• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 2017

Ultrasonic transducers with high resolution and resonant frequency are required to detect small defects (less than hundreds of ${\mu}m$) by ultrasonic testing. The resonance frequency and resolution of an ultrasonic transducer are closely related to the thickness of piezo-electric materials, backing materials, and the electric impedance matching technique. Among these factors, electrical impedance matching plays an important role because it can reduce the loss and reflection of ultrasonic energy differences in electrical impedance between an ultrasonic transducer and an ultrasonic defects detecting system. An LC matching circuit is the most frequently used electric matching method. It is necessary for the electrical impedance of an ultrasonic transducer to correspond to approximately $50{\Omega}$ to compensate the difference in electrical impedance between both connections. In this study, a 15 MHz immersion ultrasonic transducer was fabricated and an LC electrical impedance circuit was applied to that for having broad-band frequency characteristic.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.163-171
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• 1998

Near/far field length and directivity of transducers were investigated for the improvement and evaluation of the detectability of flaws in a disc. The reference block is fabricated for the disc of stage 6 in Yonggwang unit 1. The near/far field and directivity of an ultrasonic transducer with the center frequency of 5MHz were calculated for the inspection of the disc. These values showed good agreements with the experimental results. In the system composed of a wedge and a disc, those are evaluated theoretically and experimentally for the specimen with the artificial flaws of the size 2mm and 4mm and an ultrasonic transducer with the center frequency 5MHz and diameter 0.5inch. The detectability of keyway-flaw and detectable region for inspection were evaluated by using both tangential $45^{\circ}$ and $90^{\circ}$ transducers located at the distance of 53mm and 75mm from the disc hub, respectively.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.66 no.8
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• pp.1215-1221
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• 2017

Parametric array transducers are used for highly directional speaker in an air environments. Piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers for parametric array transducers need DC-biased voltage driving signals in order to get high-directional quality-sound features. The existing power amplifier such as class A amplifiers has low efficiency and require large volume heatsinks. To overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages of the conventional amplifier, this paper proposes a new power amplifier system. The proposed power amplifier system ensures high linearity of output characteristic by utilizing the push-pull class B type amplifier. Furthermore, the proposed power amplifier system gets high efficiency because it contains the DC-DC converter-type power supply which can perform energy recovery and envelope tracking function. Also the paper suggests the detailed circuit topology. Its characteristics are verified by the detailed experimental results.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.329-336
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• 2003

Intra-Vascular Ultra-Sound (IVUS) transducers were developed for the application to diagnose coronary diseases. The transducer consists of 32 piezoelectric elements with a front insulation layer and a polymeric acoustic backing layer on a hollow alumina tube. The optimal geometrical structure of the transducer was designed through theoretical analysis of radiation patterns of the transducer. Samples of the IVUS transducers of the diameter of 3㎜ were fabricated to illustrate the design scheme. For the piezoelectric elements, 2-2 mode piezocomposite materials were employed. Experimental performance of the transducers showed good agreement with the design results, which verified feasibility of the transducer for IVUS applications.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.43 no.3 s.309
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• pp.41-50
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• 2006

This paper presents a novel ultrasonic sensor system to overcome limited distance detection range that can be measured only more than 30cm by single ultrasonic transducer. This is accomplished by separation of receiving capacitive ultrasonic transducer from transmitting capacitive ultrasonic transducer. And hardwares and software of the system are described in detail. The system makes very close range as well as long range detect by wireless precisely. Frequency of trigger pulse is 10Hz, but it is very low frequency for transmitting data in wireless module. Therefore, for triggering between receiver and transmitter, an algorithm for mixing and distinguishing trigger pulse from carrier pulse by software is proposed. The system is designed by common microprocessor 8051. The performance of the proposed method has been assessed through two types. The first, transmitting and receiving transducer are put on both sides. And then, distance of two point is measured as far as 0mm. Secondly, transmitting transducer send out ultrasonic pulse and measure the time of flight(TOF) until a first echo from an object detected by the detached receiving transducer. The distance between the detached transducers and a reflecting object is measured as far as 7cm. Images of measured ultrasonic waves and TOF for two methods presented to prove effectiveness of results.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.207-216
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• 1999

