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Applied Sciences
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Ultrasonic Transducers and Related Apparatus and Applications
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Ultrasonic Transducers and Related Apparatus and Applications

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Mechanical Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2021) | Viewed by 13764

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Linas Svilainis

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Depertment of Electronics Engineering, Kaunas University of Technology, K. Donelaičio g. 73, 44249 Kaunas, Lithuania
Interests: ultrasound electronics; spread spectrum signals; time of flight estimation; signal processing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This issue is dedicated to ultrasound tools, from transduction to signal processing. Articles reporting both basic and applied research are welcome.

Topics include but are not limited to:

Ultrasound transduction:

  • Materials for ultrasound transduction: piezoelectric, ferroelectric, etc.;
  • Other means for ultrasound generation: electric discharge, laser, friction;
  • Transducer design, manufacturing, evaluation and testing;
  • Propagation studies: water coupling, couplants, nozzles, air-coupling, contact;
  • ultrasound for motion: ultrasonic motor, piezo actuators, cavitation, drug delivery, sonoporation, sonochemistry, particle manipulation, industrial processing tools;

Signal technologies:

  • Signal sources for ultrasound generation: electric signals generators, pulsers, and amplifiers;
  • Signals used: pulse, chirp, coded sequences;
  • Automation: probe positioning, probe position estimation (wireless encoders), robotic scanners;
  • Acquisition equipment: input protection, amplification, filtering, digitization, data transmission;
  • Signal processing techniques: SAFT, CT, TOFD, SSP, holography, reverberation cancelling, deconvolution, decomposition, compressed sensing;
  • Signal processing instrumentation: DSP, FPGA, GPU;
  • Imaging and measurements: biomedical, HIFU, material properties, NDT, NDE, robotic vision, navigation, flow measurement.

Prof. Linas Svilainis
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • transducer
  • power ultrasound
  • ultrasonic signals
  • ultrasound electronics
  • ultrasonic signal processing
  • ultrasonic imaging
  • ultrasonic measurement
  • ultrasound applications

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research

3 pages, 180 KiB  
Editorial
Special Issue on Ultrasonic Transducers and Related Apparatus and Applications
by Linas Svilainis
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(16), 8284; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app12168284 - 19 Aug 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 833
Abstract
This article belongs to the Special Issue “Ultrasonic Transducers and Related Apparatus and Applications” [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ultrasonic Transducers and Related Apparatus and Applications)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

