What is Ultrasonic Transducer II?

The ultrasonic transducer is a very important part of the ultrasonic flaw detector. The transducer incorporates a piezoelectric element, which converts electrical signals into mechanical vibrations (transmit mode) and mechanical vibrations into electrical signals (receive mode).

The phased array transducers have a frequency ranging from 1 MHz to 17 MHz and have between 10 and 128 elements. You can understand that the phased array probe consists of many small ultrasonic transducers, each of which can be pulsed independently. By varying the timing, for instance by pulsing the elements one by one in sequence along a row, a pattern of constructive interference is set up that result in a beam at a set angle. In other words, the beam can be controlled electronically. The beam is swept like a search-light through the tissue or object being examined, and the data from multiple beams are put together to make a visual image showing a slice through the object.

Many factors, including material, mechanical and electrical construction, and the external mechanical and electrical load conditions, influence the behavior of a transducer. Mechanical construction includes parameters such as the radiation surface area, mechanical damping, housing, connector type and other variables of physical construction.