Transducer Unit Research Articles

Encapsulation structure and in-situ embedding test and model study of a new type of road piezoelectric energy collector

In recent years, research on road piezoelectric energy harvesters (RPEH) has made great progress in the field of road vibration energy harvesting. However, the research on the packaging structure and embedding method of RPEH is not comprehensive. In this paper, a new type of transducer unit structure is developed, which can improve the electrical energy output compared with the drum piezoelectric transducer, and its waterproof performance of the transducer unit is tested under different water depth and duration. Then, a new RPEH package structure is made, and the output performance is compared with the three commonly used package structures in the current research, and the field construction of RPEH with different embedding methods is carried out on the actual road to evaluate the electrical energy output capacity of RPEH under different embedding methods, and the best construction method of RPEH is summarized through durability test. Finally, the three-dimensional simulation model of RPEH with different construction methods is established, and the stress and voltage are analyzed by finite element method to verify the best embedding method. The test results show that the piezoelectric output efficiency of the new transducer unit is increased by 38.9 %, and it still has good electrical energy output after 24 h immersion at a depth of 1.5 m, and its waterproof level reaches IPX8. Under larger excitation frequency and load, the indoor output of RPEH in the new package structure has better output performance in indoor test. The bolt-spring package is used to apply pre-pressure to RPEH, and the output efficiency of RPEH is improved. When the excitation conditions are 10 kN, 10 Hz, the output power is increased by 11.1 %, 127.3 % and 247.4 % compared with the other three package structures. The maximum power of RPEH is 3.41 W by placing concrete on the bottom surface of RPEH sponge washer and using asphalt as the pavement layer to ensure the durability of piezoelectric pavement. The finite element analysis illustrates the strain and voltage variation of piezoelectric pavement with different embedment modes, and the simulation results are consistent with the test results. The research results provide an important basis for the design of RPEH packaging structure and embedding method in road piezoelectric engineering.

Enhanced BSA Detection Precision: Leveraging High-Performance Dual-Gate Ion-Sensitive Field-Effect-Transistor Scheme and Surface-Treated Sensing Membranes.

Bovine serum albumin (BSA) is commonly incorporated in vaccines to improve stability. However, owing to potential allergic reactions in humans, the World Health Organization (WHO) mandates strict adherence to a BSA limit (≤50 ng/vaccine). BSA detection with conventional techniques is time-consuming and requires specialized equipment. Efficient alternatives such as the ion-sensitive field-effect transistor (ISFET), despite rapid detection, affordability, and portability, do not detect BSA at low concentrations because of inherent sensitivity limitations. This study proposes a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate-based dual-gate (DG) ISFET platform to overcome these limitations. The capacitive coupling DG structure significantly enhances sensitivity without requiring external circuits, owing to its inherent amplification effect. The extended-gate (EG) structure separates the transducer unit for electrical signal processing from the sensing unit for biological detection, preventing chemical damage to the transducer, accommodating a variety of biological analytes, and affording easy replaceability. Vapor-phase surface treatment with (3-Aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) and the incorporation of a SnO2 sensing membrane ensure high BSA detection efficiency and sensitivity (144.19 mV/log [BSA]). This DG-FET-based biosensor possesses a simple structure and detects BSA at low concentrations rapidly. Envisioned as an effective on-site diagnostic tool for various analytes including BSA, this platform addresses prior limitations in biosensing and shows promise for practical applications.

A wireless triboelectric sensing system with polygonal synchronous driven by bipolar electromagnetic generators for wide wind speed monitoring