15 pages, 1636 KiB  
Article
Strain Sensitivity Enhancement of Broadband Ultrasonic Signals in Plates Using Spectral Phase Filtering
by Lucas M. Martinho, Alan C. Kubrusly, Nicolás Pérez and Jean Pierre von der Weid
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(6), 2582; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11062582 - 14 Mar 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1264
Abstract
The focused signal obtained by the time-reversal or the cross-correlation techniques of ultrasonic guided waves in plates changes when the medium is subject to strain, which can be used to monitor the medium strain level. In this paper, the sensitivity to strain of [...] Read more.
The focused signal obtained by the time-reversal or the cross-correlation techniques of ultrasonic guided waves in plates changes when the medium is subject to strain, which can be used to monitor the medium strain level. In this paper, the sensitivity to strain of cross-correlated signals is enhanced by a post-processing filtering procedure aiming to preserve only strain-sensitive spectrum components. Two different strategies were adopted, based on the phase of either the Fourier transform or the short-time Fourier transform. Both use prior knowledge of the system impulse response at some strain level. The technique was evaluated in an aluminum plate, effectively providing up to twice higher sensitivity to strain. The sensitivity increase depends on a phase threshold parameter used in the filtering process. Its performance was assessed based on the sensitivity gain, the loss of energy concentration capability, and the value of the foreknown strain. Signals synthesized with the time–frequency representation, through the short-time Fourier transform, provided a better tradeoff between sensitivity gain and loss of energy concentration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ultrasonic Transducers and Related Apparatus and Applications)
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13 pages, 4924 KiB  
Article
Optimal Design and Experimental Verification of Ultrasonic Cutting Horn for Ceramic Composite Material
by Mibbeum Hahn, Yeungjung Cho, Gunhee Jang and Bumcho Kim
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(4), 1954; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11041954 - 23 Feb 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3323
Abstract
We developed and optimized a block-type ultrasonic horn that can be used for cutting hard materials. The proposed block-type sonotrode consists of an aluminum horn and a tungsten carbide blade to increase the cutting of hard materials. We designed an initial ultrasonic block [...] Read more.
We developed and optimized a block-type ultrasonic horn that can be used for cutting hard materials. The proposed block-type sonotrode consists of an aluminum horn and a tungsten carbide blade to increase the cutting of hard materials. We designed an initial ultrasonic block horn that has double slots and an exponential stepped profile. We developed a finite element model of the initial model and analyzed the characteristics of natural frequency and displacement. We formulated a DOE table and response surface to perform sensitivity analysis and analyze the correlation between the design variables and characteristics of the proposed block horn. The optimal ultrasonic block horn was derived via a multi-objective optimal design problem to maximize the amplitude uniformity of the proposed horn and frequency separation. We fabricated the optimal block horn and verified it experimentally. An ultrasonic cutting experiment was conducted to find the ultrasonic cutting force with hard ceramic composite materials. A cutting test with a conventional cutting machine under the same condition was also conducted to compare the cutting force. The proposed optimal ultrasonic cutter requires 70% less cutting force than the conventional cutter to cut a ceramic composite material and the cutting surface with the application of the proposed optimal ultrasonic cutter is much cleaner with no crack and delamination than that with the application of the conventional cutter. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ultrasonic Transducers and Related Apparatus and Applications)
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14 pages, 4274 KiB  
Article
Ferroelectret Ultrasonic Transducers for Pulse-Echo Water Immersion
by Julio Quirce, Linas Svilainis, Jorge Camacho and Tomas Gomez Alvarez-Arenas
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(24), 8771; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app10248771 - 08 Dec 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2041
Abstract
Ferroelectrets are thin and porous polymeric films with a cellular microstructure, high porosity, permanent polarization and piezoelectric response. They have been used for different applications, where one of the most interesting ones is for the fabrication of air-coupled ultrasonic transducers. More recently they [...] Read more.
Ferroelectrets are thin and porous polymeric films with a cellular microstructure, high porosity, permanent polarization and piezoelectric response. They have been used for different applications, where one of the most interesting ones is for the fabrication of air-coupled ultrasonic transducers. More recently they have been tested as water immersion transducers, showing a promising wide bandwidth but limited sensitivity along with other technical problems. This paper investigates ultrasonic transducers for water immersion and pulse-echo operation based on ferroelectret films. Two different ferroelectret foams with different resonant frequencies, acoustic impedances and cellular structures were tried. Flat and spherically focused prototypes (radius of curvature of 22 and 35 mm) were produced and tested. Finally, different materials and methods were tried to provide a protective surface coating. Acoustic field measurements for the focused transducers confirm the possibility to efficiently focus the ultrasonic beam by the proposed fabrication method, with focal spot size of 1.86 mm at −6 dB. Results show that in spite of the reduced sensitivity (about −115 dB), some of the tried ferroelectret films provide a very wide band response (−6 dB band from 0.29 to 2.7 MHz) and short pulse duration (2–3 us) that can be of interest for different applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ultrasonic Transducers and Related Apparatus and Applications)
