Patent ID: 10732271

Abstract:
Mechanical transducers efficiently produce and couple high-power acoustic pulses into liquid and solid media. In a transmitter, mechanical excitation of a thin transmitting plate is provided by an actuator or a motor that causes a mass to strike or a drive rod to push the thin plate. If struck, as the thin plate rings down, it delivers much of its kinetic energy to acoustic radiation in the dense medium. Different mechanisms may be used to excite the plate, and different mechanisms may be used to couple the plate excitations into dense media. Conditions are found for efficient transduction of mechanical energy by a thin plate into acoustic radiation in solid and liquid media. A receiver comprises a plate having matching resonances to the transmitting plate. Discrete narrowband frequencies of acoustic signals are used to detect phase changes in waves reflected from a moving object. By interfering successive return pulses, small changes in phase and amplitude within the reflected beam lead to large changes in interfering voltage waveforms.