EP3093841A1 - Système de projecteur acoustique à espacement non uniforme - Google Patents

Système de projecteur acoustique à espacement non uniforme Download PDF

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Publication number
EP3093841A1
EP3093841A1 EP16169038.3A EP16169038A EP3093841A1 EP 3093841 A1 EP3093841 A1 EP 3093841A1 EP 16169038 A EP16169038 A EP 16169038A EP 3093841 A1 EP3093841 A1 EP 3093841A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
acoustic
projectors
array
projector
distance
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Granted
Application number
EP16169038.3A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP3093841B1 (fr
Inventor
Olivier Beslin
James Crawford
Matthew Gerard Mallay
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Ultra Electronics Maritime Systems Inc
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Ultra Electronics Maritime Systems Inc
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Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from US14/708,610 external-priority patent/US9764355B2/en
Application filed by Ultra Electronics Maritime Systems Inc filed Critical Ultra Electronics Maritime Systems Inc
Publication of EP3093841A1 publication Critical patent/EP3093841A1/fr
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP3093841B1 publication Critical patent/EP3093841B1/fr
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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G10—MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; ACOUSTICS
    • G10K—SOUND-PRODUCING DEVICES; METHODS OR DEVICES FOR PROTECTING AGAINST, OR FOR DAMPING, NOISE OR OTHER ACOUSTIC WAVES IN GENERAL; ACOUSTICS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G10K9/00—Devices in which sound is produced by vibrating a diaphragm or analogous element, e.g. fog horns, vehicle hooters or buzzers
    • G10K9/12—Devices in which sound is produced by vibrating a diaphragm or analogous element, e.g. fog horns, vehicle hooters or buzzers electrically operated
    • G10K9/121—Flextensional transducers
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G10—MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; ACOUSTICS
    • G10K—SOUND-PRODUCING DEVICES; METHODS OR DEVICES FOR PROTECTING AGAINST, OR FOR DAMPING, NOISE OR OTHER ACOUSTIC WAVES IN GENERAL; ACOUSTICS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G10K11/00—Methods or devices for transmitting, conducting or directing sound in general; Methods or devices for protecting against, or for damping, noise or other acoustic waves in general
    • G10K11/004—Mounting transducers, e.g. provided with mechanical moving or orienting device
    • G10K11/006—Transducer mounting in underwater equipment, e.g. sonobuoys
    • G10K11/008—Arrays of transducers
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G10—MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; ACOUSTICS
    • G10K—SOUND-PRODUCING DEVICES; METHODS OR DEVICES FOR PROTECTING AGAINST, OR FOR DAMPING, NOISE OR OTHER ACOUSTIC WAVES IN GENERAL; ACOUSTICS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G10K9/00—Devices in which sound is produced by vibrating a diaphragm or analogous element, e.g. fog horns, vehicle hooters or buzzers
    • G10K9/18—Details, e.g. bulbs, pumps, pistons, switches or casings
    • G10K9/22—Mountings; Casings

