7.

3 The Piezo-electric Transducer 139

t_

t_

1-

Fig. 7.22. Transmission of an electric pulse in the form of a damped oscillation with b = 1.75
from transmitter to receiver in resonance at b = 1.75. Transmitting voltage, sound pressure
and receiving voltage as functions of time, maxima arbitrarily shown equally large

voltage, as is frequently done, is the damped oscillation of a resonating circuit with

the characteristic frequency of the plate. Both the resonating circuit and the plate
have the damping coefficient b = 1.75, wherein it is assumed that the plate pro-
duces no reaction on the resonating circuit and the rest of the generator circuit.
This applies approximately to quartz with its small electromechanical coupling.
The example shows how resonance of both the transmitter and the receiver
changes the original pulse. The build-up is flattened and the decay increased con-
siderably. Special attention is drawn to the build-up of the receiving voltage, which
due to the formation of the area integral is always very flat. The considerable distor-
tion of the pulse can be reduced by better damping as well as by off-resonance ex-
citation.
When coupling a transducer to a solid via a thin layer of liquid the problem be-
comes more complex due to the multiple reflections in this layer. Basically it can,
however, also be solved by adding the individual waves according to amplitude and
phase. It turns out that this considerably changes the resonance curve of the trans-
ducer, particularly by the appearance of two peaks.
Finally, the matching of the piezo-electric plate to the electric transmitter will
briefly be discussed. Greatly simplified, a piezo-electric plate of thickness d = Al2
excited at its fundamental frequency can be replaced by its static capacitance Co in
parallel with an ohmic resistance Rs, as long as the plate is not excessively dis-