Design, analysis and testing of monometallic plate stepped broadband high sensitivity transducer

Abstract In order to improve the performance of the sonar system, a stepped broadband high-sensitivity hydroacoustic transducer is developed. Through theoretical analysis and finite element simulation, the feasibility of expanding the operating bandwidth and improving the sensitivity of the monometallic plate stepped piezoelectric material sensitive element is analyzed, and the dimensional parameters of this sensitive element are optimized. Compared with the traditional composite material, the sensitive element has excellent piezoelectric performance, with broadband and high sensitivity properties. The monometallic plate stepped piezoelectric material transducer and the same size stepped composite transducer were prepared, and their hydroacoustic performance was tested. The test results show that the monometallic plate stepped piezoelectric material transducer has far superior sensitivity performance than the same size stepped composite transducer and also has broadband performance. The peak transmits voltage response of the monometallic plate stepped transducer is 166dB, and the -3dB bandwidth reaches 60kHz; the peak receives sensitivity is -183dB, and the -3dB bandwidth reaches 55kHz, which can effectively improve the performance of the sonar system.