INDUSTRIAL ULTRASOUND TRANSDUCERS

Over the past decade, MSI has successfully designed and delivered piezocomposite transducers to a variety of customers for industrial applications, including: ultrasonic flow sensors, medical ultrasound, non-destructive testing and in-process inspection and quality control.

MSI has designed transducers to withstand the most severe environments normally encountered in industrial applications, including temperatures ranging from -40°C to >150°C and pressures up to 25,000psi (170MPa). Frequencies can range from 25kHz to over 1MHz. In addition MSI can produce large line and area arrays or roller transducer arrays for scanning large areas of industrial materials at high speed.

Active Fiber Composites

MSI has licensed patented* Active Fiber Composite (AFC) patch actuator technology and is making these devices available for volume production applications such as energy harvesting and vibration control.

AFCs are thin, flexible, piezoelectric devices that can provide cost-effective actuation and sensing over large areas. They offer many advantages over monolithic piezoceramic, including higher actuation strain, unidirectional actuation, damage tolerance, and conformability to curved surfaces. AFCs are ideal for smart structures, sound and vibration control, acoustic transducers, and energy harvesting for powering wireless sensors and handheld devices. Exceptionally high actuation strains of 1800 ppm and blocked forces of 110 pounds are possible for large 50 x 125mm (2"x 5") AFCs.

MSI's AFC design consists of aligned piezoceramic ribbon fibers in a tough, flexible, polymer matrix. MSI is unique in its use of proprietary injection molding techniques to manufacture piezoceramic "combs" that are pre-assembled and pre-aligned to reduce AFC fabrication cost. The molding process also facilitates rectangular fibers, which perform better than round fibers in AFC devices.

MSI's vertical integration, from piezoceramic development and manufacture to AFC design and assembly, provides exceptional flexibility to meet unique customer application requirements. The composition, design and size of MSI injection molded AFCs can be selected to provide the best combination of performance and cost for most high volume applications. Click here for further reading.

* Manufactured under U.S. Patents 5,869,189 and 6,048,622.