Thickness design, fabrication, and evaluation of 100-MHz polyurea ultrasonic transducer.

In this paper, we present a polyurea transducer that works at 100 MHz under water. The transducer was designed using an equivalent circuit model so that an aluminum (top)-polyurea-aluminum (bottom)-polyimide layer had a resonant frequency of 100 MHz and output sound pressure became maximum at that frequency. The thicknesses of the top aluminum electrode, polyurea, and bottom aluminum electrode were determined to be 3.

Experimental study of underwater transmission characteristics of high-frequency 30 MHz polyurea ultrasonic transducer.

In this paper, we present the transmission characteristics of a polyurea ultrasonic transducer operating in water. In this study, we used a polyurea transducer with fundamental resonance at approximately 30 MHz. Firstly, acoustic pressure radiated from the transducer was measured using a hydrophone, which has a diameter of 0.

Measurement of surface acoustic wave velocity using a variable-line-focus polyurea thin-film ultrasonic transducer.

This paper presents the novel measurement method of the surface acoustic wave velocity by the variable-line- focus transducer using a polyurea piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer. First, a multiresonant polyurea thin-film ultrasonic transducer is fabricated by the vapor deposition polymerization process using 2 monomers. Second, the measurement system of surface acoustic wave velocity modified from the V(z) curve method is established.

A self-running standing wave-type bidirectional slider for the ultrasonically levitated thin linear stage.

A slider for a self-running standing wave-type, ultrasonically levitated, thin linear stage is discussed. The slider can be levitated and moved using acoustic radiation force and acoustic streaming. The slider has a simple configuration and consists of an aluminum vibrating plate and a piezoelectric zirconate titanate (PZT) element.

A stator for a self-running, ultrasonically-levitated sliding stage.

Here we propose a self-running, ultrasonically-levitated sliding stage and investigate the levitation and propulsion characteristics of its stator. The stator consists of two aluminum beams and four PZT plates, which have two-paired bimorph configurations. A flexural standing wave was generated along the beam by applying an input voltage to the PZTs, and the stator could be levitated from a flat substrate by the acoustic radiation force generated by its own vibrating beam.

Polyurea thin film ultrasonic transducers for nondestructive testing and medical imaging.

Ultrasonic transducers using polyurea piezoelectric thin film are studied in this paper. Aromatic polyurea thin films, prepared by vapor deposition polymerization, have useful characteristics for use as an ultrasonic transducer. This paper presents the fabrication and experimental evaluation of ultrasonic transducers formed using polyurea films.

An ultrasonically levitated noncontact stage using traveling vibrations on precision ceramic guide rails.

This paper presents a noncontact sliding table design and measurements of its performance via ultrasonic levitation. A slider placed atop two vibrating guide rails is levitated by an acoustic radiation force emitted from the rails. A flexural traveling wave propagating along the guide rails allows noncontact transportation of the slider.

A simple bidirectional linear microactuator for nanopositioning--the "Baltan" microactuator.

A new linear microactuator, using bulk PZT and electro-discharge-machined components, generates a sliding velocity and force of 100 mm/s and 12 mN, respectively, in either direction, and a peak velocity and force of 212 mm/s and 44 mN, respectively. Using a simple combination of two slightly different beams placed in contact with a slider, and vibrated at two different resonance frequencies, 508 and 522 kHz, by a specially designed, axially vibrating piezoelectric element, bidirectional linear motion was obtained. By simply reducing the length of the applied signal, the sliding distance was reduced to 90 nm +/- 2 nm, which could be improved with a variety of control methods.

A miniature ultransonic pump using a bending disk transducer and a gap.

It is known that if a pipe end is faced at a vibrating surface in liquid with a small gap, liquid is suctioned into the pipe. As a miniature configuration, we introduce a bending disk transducer 30 mm in diameter using a ring-shaped PZT element. The disk vibrator is worked at the fundamental resonance frequency of 19 kHz of the bending mode.

A miniaturization of the multi-degree-of-freedom ultrasonic actuator using a small cylinder fixed on a substrate.

Multi-degree-of-freedom ultrasonic actuator has been studied for robot arms and multidimensional precision table and so on because of its simple structure, silent operation, and holding force. In this study, we aim to miniaturize multi-degree-of-freedom ultrasonic actuator for fabrication on a substrate. This actuator consists of a stainless steel cylinder and a PZT ring.

An ultrasonic linear motor using ridge-mode traveling waves.

A new type of ultrasonic linear motor is presented using traveling waves excited along a ridge atop a substrate. The ridge cross section was designed to permit only the fundamental mode to be excited during operation of the motor, with a Langevin transducer used as the source of vibration in this study. The ridge waveguide was first made of lossy media to avoid reflecting vibration energy back toward the vibration source, forming a traveling wave.

A traveling-wave, modified ring linear piezoelectric microactuator with enclosed piezoelectric elements--the "scream" actuator.

A 1.8 cc silent bidirectional traveling-wave, self-moving linear microactuator is shown to be capable of generating a sliding velocity of 0.22 m/s and sliding force of 1.

A torsional transducer through in-plane shearing of paired planar piezoelectric elements.

A torsional microtransducer for high-power applications was developed using standard bulk lead zirconium titantate (PZT) placed upon a small rectangular prism made from phosphor bronze, with a tapered conical end serving as a horn and a machined interior to improve the actuator's response. Torsion was obtained from a prototype at the design frequency of 192 kHz as well as over a wide range of frequencies from 136 kHz to 1.02 MHz.

An ultrasonic motor driven by the phase-velocity difference between two traveling waves.

This paper presents a new ultrasonic motor in which the rotor rotation speed is locked by the phase-velocity difference between the two traveling waves propagating on the stator and the rotor. First, the unique construction to excite two traveling waves both in the stator and the rotor is described. Then, the operation principle of the present motor is revealed by our careful experiments.

A single-element tuning fork piezoelectric linear actuator.

This paper describes the design of a piezoelectric tuning-fork, dual-mode motor. The motor uses a single multilayer piezoelectric element in combination with tuning fork and shearing motion to form an actuator using a single drive signal. Finite-element analysis was used in the design of the motor, and the process is described along with the selection of the device's materials and its performance.

Stability analysis of an acoustically levitated disk.

In this paper, a model is developed for the stability analysis of an acoustically levitated disk on the basis of analyzing eddy acoustic streaming and acoustic viscous stress. In the model, the effect of the acoustic streaming outside the boundary layer that is on the surface of the levitated disk is properly taken into account. Also, the calculation of sound field and acoustic viscous stress is limited to the range that has a dominant effect on the stability.

Numerical analysis of the hybrid transducer ultrasonic motor: comparison of characteristics calculated by transmission-line and lumped-element models.

In this paper, a hybrid transducer ultrasonic motor is numerically analyzed by using two equivalent electrical circuit models. A transmission-line model for the torsional vibration in the stator, which can model any torsional vibration mode and their combinations, was introduced and compared with a lumped-element model, which modeled the fundamental torsional resonance mode in the stator. The calculation result by using the transmission-line model demonstrated that the second harmonic torsional vibration increased either with the static spring force by which the rotor was pressed to the stator or with the load torque placed on the rotor.