Design of an Underwater Tonpilz Transducer with 1–3 Piezocomposite Materials

An underwater Tonpilz transducer is designed with 1–3 piezocomposite materials to overcome the limitations of conventional piezoceramic transducers. With the finite element method (FEM), the variation of the resonance frequency, bandwidth and radiated sound pressure was analyzed in relation to the structural variables of the transducer. Through statistical multiple regression analysis of the finite element analysis (FEA) results, functional forms of the transducer performance are derived in terms of the design variables. Through the constrained minimization with the derived functions, the optimal structure of the transducer is determined to provide the highest sound pressure level at a given resonant frequency over a pre-determined frequency range. The validity of the optimization is confirmed by comparing the performance of the designed piezocomposite transducer with that of a conventional piezoceramic transducer.