The wagon wheel transducer as a vector sensor and a directional projector

The flextensional transducers have been used for fish-finding, oil exploration, sonar systems, and low frequency biomedical applications in the 1-100 kHz range. Miniature versions of high-power, low-frequency transducers were optimized to produce broadband transmit and receive response, and optimized acoustic beam patterns. Transducers topologies with various shapes, cross-sections, and symmetries could be fabricated through high volume, low-cost ceramic and metal extrusion processes. The acoustic vibration modes, resonance frequencies, and radiation patterns of the transducers were controlled through the symmetry and external shape of the transducer material, poling pattern, and electrode geometries and driving conditions.