The change of wind speed has an important impact on the ecological balance in the wind-eroded grassland. Using the wind speed monitoring technology can promote the sustainable management of grasslands, but commercial wind speed sensors pose certain challenges to energy consumption. Here, a self-powered wide wind speed sensor (SWSS) is proposed, consisting of polygonal cam synchronous driven triboelectric nanogenerator and stereoscopic electromagnetic nanogenerator. The circumferential array cam drive mechanism and the double-optimized silicone film realize the synergistic enhancement effect of force-electric coupling, which makes the synchronous sensing unit output wind speed signals with high sensitivity and up to 0.991 linearity. In addition, at 8 m/s wind speed, the transducer unit with the three-dimensional magnetic field enhanced layout and the energy capture unit with the semi-cylindrical blade designed for installation angle jointly achieved a power output of 69.35 mW, and the energy conversion efficiency reached 6.91 %. Owing to the intermittency of wind energy, the energy closed loop is realized through solar-assisted energy supply and energy management technology. In short, the design, optimization and integration of SWSS provide an innovative strategy for wide wind speed monitoring and sustainable management of wind-eroded grassland.

Distant RF field sensing with a passive Rydberg-atomic transducer

We combine a rubidium vapor cell with a corner-cube prism reflector to form a passive RF transducer, allowing the detection of microwave signals at a location distant from the active components required for atomic sensing. This compact transducer has no electrical components and is optically linked to an active base station by a pair of free-space laser beams that establish an electromagnetically induced transparency scenario. Microwave signals at the transducer location are imprinted onto an optical signal which is detected at the base station. Our sensing architecture with a remote standalone transducer unit adds important flexibility to Rydberg-atom based sensing technologies, which are currently subject to significant attention. We demonstrate a ∼30 m link with no particular effort and foresee significant future prospects of achieving a much larger separation between the transducer and the base station.

A Circuit-Level Solution for Secure Temperature Sensor

Temperature sensors play an important role in modern monitoring and control applications. When more and more sensors are integrated into internet-connected systems, the integrity and security of sensors become a concern and cannot be ignored anymore. As sensors are typically low-end devices, there is no built-in defense mechanism in sensors. It is common that system-level defense provides protection against security threats on sensors. Unfortunately, high-level countermeasures do not differentiate the root of cause and treat all anomalies with system-level recovery processes, resulting in high-cost overhead on delay and power consumption. In this work, we propose a secure architecture for temperature sensors with a transducer and a signal conditioning unit. The proposed architecture estimates the sensor data with statistical analysis and generates a residual signal for anomaly detection at the signal conditioning unit. Moreover, complementary current–temperature characteristics are exploited to generate a constant current reference for attack detection at the transducer level. Anomaly detection at the signal conditioning unit and attack detection at the transducer unit make the temperature sensor attack resilient to intentional and unintentional attacks. Simulation results show that our sensor is capable of detecting an under-powering attack and analog Trojan from a significant signal vibration in the constant current reference. Furthermore, the anomaly detection unit detects anomalies at the signal conditioning level from the generated residual signal. The proposed detection system is resilient against any intentional and unintentional attacks, with a detection rate of 97.73%.

High-Performance FET-Based Dopamine-Sensitive Biosensor Platform Based on SOI Substrate

Dopamine is a catecholamine neurotransmitter that plays a significant role in the human central nervous system, even at extremely low concentrations. Several studies have focused on rapid and accurate detection of dopamine levels using field-effect transistor (FET)-based sensors. However, conventional approaches have poor dopamine sensitivity with values <11 mV/log [DA]. Hence, it is necessary to increase the sensitivity of FET-based dopamine sensors. In the present study, we proposed a high-performance dopamine-sensitive biosensor platform based on dual-gate FET on a silicon-on-insulator substrate. This proposed biosensor overcame the limitations of conventional approaches. The biosensor platform consisted of a dual-gate FET transducer unit and a dopamine-sensitive extended gate sensing unit. The capacitive coupling between the top- and bottom-gate of the transducer unit allowed for self-amplification of the dopamine sensitivity, resulting in an increased sensitivity of 373.98 mV/log[DA] from concentrations 10 fM to 1 μM. Therefore, the proposed FET-based dopamine sensor is expected to be widely applied as a highly sensitive and reliable biosensor platform, enabling fast and accurate detection of dopamine levels in various applications such as medical diagnosis and drug development.

Mass-Manufacturable 3D Magnetic Force Sensor for Robotic Grasping and Slip Detection.

