Low Cost Hydrophones for Thin Line Towed Arrays

A need exists for a less expensive thin line towed array hydrophone element to reduce the cost of towed arrays and to allow more hydrophone elements in a towed array. Massa Products Corporation, which has produced acoustic underwater and air transducers and systems for the past 65 years, proposes to use this experience to design and fabricate low cost hydrophone elements, using flexural disc technology. This effort will be based on current technology at Massa and will develop a simple design, suitable for high volume production using laser or electron beam welding techniques. Equivalent Circuit and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) modeling will be used to evaluate design tradeoffs of performance, hydrostatic mechanical stress, and manufacturing costs. Prototype elements will be fabricated and tested in a unique test chamber suitable for testing at pressure and temperature extremes. In the Phase 1Basic Program, sample hydrophone elements will be built and tested and in the Phase 1 Option, sample array elements will be built and tested. A final report will be written detailing the findings and recommending Phase 11 Array hardware deliverables.