US 5,691,960 AGranted

Conformal composite acoustic transducer panel and method of fabrication thereof

AssigneeMaterials Systems, Inc.

InventorsRichard L. Gentilman, Leslie J. Bowen

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Abstract

A conformable composite acoustic transducer panel including a conformable composite body having upper and lower planar faces and upper and lower thin, flexible electrodes bonded to the upper and lower faces, respectively. The composite body includes an array of individual piezoelectric or electrostrictive ceramic elements extending normal to the upper and lower faces and through the composite body from the upper face to the lower face to electrically contact the electrodes. Stiff integral face plates are bonded to the side surfaces of the elements at their upper and lower ends. Alternatively, a conformable, stiff, voided polymer matrix is bonded to the element sides over their entire length. Flexible circuit boards may be bonded to the electrodes to provide electrical contact thereto. Methods for fabricating the transducer panel are also disclosed.

Claims8

Dependent claims

A conformable composite acoustic transducer panel comprising a conformable composite body having upper and lower planar faces and upper and lower thin, flexible electrodes bonded to said upper and lower faces, respectively, said composite body comprising:

an array of individual piezoelectric or electrostrictive ceramic elements, each of said elements having opposing ends and one or more sides interconnecting said opposing ends, said elements being disposed normal to said upper and lower faces and extending through said composite body from said upper face to said lower face to electrically contact each of said electrodes;
and
an upper integral face plate and a lower integral face plate spaced apart from one another, each of said integral face plates extending through only a portion of the depth of said composite body and being bonded to each of said elements over only a portion of each of said element sides, the outer planar surfaces of said upper and lower integral face plates being coplanar with upper and lower ends, respectively, of said elements to provide said upper and lower faces, respectively.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.