Compact Piezoelectric High Intensity Sound Source

There is a market need for high intensity sound sources that can operate for long durations over wide temperature ranges and in environments with dust and humidity exposure. Piezoelectric sound sources offer many advantages over compression drivers in these applications. They can be small and lightweight, have low power consumption, operate in narrow frequency bands, and can achieve a high sound pressure level (SPL) when properly designed and built. However, there are no off-the-shelf piezo sound sources that can achieve very high SPL"s for long time durations. They are designed more for alarm systems that work for short time intervals. At high power levels, or as the ambient temperature is increased, a commercial device may only last for a few minutes at a time before its performance is dramatically degraded. Omega has an innovative technology for high power alarms that will allow these devices to achieve extremely high sound pressure level"s and operate over extended periods of time. In the proposed program, Omega will apply this technology toward developing these high intensity sound sources and build upon the foundation of work it has already conducted in developing and manufacturing high performance piezoelectric alarms.