Design of an electromechanical system for measuring and monitoring micro-ultrasonic amplitude of Langevin transducer

Abstract

The Langevin transducer is commonly used to generate vibration waves, based on the piezoelectric effect, for variety of essential industrial applications such as welding and machining. Researchers are still investigating the different design aspects of Langevin transducer in order to improve the performance of vibration generation system. Furthermore, measuring the output amplitude of the Langevin transducer is a key feature because vibration amplitude plays a vital role in the performance of any vibration-assisted applications. However, it is a sophisticated process which requires high-cost equipment. The aim of this work is to develop an electromechanical system used to measure and to control the ultrasonic Langevin transducer output amplitude. Thus, a detailed design procedure of Langevin transducer was preformed including the investigation of different horn profiles. Firstly, the transducer’s model features were established based on the wave equation as a start point for the finite element (FE) model. Subsequently, different ultrasonic horn geometries were investigated through the FE model. Secondly and based on the FE results, the stepped horn was selected for fabrication and experimental validation. The FE and experimental results showed a good agreement with a deviation of 8%. Finally, an electromechanical system has been developed to measure the transducer amplitude at different resonance frequencies. The transducer showed more stability and produced higher amplitude at frequencies of 33.33 and 43.54 kHz.