Claims
- 1. A cavitation-resistant sonar array for attachment to a variable depth sonar body comprising:
- a transducer mount;
- a plurality of transducer elements having exposed edges and arranged to form an array, such array attached to said transducer mount;
- a layer of a rho-c material having the rho-c value as that of seawater and bonded to adjacent edges of said transducer elements and filling the spaces between adjacent transducer edges, said rho-c material surrounding the adjacent transducers of said plurality of transducers; and
- a processing unit connected to said transducer elements correcting speed of sound differences in said rho-c material compared to speed of sound in seawater.
- 2. A cavitation-resistant sonar array for attachment to a variable depth sonar body as in claim 1 wherein said plurality of transducer elements form an array having a spacing between elements less than one-quarter wavelength of an emitted signal.
- 3. A cavitation-resistant sonar array for attachment to a variable depth sonar body as in claim 1 wherein said layer of rho-c material is a rho-c rubber material.
- 4. A cavitation-resistant sonar array for attachment to a variable depth sonar body as in claim 1 wherein said processing unit includes a look-up table incorporating an acoustic finite element model.
- 5. A cavitation-resistant sonar array for attachment to a variable depth sonar body as in claim 1 wherein said processing unit comprises a look-up table incorporating a boundary element model.
- 6. A cavitation-resistant sonar array for attachment to a variable depth sonar body as in claim 4 wherein said acoustic finite element model provides amplitude and phase corrections of individual elements with the array.
- 7. A cavitation-resistant sonar array for attachment to a variable depth sonar body as in claim 5 wherein said boundary element model provides amplitude and phase corrections of individual elements with the array.
- 8. A cavitation-resistant sonar array for attachment to a variable depth sonar body comprising:
- a transducer mount;
- a plurality of transducer elements having exposed edges and arranged to form an array, such array attached to said transducer mount; and
- means for suppressing cavitation attached to said plurality of transducer elements.
- 9. A cavitation-resistant sonar array for attachment to variable depth sonar body as in claim 8 wherein said means for suppressing cavitation comprises a rho-c material bonded to adjacent edges of said transducer elements.
- 10. A cavitation-resistant sonar array for attachment to variable depth sonar body as in claim 9 wherein said rho-c material is rho-c rubber.
- 11. A cavitation-resistant sonar array for attachment to variable depth sonar body as in claim 8 wherein said means for suppressing cavitation comprises a processing unit.
- 12. A cavitation-resistant sonar array for attachment to variable depth sonar body as in claim 11 wherein said processing unit includes a look-up table incorporating an acoustic finite element model.
- 13. A cavitation-resistant sonar array for attachment to variable depth sonar body as in claim 11 wherein said processing unit includes a look-up table incorporating a boundary element model.
- 14. A cavitation-resistant sonar array for attachment to a variable depth sonar body as in claim 12 wherein said acoustic finite element model provides amplitude and phase corrections of individual elements with the array.
- 15. A cavitation-resistant sonar array for attachment to a variable depth sonar body as in claim 13 wherein said boundary element model provides amplitude and phase corrections of individual elements with the array.
STATEMENT OF GOVERNMENT INTEREST
The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for Governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.
US Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
4271490 |
Minohara et al. |
Jun 1981 |
|
5426619 |
Madden et al. |
Jun 1995 |
|