Electrical impedance normalization for an ultrasonic transducer array
First Claim
1. A transducer device comprising,excitation means for supplying a signal to generate waves in piezoelectric material,an array of piezoelectric transducer elements electrically coupled to said excitation means, each transducer element having an impedance per unit area, said array including first and second transducer elements having radiating regions having different transverse areas, said first and second transducer elements thereby having different impedances, andmeans to adjust impedance per unit area for at least partially offsetting said difference between said impedances of said first and second transducer elements, said means to adjust including a connection of said first transducer element to drive circuitry in a manner electrically different from a connection of said second transducer element to drive circuitry.
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Abstract
A two-dimensional ultrasonic transducer array includes a plurality of transducer elements, with each element having a plurality of piezoelectric layers. The transducer elements vary in transverse areas of radiating regions. The effect of the variations in transverse areas on the electrical impedances of the elements is at least partially offset by varying the specific impedance, i.e., impedance per unit area, of the transducer elements in the array. In a preferred embodiment, the specific impedance is varied by selecting the electrical arrangements of piezoelectric layers in each element according to the transverse area of the element. Series, parallel and series-parallel arrangements are employed. This impedance normalization improves the electrical connection of the transducer elements to driving circuitry. In alternative embodiments, impedance normalization is achieved by varying element thicknesses, element materials and/or degrees of poling across the two-dimensional array.
447 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A transducer device comprising,
excitation means for supplying a signal to generate waves in piezoelectric material, an array of piezoelectric transducer elements electrically coupled to said excitation means, each transducer element having an impedance per unit area, said array including first and second transducer elements having radiating regions having different transverse areas, said first and second transducer elements thereby having different impedances, and means to adjust impedance per unit area for at least partially offsetting said difference between said impedances of said first and second transducer elements, said means to adjust including a connection of said first transducer element to drive circuitry in a manner electrically different from a connection of said second transducer element to drive circuitry.
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9. A transducer device comprising,
an array of transducer elements, said transducer elements each having a stack of piezoelectric layers, and electrode means for impressing an excitation signal across said piezoelectric layers, said electrode means being connected to establish different electrically parallel and series arrangements of said piezoelectric layers for different transducer elements of said array, with the different electrically parallel and series arrangements being selected to control electrical impedances across said different transducer elements, wherein said transducer elements include first elements and second elements, each first element having a radiating region having a first transverse area and each second element having a radiating region having a second transverse area greater than said first transverse area.
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13. A two-dimensional ultrasonic transducer array comprising,
a plurality of first transducer elements, each first transducer element having a plurality of piezoelectric layers and a plurality of electrode layers at opposed faces of said piezoelectric layers to impress an excitation signal across said piezoelectric layers, each first transducer element having a radiating surface having a first transverse area, a plurality of second transducer elements, each second transducer element having a plurality of piezoelectric layers and a plurality of electrode layers at opposed faces of said piezoelectric layers to impress said excitation signal across said piezoelectric layers, each second transducer element having a radiating surface having a second transverse area that is greater than said first transverse area, means for electrically connecting said electrode layers of said first transducer elements to establish a first electrical circuit of piezoelectric layers, said first transducer elements having a first impedance per unit area and a first electrical impedance, and means for electrically connecting said electrode layers of said second transducer elements to establish a second electrical circuit of piezoelectric layers, said second electrical circuit inducing a second impedance per unit area greater than said first impedance per unit area, whereby said second electrical circuit causes the electrical impedance of said second transducer elements to approach said first electrical impedance.
Specification