Definitions

  • the present application generally relates to acoustic projectors, particularly an acoustic projector system with non-uniform spacing between adjacent projectors in a linear array of projectors.
  • An acoustic projector system formed from a linear array of sound projectors still encounters problems with cavitation depth limitations.
  • the present application describes an underwater acoustic projector system that includes a plurality of acoustic projectors; and framing that holds the acoustic projectors in a linear array and in close proximity such that the acoustic projectors interact with one another when they produce acoustic pressures, wherein each acoustic projector in the linear array is spaced apart from an adjacent acoustic projector by a respective distance.
  • the respective distance between two acoustic projectors proximate the center of the linear array is greater than the respective distance between two acoustic projectors proximate the end of the linear array.
  • the present application describes an underwater acoustic projector system.
  • the system includes a linear array of four or more acoustic projectors held in close proximity, wherein each acoustic projector in the linear array is spaced apart from an adjacent acoustic projector by a respective distance.
  • the respective distance between two acoustic projectors proximate the center of the linear array is greater than the respective distance between two acoustic projectors proximate the end of the linear array.
  • the present application describes an underwater acoustic projector system that includes a plurality of acoustic projection means for generating acoustic waves in water in response to an electric signal, and framing means for holding the acoustic projectors in a linear array and in close proximity such that the acoustic projectors interact with one another when they produce acoustic pressures, wherein each acoustic projector in the linear array is spaced apart from an adjacent acoustic projector by a respective distance.
  • the respective distance between two acoustic projectors proximate the center of the linear array is greater than the respective distance between two acoustic projectors proximate the end of the linear array.
  • Arrays of acoustic projectors are used in many underwater applications. For example, towed arrays may be used for maritime research, military, and commercial purposes.
  • US patent publication no. 2009/0268554, published October 29, 2009 describes an example underwater system for acoustic sound generation that involves a linear array of acoustic projectors held in close proximity.
  • the term "close proximity”, as used in the previous application and in the present application, is defined as (1) the separation between adjacent projectors in the linear array is less than or equal to the characteristic size of the projectors, and (2) the characteristic size of the projectors is small compared to the wavelength of the acoustic resonant frequency of the system.
  • the "characteristic size" of a projector is the diameter of an axially-symmetric or spherical projector.
  • the characteristic size may be a physical "size” measurement that relates to the characteristic resistance and reactance of the projector.
  • US patent publication no. 2009/0268554 The concept described in US patent publication no. 2009/0268554 is that, when the projectors are held in close proximity, the projectors interact with one another via the acoustic pressures each generates. This results in an increase in the radiation impedance (resistance and reactance) each projector meets during deflection of its face plates. By varying the number of projectors and their spacing, the resulting systems have different resonant frequencies, radiated power and cavitation depth.
  • the contents of US patent publication no. 2009/0268554 is incorporated by reference.
  • FIGS 1A and 1B show an example of a cylindrical acoustic projector 10 having two circular piezoelectric ceramic plates 12 attached to two aluminum plates 14.
  • the aluminum plates 14 are spaced apart such that there is an air gap between them.
  • the aluminum plates 14 are held in place at their perimeters in such a way as to permit the plates to bend and deflect.
  • the air gap is sufficient to ensure that the two aluminum plates 14 do not come into contact at maximum deflection.
  • An electrical connection to each of the ceramic plates 12 and the aluminum plates 14 is not shown. Under application of a suitable voltage, the ceramic plates 12 and aluminum plates 14 deflect, generating an acoustic wave in the surrounding water.
  • the aluminum plates 14 and ceramic plates 12 are encased in a flexible plastic that electrically insulates the projector 10 from surrounding water.
  • multiple projectors 10 may be housed within a flexible plastic hose or sleeve, and the projectors 10 held in spaced relation using suitable framing members.
  • the flexible plastic hose or sleeve may be filled with a suitable insulating fluid.
  • the example projector described and shown in Figure 1 is a flexural disk projector, it will be understood that the present application is not limited to flexural disk projectors.
  • Linear arrays of projectors may use other types of acoustic projectors.
  • the projectors may be free flooded ring projectors.
  • the projectors may be ring shell projectors.
  • Other types of acoustic projectors will be familiar to those of ordinary skill in the art. It will therefore be appreciated that the term "acoustic projector" is not intended to be limited to flexural disk projectors in all embodiments.
  • FIG. 2 An example acoustic projector system 20 is shown in Figure 2 .
  • the acoustic projector system 20 includes a plurality of acoustic projectors 10, arranged in a linear array and held in close proximity. It will be appreciated that in some embodiments the system 20 may include fewer or more projectors 10 and that the size and/or distance between projectors 10 may be different in different implementations.
  • Figure 3 shows a partially assembled acoustic projector system 20.
  • the system 20 includes framing 21, such as spacers 22, rods 24, and frame ends 23, that hold the projectors 10 in spaced relation and in close proximity.
  • US patent publication no. 2009/0268554 provided examples of acoustic projector systems.
  • the separation between adjacent projectors was stated to be 25, 50, and 100mm, respectively.
  • the separation between each pair of adjacent projectors was consistent and uniform for the array. That is, the separation between any two adjacent projectors in an array was described as being identical, e.g. spacing between projectors was uniform.
