Development of vector hydrophone using thickness–shear mode piezoelectric single crystal accelerometer

• Published in: Sensors and actuators. A. Physical. 2018-11, Vol.283, p.220-227
• Main Authors: Pyo, Seonghun, Kim, Jungsuk, Kim, Hoeyong, Roh, Yongrae
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accelerometers; Dipole mode beam pattern; Hydrophones; Parameter sensitivity; Piezoelectricity; Receiving voltage sensitivity (RVS); Sensitivity analysis; Sensors; Shear; Shear type accelerometer; Single crystals; Vector hydrophone
• ISSN: 0924-4247; 1873-3069
• DOI: 10.1016/j.sna.2018.09.066

•The effect of structural parameters on the RVS of the vector hydrophone was analyzed.•The structure of the vector hydrophone was optimized to maximize the RVS.•The designed vector hydrophone was verified to exhibit a dipole mode beam pattern.•A prototype of the vector hydrophone was fabricated with the optimal dimensions.•The validity of the optimal design was verified with the prototype vector hydrophone. In this study, a vector hydrophone was developed for a towed array sonar system using a shear type accelerometer. In general, inertia type vector hydrophones using accelerometers have higher sensitivity than multimode vector hydrophones. However, the sensitivity still needs to be enhanced as much as possible for practical application. For the purpose, the effect of the structural parameters of a shear type accelerometer on the receiving voltage sensitivity (RVS) of the vector hydrophone was rigorously analyzed, and the structure of the vector hydrophone was optimized to maximize the RVS. The developed vector hydrophone has an external diameter of 23 mm and the minimum RVS over the given frequency range of -201.4 dB. It was also verified that the designed vector hydrophone exhibits the characteristic of a dipole mode beam pattern. Furthermore, a prototype of the vector hydrophone was fabricated with the optimal dimensions, and its acoustic characteristics were measured to verify the validity of the design. The vector hydrophone developed in this work has the highest feasible RVS over the desired frequency range in comparison with other types of vector hydrophone like the multimode hydrophone.