Single Crystal Piezoelectric Tonpilz Elements for Small Footprint, High Power Acoustic Sensors

For this Phase I STTR program, TRS proposes to investigate the use of single crystal piezoelectric tonpilz elements for small footprint, high power acoustic sensors. Target applications are detection and homing acoustic sensors for small diameter (less than seven inches) vehicle platforms. Planar high power tonpilz arrays are the optimum way to obtain the required acoustic pressure and bandwidth for small footprint sensors. Tonpilz elements are designed with mechanical bias to reduce stress-induced failures and typically have electro-acoustic efficiencies greater than 70 percent. As the vehicle diameter becomes smaller, packaging the acoustic sensor power delivery electronics, energy storage, guidance and control intelligence, and propulsion become increasingly more difficult. The approach to providing viable small footprint sensors is to utilize single crystal piezoelectrics to reduce the length of the tonpilz transducer while maintaining the fundamental resonance frequency and acoustic intensity. Single crystal piezoelectrics may also reduce the size of the power delivery electronics as well. TRS Technologies Inc. will combine its single crystal piezoelectric expertise with the acoustic transducer expertise of the Applied Research Laboratory Penn State University for this Phase I STTR research.