  • Cavitation occurs during deflection when peak dynamic pressure at the face of the projector exceeds absolute static pressure. This can lead to gasification of surrounding water, creating bubbles. The sudden and dynamic collapse of those bubbles can result in large dynamic pressure forces that damage the face of a projector. Cavitation depth is a measurement of how deep underwater the system must be in order to avoid cavitation for a given source signal. In order to operate in shallower waters, minimizing cavitation depth can be advantageous.
  • the present application proposes a different mechanism for addressing the cavitation depth issue in the case of an acoustic projector system.
  • the acoustic projector system is formed with non-uniform spacing between adjacent projectors. That is, not all pairs of adjacent projectors in the array have the same spacing between them.
  • all projectors are of the same size and construction and the same voltage is applied to each projector in the array. Under such conditions, each projector attempts to apply same degree of deflection (motion).
  • each projector attempts to apply same degree of deflection (motion).
  • the projectors towards the center experience higher interactive/additive pressures from adjacent projectors than projectors closer to the ends of the array.
  • the peak dynamic pressure that occurs at the face of one of the projectors near the center of the array is higher than the peak dynamic pressure that occurs at the face of one of the projectors near the end of the array. Accordingly, the cavitation danger is higher for those projectors near the center of the array and they will tend to govern the cavitation depth limits of the system.
  • the spacing between projectors is made non-uniform by increasing spacing between projectors located proximate the center of the array and decreasing spacing between projectors located proximate the ends of the array.
  • the resulting linear array of projectors may have the same overall resonant frequency as a similar array with uniform spacing, without the necessity of additional projectors.
  • the peak dynamic pressure at those projectors is diminished, while decreasing the spacing between projectors near the ends of the array causes the peak dynamic pressure at those projectors to be increased.
  • the peak dynamic pressure on each projectors may be made substantially uniform.
  • FIG. 4A diagrammatically shows one example embodiment of an acoustic projector system 100.
  • the acoustic projector system 100 includes a linear array of projectors 10 with non-uniform spacing between adjacent projectors 10 in the array.
  • Figure 4B shows a graph 102 illustrating the relative spacing between projectors in the example system 100. The spacing between projectors 10 in this example varies linearly with distance from the center, as shown in the graph 102.
  • FIG. 5A diagrammatically shows another example embodiment of an acoustic projector system 200.
  • the acoustic projector system 200 includes a linear array of projectors 10 with non-uniform spacing between adjacent projectors 10 in the array.
  • Figure 5B shows a graph 202 illustrating the relative spacing between projectors in the example system 200. The spacing between projectors 10 in this example varies quadratically with distance from the center, as shown in the graph 202.
  • FIG. 6A diagrammatically shows yet a further example embodiment of an acoustic projector system 300.
  • the acoustic projector system 300 includes a linear array of projectors 10 with non-uniform spacing between adjacent projectors 10 in the array.
  • Figure 6B shows a graph 302 illustrating the relative spacing between projectors in the example system 300.
  • the spacing between projectors 10 has a higher-order non-uniform variation with distance from the center, as shown in the graph 202.
  • the spacing may be selected using finite element analysis in some embodiments.
  • the spacing between the projectors 10 near the center is the widest/largest spacing, and the spacing between the projectors near the ends of the array is the smallest/closest spacing.
  • a first example system 400 includes seven projectors 10 in a linear array and in close proximity to form the acoustic projector system 400.
  • the first example acoustic projector system 400 uses uniform spacing between the projectors 10. In this illustrative example, the gap or separation between each pair of adjacent projectors is 3.75 mm.
  • a second example system 410 also includes seven projectors 10 in a linear array and in close proximity, but uses non-uniform spacing between projectors 10.
  • the spacing between the projectors 10 near the center of the array is wider than the spacing between the projectors near the ends of the array.
  • the spacing between projectors 1 and 2 and projectors 6 and 7 is 2.50mm.
  • the spacing between projectors 2 and 3 and projectors 5 and 6 is 4.00 mm.
  • the spacing between projectors 3 and 4 and projectors 4 and 5 is 4.75 mm.
  • FIG. 8 shows two graphs 420, 430 illustrating the dynamic pressure distribution measured in three of the gaps for the first example system 400 and the second example system 410, respectively.
  • the dynamic pressure distribution is shown for gap 1 between projectors 1 and 2, gap 2 between projectors 2 and 3, and gap 3 between projectors 3 and 4.
  • the x-axis in each of the graphs 420, 430 reflects the radial distance from the center of the circular projector face. It will be noted that in all cases, the dynamic pressure is highest at the center of the gap, which is where the greatest deflection of the projectors' faces occurs.
  • the graph 420 shows that the dynamic pressure for gap 3 is higher than the dynamic pressure experienced in gap 2, and both are higher than the dynamic pressure experienced in gap 1.
  • Graph 430 shows that the non-uniform spacing may serve to generally equalize the dynamic pressure distribution. Gaps 1, 2 and 3 all experience similar dynamic pressures in the case of the second example acoustic projector system 410.
  • FIG. 9 illustrates the transmit voltage response (TVR) for both the first example acoustic projector system 400 and the second example acoustic projector system 410.
  • the TVR for both examples is very similar, showing that the resonant frequency and bandwidth is largely maintained despite the change in spacing from uniform to non-uniform spacing.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Acoustics & Sound (AREA)
  • Multimedia (AREA)
  • Projection Apparatus (AREA)
  • Measurement Of Velocity Or Position Using Acoustic Or Ultrasonic Waves (AREA)
EP16169038.3A 2015-05-11 2016-05-10 Système de projecteur acoustique à espacement non uniforme Active EP3093841B1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US14/708,610 US9764355B2 (en) 2015-05-11 2015-05-11 Acoustic projector system with non-uniform spacing
KR1020150181815A KR101813340B1 (ko) 2015-05-11 2015-12-18 불균일한 간격을 가진 음향 발신기 시스템

