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Electrical tuning for sensitivity enhancement of a piezo-electric ultrasonic transducer: Simulation and fabrication

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Abstract

In this study, two simple electrical impedance tuning methods derived from Krimholtz, Leedom, and Matthaei (KLM) modeling were proposed for increasing the sensitivity of a piezo-electric material-based ultrasonic transducer. In the first method, the reactance components of the ultrasonic transducer were removed, and in the other method, the electrical impedance of an ultrasonic transducer was matched to that of the ultrasonic system. To these ends, electrical circuits composed of inductors and capacitors were de-signed and KLM simulations of the two methods were performed. To verify the simulation results, ultrasonic transducers were fabricated and operated under the same conditions as in the simulations, and the experimental results were compared with the simulated results. In conclusion, the electrical tuning method (elimination of the reactance compo-nents) was more effective and the transducer circuit structure was simpler. The experi-mental results showed good agreement with the KLM simulation results.

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Abbreviations

A :

Area

c :

Longitudinal acoustic velocity

d :

Thickness

C 1 :

Capacitor

ρ :

Density of piezoelectric material

θ :

Phase

f 0 :

Center frequency

f u :

Upper frequency

f l :

Lower frequency

Δ f :

Bandwidth

Δ frel :

Relative bandwidth

h :

Piezoelectric pressure constant

L :

Inductance

L s :

Series inductance

R :

Resistance

S rel :

Relative pulse-echo sensitivity

ϕ :

Electric transformer ratio

k t :

Electro-mechanical coupling coefficient

V e :

Peak-to-peak voltage of the echo from a reflector

V s :

Peak-to-peak voltage applied to a transducer

Vs :

Peak-to-peak voltage applied to a transducer

ω :

Angular velocity

X :

Phase

Z o :

Characteristic impedance of piezoelectric material

Z :

Electrical impedance

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Acknowledgments

This research was carried out with the support of the project development of a rail-damage detection inspection and monitoring system for advanced prevention of railway obstruction (18RTRP-B113566-03) among the railroad technology research projects supported by the Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement (KAIA).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Environmental Microbial and Food Safety Laboratory, Powder Mill Rd. Bldg. 303, BARC-East, Beltsville, MD, USA

    Geonwoo Kim

  2. Department of Science of Measurement, University of Science and Technology, 217, Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, Korea

    Geonwoo Kim & Ki-Bok Kim

  3. Center for Safety Measurement, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, 267, Gajeong-ro, Yuseonggu, Daejeon, Korea

    Young-In Hwang, Mu-Kyung Seo & Ki-Bok Kim

Authors
  1. Geonwoo Kim
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  2. Young-In Hwang
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  3. Mu-Kyung Seo
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  4. Ki-Bok Kim
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ki-Bok Kim.

Additional information

Recommended by Editor No-cheol Park

Geonwoo Kim is a post-doctoral researcher of USDA, ARS, EMFSL in Beltsville, MD, US. He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in the Department of Bioindustrial Machinery Engineering from Chungnam National University and Ph.D. in the Science of Measurement from University of Science and Technology with Center for Safety Measurement, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science. His fields of interests include ultrasonic nondestructive testing and hyperspectral imaging technology.

Young-In Hwang received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of Korea in 2018. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Center for Safety Measurement at Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Daejeon, Republic of Korea. His major research areas are nondestructive evaluation for material characterization and inspection for flaws with low detectability using ultrasound, focusing ultrasonic wave using acoustic metamaterials and etc.

Mu-Kyung Seo was born in Daejeon, Republic of Korea in 1982. He received the B.S. degree in Sungkyunkwan University. He is currently in Master’s and Doctoral integration course in the Department of Machinery Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University. Since 2013, he has been with Center for Safety Measurement, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science. His research interests include phased array ultrasonic testing, structural health monitoring system, and railroad inspection.

Ki-Bok Kim was born in Busan, Republic of Korea on March 20, 1966. He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Agricultural Engineering from Seoul National University, Republic of Korea, in 1989, 1991, and 1997, respectively. Since 2000, he has been with Center for Safety Measurement, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Daejeon, Republic of Korea, where he is responsible for Center for Safety Measurement. His research interests include microwave technique for nondestructive measurement, ultrasonic transducers, structural health monitoring, and digital signal processing.

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Kim, G., Hwang, YI., Seo, MK. et al. Electrical tuning for sensitivity enhancement of a piezo-electric ultrasonic transducer: Simulation and fabrication. J Mech Sci Technol 34, 3155–3164 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-020-0707-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-020-0707-1

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