Acoustic wave transducer and sonar antenna with improved directivity

Abstract

The invention relates to an acoustic wave transducer that includes at least one electroacoustic motor (1, 21), a horn (4, 24) having an inner wall and an outer wall, a counterweight (5), and a hollow housing (8, 28) having an inner wall and an outer wall and at least one acoustic opening. The electroacoustic motor is connected to the horn (4, 24) as well as to the counterweight (5) along an axis (7), and said electroacoustic motor (1, 21) is capable of exciting the horn at about at least one resonance frequency f. The housing (8, 28) is connected to the counterweight (5) and surrounds the motor (1, 21) and the horn (4, 24), the outer wall of the horn being arranged opposite an acoustic opening of the housing, and the space between the inner wall of the housing and the inner wall of the horn defines a cavity that contains a fluid. According to the invention, said transducer includes acoustic attenuation means connected to the outer wall of the housing in order to attenuate the emission and/or reception acoustic waves at the frequency f at least in a direction transverse to the emission/reception axis. The invention also relates to a sonar antenna that comprises at least one transducer according to the invention.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.