Very High Powered, Low Frequency Underwater Projectors

Traditionally low frequency underwater projectors are of the flextensional or flexural designation to permit low frequency operation in a small volume. These devices are normally excited by piezoelectric ceramic commonly identified as PZT. For these devices the power output is field limited as opposed to stress limited. The advent of PMN-PT textured ceramic promises a power output boost that permits at least 10 dB more source level over conventional PZT. This increase in field limit allows the transducer designer to better match the stress and field limits of the particular design. A notional design would be a transducer that is football sized that can achieve a source level of 207 dB with a useable bandwidth encompassing 600 to 1200 Hz. The ability of the mechanism to transmit in an omnidirectional mode and in a directional mode would be an advantage for operational use. Variations on the established classifications of flextensional transducer types would be preferred.