Claims
- 1. A method of manufacturing an acoustic transducer that is configured to produce low frequency acoustic energy, comprising:
providing a projector shell having an oval cross-section with a short axis and a long axis, a slot opening on the short axis, and an outer diameter of at least 18 inches along the short axis; and disposing a plurality of active transducer elements along the internal surface of the projector shell; wherein the transducer elements are adapted for coupling to a power source and the acoustic transducer operates in the frequency range under 400 Hz.
- 2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
providing an internal cylinder having an outer diameter that is less than an inner diameter of the projector shell; and connecting an end cap to each end of the internal cylinder so as to secure the projector shell in place about the internal cylinder.
- 3. The method of claim 1 wherein providing a projector shell includes providing a plurality of projector shells that are coupled to one another with their respective slot openings aligned, and the disposing is performed for each projector shell.
- 4. The method of claim 3 further comprising:
providing an internal cylinder having an outer diameter that is less than an inner diameter of the projector shells; and connecting an end cap to each end of the internal cylinder so as to secure the projector shells in place about the internal cylinder.
- 5. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the projector shell includes providing one or more projector shells each having a thickness that allows the acoustic transducer to operate in a frequency range below 120 hertz.
- 6. The method of claim 1 further including covering the projector shell with a flexible water-proof material adapted to keep the active transducer elements dry.
- 7. The method of claim 1 wherein disposing the plurality of active transducer elements includes disposing the active transducer elements in a groove on the internal surface of the projector shell.
- 8. A method of manufacturing an acoustic transducer that is configured to produce ultra-low frequency acoustic energy, comprising:
providing a projector shell having an oval cross-section with a short axis and a long axis, a slot opening on the short axis, and an outer diameter of at least 18 inches along the short axis; and disposing a plurality of active transducer elements on the internal surface of the projector shell; wherein the transducer elements are adapted for coupling to a power source, and the acoustic transducer operates in a frequency range below 120 Hz.
- 9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:
providing an internal cylinder having an outer diameter that is less than an inner diameter of the projector shell; and connecting an end cap coupled to each end of the internal cylinder so as to secure the projector shell in place about the internal cylinder.
- 10. The method of claim 8 further including covering the projector shell with a flexible water-proof material adapted to keep the active transducer elements dry.
- 11. The method of claim 8 wherein the plurality of active transducer elements include at least one of piezoelectric elements, ferroelectric elements, and rare earth elements.
- 12. The method of claim 8 wherein the projector shell is at least one of a solid metal, solid composite, honey comb metallic, and honey comb composite.
- 13. The method of claim 8 wherein disposing the plurality of active transducer elements includes disposing the active transducer elements in a groove on the internal surface of the projector shell.
- 14. A method of manufacturing an acoustic projector system that is configured to produce low frequency acoustic energy, comprising:
disposing one or more projector shells about an internal cylinder, each projector shell having an oval cross-section having a long axis, a short axis, and a slot opening, wherein each projector shell has a grooved internal surface and a diameter about the short axis of at least 18 inches; disposing a plurality of active transducer elements along the grooved internal surface of each of the one or more projector shells, wherein the transducer elements are adapted to receive power from an alternating power source; and connecting end caps to each end of the internal cylinder so as to secure the projector shells; wherein the acoustic projector system operates in a frequency range of about 5 Hz to 400 Hz.
- 15. The method of claim 14 further comprising:
covering the one or more projector shells with a flexible water-proof material adapted to keep the active transducer elements dry in conjunction with the end caps.
- 16. The method of claim 14 wherein the plurality of active transducer elements include at least one of piezoelectric elements, ferroelectric elements, and rare earth elements.
- 17. The method of claim 14 wherein the one or more projector shells are each at least one of a solid metal, solid composite, honey comb metallic, and honey comb composite.
- 18. The method of claim 14 wherein providing the one or more projector shells includes providing one or more projector shells each having a thickness that allows the acoustic projector system to operate in a frequency range below 120 hertz.
- 19. The method of claim 14 wherein acoustic projector system forms an array that produces coherent high powered acoustic radiation.
- 20. The method of claim 14 wherein acoustic power provided by the system can be at least doubled by doubling the number of projector shells included in the system.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/304,976, filed Nov. 26, 2002, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/258,772, filed Feb. 26, 1999, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/117,433, filed Jan. 27, 1999. Each of these applications is herein incorporated in its entirety by reference.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60117433 |
Jan 1999 |
US |
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10304976 |
Nov 2002 |
US |
Child |
10865601 |
Jun 2004 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09258772 |
Feb 1999 |
US |
Child |
10304976 |
Nov 2002 |
US |