Claims
- 1. A method of manufacturing a transducer assembly having a curved transducer array, comprising the steps of:
- fabricating an array case having a planar bottom wall and a pair of side walls extending from the bottom wall to form a channel, said array case being made of electrically conductive, acoustic matching material and said side walls having a predetermined height;
- fabricating a laminated assembly having a depth greater than said predetermined height of said side walls by bonding a stack of layers to said bottom wall of electrically conductive, acoustic matching material, said stack being arranged in said channel of said array case and comprising a layer of piezoelectric ceramic, a flexible printed circuit board and a layer of acoustic damping material arranged in that order, said piezoelectric ceramic layer being bonded to said bottom wall of electrically conductive, acoustic matching material, and said acoustic damping material having a property whereby said acoustic damping material changes from an inflexible state to a flexible state when heated;
- dicing said flat laminated array to a depth so that said bottom wall and said side walls of electrically conductive, acoustic matching material, said layer of piezoelectric ceramic, and said flexible printed circuit board are completely cut in a depthwise direction into respective segments and said layer of acoustic damping material is only partially cut in said depthwise direction so that an undiced portion of said layer of acoustic damping material supports said respective segments;
- fabricating a core body having a curved front face in the shape of a cylindrical section;
- heating at least said undiced portion of said layer of acoustic damping material until said acoustic damping material is flexible;
- flexing said heated undiced portion of said layer of acoustic damping material to conform to said curved front face of said core body; and
- bonding said flexed undiced portion of said layer of acoustic damping material to said curved front face of said core body.
- 2. The method of manufacture as defined in claim 1, wherein said core body is made of acoustic damping material.
- 3. The method of manufacture as defined in claim 1, wherein said electrically conductive, acoustic matching material is metal-impregnated graphite.
- 4. The method of manufacture as defined in claim 1, wherein said laminated assembly further comprises a layer of electrically insulating, acoustic matching material which is bonded to said layer of electrically conductive, acoustic matching material.
- 5. The method of manufacture as defined in claim 1, wherein said acoustic damping material is epoxy resin impregnated with granules of metal oxide-loaded silicone rubber.
- 6. The method of manufacture as defined in claim 1, wherein said core body is made of material having a relatively high thermal conductivity.
- 7. The method of manufacture as defined in claim 6, wherein said material of relatively high thermal conductivity is aluminum alloy.
- 8. The method of manufacture as defined in claim 1, further comprising the step of slitting said flexible circuit board in two regions separated by an unslit region sandwiched between said layer of piezoelectric ceramic and said layer of acoustic damping material.
- 9. The method of manufacture as defined in claim 1, further comprising the step of electrically connecting a pair of electrically conductive ground plates to opposite sides of each segment of said layer of electrically conductive, acoustic matching material using electrically conductive epoxy.
RELATED PATENT APPLICATION
This application is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/343,054 filed on Nov. 21, 1994, which issued on Jul. 30, 1996 as U.S. Pat. No. 5,541,468.
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4686408 |
Ishiyama |
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|
5109860 |
Gelly et al. |
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Finsterwald et al. |
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Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
343054 |
Nov 1994 |
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