Low Frequency Spherical Vector Hydrophone Based on the Geophone

Abstract

In this paper, a new type of low frequency spherical vector hydrophone is designed. It can be directly installed on the underwater platform and sense the underwater acoustic particle velocity. The sensing element is a moving-coil geophone. The paper described the structure of the spherical vector hydrophone, analyzed the modal of spherical shell and calculated the influence of the size and material parameters on the stiffness of spherical sleeved rubber spring. In the test frequency range, the sensitivity of vector hydrophone is about - 205dB. The ration of the maximum and the minimum in the directivity pattern is greater than 20dB.