The overall performance of sandwiched ultrasonic transducers can be substantially degraded due to defects. Model-based diagnosis can be an attractive technique for monitoring the performance of sandwiched ultrasonic transducers. Using electromechanical models of the transducer, most parameters of the system can be determined based on measurements of electrical input quantities only. This contri...

Ultrasonic motors are expected to be used as microactuators because of their high torque, low speed and simple construction. We have already reported cylindrical-shaped micro ultrasonic motors which utilized a lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thin film. In this paper, we discuss a micro ultrasonic motor composed of bulk PZT. The stator transducer had dimensions of 2.4 mm in diameter and 10 mm leng...

Field II is a simulation software capable of predicting the field pressure in front of transducers having any complicated geometry. A calibrated prediction with this program is, however, dependent on an exact voltage-to-surface acceleration impulse response of the transducer. Such impulse response is not calculated by Field II. This work investigates the usability of combining a one-dimensional...

The paper presents a novel linear, high-fidelity millimetre displacement-to-frequency transducer, based on the resistive conversion of displacement into a proportional voltage, and then frequency. The derivation of the nonlinearity, fidelity and sensitivity of the transducer is presented. Experimental results confirm that a displacement of 0-100 mm is converted into a frequency range of 0-100 k...

Planar systems of electrodes arranged on both sides of dielectric piezoelectric layer are applied in numerous transducers. They are capable of electronic beam-steering of generated wave both in azimuth and elevation. The wave-beam control is achieved by addressable driving of two-dimensional transducer through proper voltage supply of electrodes on opposite surfaces of the layer. In this paper ...

A coherent light beam is used to interrogate the focal region within a tissue-mimicking phantom insonified by an ultrasound transducer. The ultrasound-tagged photons exiting from the object carry with them information on local optical path length fluctuations caused by refractive index variations and medium vibration. Through estimation of the force distribution in the focal region of the ultra...

We describe the use of parametric amplification to substantially increase the magnetoelectric (ME) coefficient of multiferroic cantilevers. Parametric amplification has been widely used in sensors and actuators based on optical, electronic, and mechanical resonators to increase transducer gain. In our system, a microfabricated mechanical cantilever with a magnetostrictive layer is driven at its...

This paper reports an improvement of the particle-excitation flow control valve. The valve that we have designed in previous reports can control air flow, using particle excitation by piezoelectric resonance, and has the following advantages: small size, lightweight, high response and continuous airflow control. However, in our previous models, the relationship between the driving voltage and t...

We present the optimization of a new material structure used as transducer in a MagnetoOptical Surface Plasmon Resonance (MOSPR) biosensor. The MOSPR sensor is a modification of the standard Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) biosensor, which arises from the introduction of a ferromagnetic metal layer with Magneto-Optical (MO) activity together with the usual gold layer of SPR biosensors. Such com...

Saturation mutagenesis was performed on a single position in the voltage-sensing domain (VSD) of a genetically encoded voltage indicator (GEVI). The VSD consists of four transmembrane helixes designated S1-S4. The V220 position located near the plasma membrane/extracellular interface had previously been shown to affect the voltage range of the optical signal. Introduction of polar amino acids a...