Response Analyses of MicroUltrasonic Sensor Devic

Authors: Mohamad Faizal Abd Rahman Mohd Ikhwan Hadi Yaacob Mohd Rizal Arshad Asrulnizam Abd Manaf

Publish Date: 2012/05/13

Volume: 4, Issue: 1, Pages: 49-57

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Abstract

The vastness of the ocean offers great challenges for various underwater exploratory and communication related applications using multiple robotic platforms such as remotely operated vehicle ROV underwater glider vertical profiler and autonomous surface vessel ASV Small in size higher sensitivities and lower power consumptions of microultrasonic devices make it a perfect match for those robotic platforms This paper proposed two microultrasonic transducer MUT designs for underwater applications Two sensing mechanisms were utilized namely piezoelectric pMUT and capacitive cMUT The objective is not meant for comparison but it is rather a work carried to investigate on the option available to cater different underwater applications Responses of those microdevices were identified using finite element method FEM Three different materials were suggested for each design which was ZnO PZT and quartz for pMUT and Si3N4 Teflon and PDMS for cMUT Analyses conducted including mechanical piezoelectric and frequency PZT were found to be the most responsive material for pMUT with voltage response at 13×10−3 μm/V and 27502 pC/V of charge response but carried the lowest resonant frequency at 859 kHz For cMUT design PDMS had the highest detection sensitivity which is equal to 16 μm/Pa This occurred at the resonance of 5159 kHz However in terms of static deflection analysis PDMS showed the weakest performance This suggests the need for delicate design considerations and tradeoffs Final specification of both designs was summarized at the end of the report as a guideline to underwater robotic engineers in determining the best applications within the specified performanceThis work was funded by Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation MOSTI Malaysia through the National Oceanographic Directorate development grant and Universiti Sains Malaysia USM short term grant 304/ELECT/60310023 and postgraduate 1001/PELECT/8043071 research grants The research outputs have partially been presented at IRIS 2010 Conference in Nagoya JapanThis work was mainly supported by Universiti Sains Malaysia USM through postgraduate research grant schemes 1001/PELECT/8043071 8044018 and partly funded by Ministry of Higher Education through Fundamental Research Grant Scheme FRGS 203/PELECT/6071225

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