat transmitting response band, from 45 to 105 kHz providing a -12 dB bandwith of 60 kHz, were 163.3 dB (re $1{\mu}Pa/V$ at 1 m), -192.8 dB (re $1V/{\mu}Pa$), and -30.9 dB, respectively.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2000.07c
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• pp.2248-2250
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• 2000

We investigated properties of PZT composite for medical ultrasonic transducer array (briefly UTA) for medicine applications fabricated by micro pressing and dicing method. Dicing method was the fabrication process of conventional ultrasonic transducer array by dicing sintered PZT sheet. Micro pressing method was the proposed process using pressing PZT green sheet by PMMA micro mold from LIGA process. Microstructures, electrical and electro -mechanical properties of fabricated UTAs of two cases were analyzed. Thickness mode electro-mechanical coupling coefficient of two cases have same values of 51%. Sintered PZT Microstructures of them showed dense and uniform. Micro pressing method was very mass productive process because of using batch type LIGA process. From results, we found micro pressing method was more competitive than dicing method for UTA fabrication. For further study, uniformity of microstructures and electro-mechanical properties of large scale, and fabrication processes of Ni plating and PMMA molding should be improved and investigated.