Development of Wide Band Underwater Acoustic Transducers

This paper addresses the design and development of wide-band Tonpilz transducers and class V flextensional type hydrophones for oceanographic applications. A case study to lower resonant frequency from 6 to 4.5 kHz with a usable frequency range of 4–10 kHz without altering the dimension has been carried out. The transmitting response (151 dB at 5 kHz) and the receiving sensitivity (–163 dB re V/μPa@1 m) were retained. The development of a wideband (2–18 kHz) transducer for sub-bottom profiling and buried object detection has been presented. A hydrophone array (2–24 kHz) of receiving sensitivity of –155 dB re V/ μPa@1 m was also developed.