A phased array is a multi-element piezoelectric device whose elements are individually excited by electric pulses at programmed delay time. One of the advantages of using phased array in nondestructive evaluation (NDE) application over conventional ultrasonic transducers is their great maneuverability of ultrasonic beam. There are some parameters such as the number and the size of the piezoelectric elements and the inter-element spacing of the elements to design phased array transducer. In this study, the characteristic of ultrasonic beam for phased array transducer due to the variation of the number of elements has been simulated for ultrasonic SH-wave on the basis of Huygen's principle. Ultrasonic beam directivity and focusing due to the change of time delay of each element were discussed due to the change of the number of piezoelectric elements. It was found that ultrasonic beam was much more spreaded and hence its sound pressure was decreased as steering angle of ultrasonic beam was increased. In addition, the ability of ultrasonic bean focusing decreased gradually with the increase of focal length at the same piezoelectric elements. However, the ability of beam focusing was improved as the number of consisting elements was increased.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.3E
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• pp.111-118
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• 2010

Three-dimensional ultrasound imaging is a new, exciting technology that allows physicians to use ultrasound to view pathology as a volume, thereby enhancing comprehension of patient anatomy. In this paper, a brief history of the 3-D ultrasound imaging is described in accordance with the development of transducer technology. Then, two representative types of 3-D imaging transducers are reviewed with description of the concept and operation principle of each type: mechanical transducer and matrix array transducer. The mechanical transducer is detailed into free-hand scanning and sequential scanning types. Advantages of each transducer over the other and the technical issues for further performance enhancement are also presented.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.2E
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• pp.73-85
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• 2010

In the diagnostic ultrasound (US) transducer technology, the high frequency US(HFUS) transducer over 20 MHz is one of the current issues to be pursued for better resolution with the expense of penetration. HFUS single element transducers and the mechanical scanning systems for imaging are reviewed, and HFUS array transducers are also briefly summarized. HFUS applications such as the human applications in ophthalmology and dermatology and small animal applications for research purposes are reviewed with vascular and blood imaging in this paper.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.65-71
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• 1984

The design formular of optical focusing systems cannot be applied to ultrasonic B scanners, which use broadband pulses instead of continuous wave. In this paper, a calculation method is studied for analyzing the propagation of ultrasonic broadband pulse excited by ultrasonic array transducers. Using the results, seveial design parameters such as the number of transducer elements, delay time, and the focal point are determined to obtain high resolution in the ultrasonic dynamic focusing system. A dynamic focusing system with low-noise switching characteristics; which attains lateral resolution of 2-3mm all along the axial direction up to 18 cm with a 3.5 MHz linear array transducer, was implemented.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Navigation
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.1-8
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• 1995

Although ship's draught information onboard is substantial for both the safety of navigation and the estimation of loaded cargoes, its accuracy depends, in conventional surveying method, on the skillfulness of observers and the condition of the sea surface round the vessel. To obtain more accurate information accessibly, measuring instruments with sophisticated sensors such as mechanical, electronic and ultrasonic transducers have been developed. However, they have still limitation in accuracy and in making up a system due to the complexity of processing signal. In this paper, we propose a new technique for analyzing ultrasonic pulse signal, in order to improve the measurement accuracy and simplify a remote sensing system of draught by ultrasonic waves. In this technique, pulse signal is translated into phase curve which is composed of the phase value defined in time domain. Then, the time interval between two signals different in waveform, is waveform, is analytically determined by calculating average time difference on phase curves. Also, analytical procedure can be carried out in real time with the successive five data sampled at T/4, for high speed digital processing with computer and A/D converter. This technique is useful for measuring draught under the influence of sea condition and for interfacing its data briefly to the integrated bridge system.