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP3093841A1 true EP3093841A1 (fr) 2016-11-16
EP3093841B1 EP3093841B1 (fr) 2021-11-17

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EP16169038.3A Active EP3093841B1 (fr) 2015-05-11 2016-05-10 Système de projecteur acoustique à espacement non uniforme

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EP (1) EP3093841B1 (fr)
CA (1) CA2929297C (fr)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US11194067B1 (en) * 2018-06-28 2021-12-07 Falmouth Scientific Incorporated Highly adaptable seismic source

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5701277A (en) * 1990-11-28 1997-12-23 Raytheon Company Electro-acoustic transducers
US20080056069A1 (en) * 2006-04-26 2008-03-06 Thales Method for optimizing the power supply for a towed linear transmit antenna for transmitting in omnidirectional mode
US20090268554A1 (en) 2005-01-06 2009-10-29 Bruce Allan Armstrong Underwater sound projector system and method of producing same

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5701277A (en) * 1990-11-28 1997-12-23 Raytheon Company Electro-acoustic transducers
US20090268554A1 (en) 2005-01-06 2009-10-29 Bruce Allan Armstrong Underwater sound projector system and method of producing same
US20080056069A1 (en) * 2006-04-26 2008-03-06 Thales Method for optimizing the power supply for a towed linear transmit antenna for transmitting in omnidirectional mode

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US11194067B1 (en) * 2018-06-28 2021-12-07 Falmouth Scientific Incorporated Highly adaptable seismic source

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
CA2929297A1 (fr) 2016-11-11
EP3093841B1 (fr) 2021-11-17
CA2929297C (fr) 2023-08-01

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