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14 pages, 1684 KiB  
Article
Clusters of Shaped Ultrasonic Transducers for Lamb Waves’ DoA Estimation
by Marco Dibiase and Luca De Marchi
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(22), 8150; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app10228150 - 17 Nov 2020
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1422
Abstract
The direction of arrival (DoA) estimation of Lamb waves is a fundamental task to locate acoustic events, such as those caused by impacts in plates or shells. To perform this task, a novel cluster of piezoelectric sensors is presented in this work. The [...] Read more.
The direction of arrival (DoA) estimation of Lamb waves is a fundamental task to locate acoustic events, such as those caused by impacts in plates or shells. To perform this task, a novel cluster of piezoelectric sensors is presented in this work. The designed cluster is composed by three irregularly shaped patch transducers (P1, P2 e P3). This is in contrast with the approaches that are typically presented in literature which are based on isotropic piezo-disks. In our approach, the transducers are shaped with a procedure based on the Radon Transform, so that the difference in time of arrival (DToA) of the Lamb waves at patches P1 and P2 is linearly related to the DoA, while P3 is designed so that it is possible to perform the estimation of DoA without knowing the actual wave velocity. The numerical validation shows that the performance in the DoA estimation achieved by means of the proposed cluster compares favorably with respect to clusters of conventional sensors, even in the case of noise-affected measurements. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ultrasonic Transducers and Related Apparatus and Applications)
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14 pages, 13703 KiB  
Article
A Preliminary Study on the Adaptive SNR Threshold Method for Depth of Penetration Measurements in Diagnostic Ultrasounds
by Giorgia Fiori, Fabio Fuiano, Andrea Scorza, Jan Galo, Silvia Conforto and Salvatore Andrea Sciuto
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(18), 6533; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app10186533 - 18 Sep 2020
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2275
Abstract
Maximum depth of penetration (DOP) is among the most relevant parameters in quality assurance programs for Ultrasound (US) scanners. Nowadays, a generally-accepted protocol for DOP estimation is still awaited and, in common practice, DOP is visually assessed despite the low accuracy. To overcome [...] Read more.
Maximum depth of penetration (DOP) is among the most relevant parameters in quality assurance programs for Ultrasound (US) scanners. Nowadays, a generally-accepted protocol for DOP estimation is still awaited and, in common practice, DOP is visually assessed despite the low accuracy. To overcome the eye-based assessment subjectivity, automatic image analysis methods have been proposed in literature. The present work focuses on a novel automatic method, namely the adaptive Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) threshold method (AdSTM), developed in the MATLAB environment, by comparing it with an existing automatic approach, namely the tangent threshold method (TTM), and the mean judgment of eight observers (naked eye method). The three investigated methods were applied on data acquired from four US scanners for general purpose imaging, equipped with linear, convex, and vector array probes. Tests were carried out in two different configuration settings (raw scanner and default preset working conditions). AdSTM outcomes were tested by means of Monte Carlo Simulations. Most of measurement results were compatible despite the fact that the AdSTM seemed to be more sensitive and faster than the TTM. The results analysis confirms the higher dispersion of the naked eye method in DOP assessment with respect to the proposed automatic methods. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ultrasonic Transducers and Related Apparatus and Applications)
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16 pages, 5743 KiB  
Article
Design of Unimorph Type 3DOF Ultrasonic Motor
by Vytautas Jūrėnas, Gražvydas Kazokaitis and Dalius Mažeika
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(16), 5605; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app10165605 - 13 Aug 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1815
Abstract
A new design of 3 degrees of freedom (DOF) piezoelectric ultrasonic motor (USM) is introduced in this paper. The concept of this design is to incorporate a spherical rotor between two piezoelectric transducers. Each transducer is coupled with a flange, and it operates [...] Read more.
A new design of 3 degrees of freedom (DOF) piezoelectric ultrasonic motor (USM) is introduced in this paper. The concept of this design is to incorporate a spherical rotor between two piezoelectric transducers. Each transducer is coupled with a flange, and it operates like a unimorph structure. Such a design of the transducer allows to increase the amplitude of the vibrations and to generate the higher torque and driving force used to achieve 3DOF rotary motion of the spherical rotor. The proposed USM may be used for humanoid robots, optomechanical systems, or small satellites. This USM consists of several components, is lightweight and reliable. Numerical analysis and experimental studies were performed to validate the feasibility of this drive, to find out proper resonant frequencies for the unimorph, and optimize the shape of the flange. Experimental studies were accomplished to validate the results of the numerical analysis and to validate the operating principles of the piezoelectric motor. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ultrasonic Transducers and Related Apparatus and Applications)
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