Active damping of ultrasonic receiving sensors through engineered pressure waves

Dixon, S., Kang, L., Feeney, A. and Somerset, W. E. (2021) Active damping of ultrasonic receiving sensors through engineered pressure waves. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 54(13), 13LT01. (doi: 10.1088/1361-6463/abd582)

Abstract

Transducers for ultrasonic sensing and measurement are often operated with a short burst signal, for example a few cycles at a specific excitation voltage and frequency on the generating transducer. The vibration response of a narrowband transducer in detection is usually dominated by resonant ringing, severely affecting its ability to detect two or more signals arriving at the receiver at similar times. Prior researchers have focused on strategies to damp the ringing of a transducer in transmission, to create a temporally short output pressure wave. However, if the receiving transducer is narrowband, the incident pressure waves can create significant ringing of this receiving transducer, irrespective of how temporally short the incident pressure waves are on the receiving transducer. This can reduce the accuracy of common measurement processes, as signals are temporally long and multiple wave arrivals can be difficult to distinguish from each other. In this research, a method of damping transducers in reception is demonstrated using a flexural ultrasonic transducer. This narrowband transducer can operate effectively as a transmitter or receiver of ultrasound, and due to its use in automotive applications, is the most common ultrasonic transducer in existence. An existing mathematical analog for the transducers is used to guide the design of an engineered pressure wave to actively damp the receiving flexural ultrasonic transducer. Experimental measurements on transducers show that ultrasonic receiver resonant ringing can be reduced by 80%, without significantly compromising sensitivity and only by using a suitable driving voltage waveform on the generating transducer.

• Item Type: Articles (Letter)
• Additional Information: The authors acknowledge EPSRC grant EP/N025393/1 for supporting this research. The project website with full details of the research programme and data can be accessed via: warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/research/ultra/research/hiffut.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Feeney, Dr Andrew
• Authors: Dixon, S., Kang, L., Feeney, A., and Somerset, W. E.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy
• Journal Name: Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics
• Journal Abbr.: J Phys D Appl Phys
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• ISSN: 0022-3727
• ISSN (Online): 1361-6463
• Published Online: 21 December 2020
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2020 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics 54(13): 13LT01
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License
• Data DOI: 10.1088/1361-6463/abd582