The manipulation of delicate objects remains a key challenge in the development of industrial robotic grippers. Magnetic force sensing solutions, which provide the required sense of touch, have been demonstrated in previous work. The sensors feature a magnet embedded within a deformable elastomer, which is mounted on top of a magnetometer chip. A key drawback of these sensors lies in the manufacturing process, which relies on the manual assembly of the magnet-elastomer transducer, impacting both the repeatability of measurements across sensors and the potential for a cost-effective solution through mass-manufacturing. In this paper, a magnetic force sensor solution is presented with an optimized manufacturing process that will facilitate mass production. The elastomer-magnet transducer was fabricated using injection molding, and the assembly of the transducer unit, on top of the magnetometer chip, was achieved using semiconductor manufacturing techniques. The sensor enables robust differential 3D force sensing within a compact footprint (5 mm × 4.4 mm × 4.6 mm). The measurement repeatability of these sensors was characterized over multiple samples and 300,000 loading cycles. This paper also showcases how the 3D high-speed sensing capabilities of these sensors can enable slip detection in industrial grippers.

Fully Transparent and Highly Sensitive pH Sensor Based on an a-IGZO Thin-Film Transistor with Coplanar Dual-Gate on Flexible Polyimide Substrates

In this paper, we propose a fully transparent and flexible high-performance pH sensor based on an amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistor (TFT) transducer with a coplanar dual-gate structure on polyimide substrates. The proposed pH sensor system features a transducer unit consisting of a floating gate (FG), sensing gate (SG), and control gate (CG) on a polyimide (PI), and an extended gate (EG) sensing unit on a separate glass substrate. We designed a capacitive coupling between (SG) and (CG) through the FG of an a-IGZO TFT transducer to contribute to sensitivity amplification. The capacitance ratio (CSG/CCG) increases linearly with the area ratio; therefore, the amplification ratio of the pH sensitivity was easily controlled using the area ratio of SG/CG. The proposed sensor system improved the pH sensitivity by up to 359.28 mV/pH (CSG/CCG = 6.16) at room temperature (300 K), which is significantly larger than the Nernstian limit of 59.14 mV/pH. In addition, the non-ideal behavior, including hysteresis and drift effects, was evaluated to ensure stability and reliability. The amplification of sensitivity based on capacitive coupling was much higher than the increase in the hysteresis voltage and drift rate. Furthermore, we verified the flexibility of the a-IGZO coplanar dual-gate TFT transducer through a bending test, and the electrical properties were maintained without mechanical damage, even after repeated bending. Therefore, the proposed fully transparent and highly sensitive a-IGZO coplanar dual-gate TFT-based pH sensor could be a promising wearable and portable high-performance chemical sensor platform.

Simulation and Optimization of Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer Unit Based on AlN

The relatively low piezoelectric constant of aluminum nitride (AlN) piezoelectric film limits the development and application of the acoustic field performance of AlN-based micromachined ultrasonic transducers; thus, in this study we establish a mid- to low-frequency transducer unit model to address this problem. The transducer operates at 4.5 MHz, and the construction of a clamped structure is first investigated to ensure the feasibility of performance analysis. Secondly, the effectiveness of the optimized upper electrode distribution proposed in this paper in improving the acoustic field radiation of the array element is also compared with the original structure. Finally, the influence of the optimized electrode geometry parameters on the acoustic wave direction is analyzed. The finite element simulations are performed in the COMSOL Multiphysics (COMSOL) software and post-processing results are analyzed. Based on the simulation results, the proposed optimal distribution of the upper electrode makes the radiation beam uniform and symmetrical in the case of both the clamped model and the optimized structure model. In the case of the upper electrode radius of 28 µm, this electrode division operation makes the unit vibration mode switching in the frequency range more moderate. The sound field radiation improvement of the proposed optimized structure model is better than that of the clamped structure.

Muscle Function Obtained with Motion Mode Ultrasound and Surface Electromyography during Core Endurance Exercise

Motion mode (M-mode) ultrasound allows researchers and clinicians to measure the change of muscle thickness across time. Muscle thickness can be measured between fascial borders at a given time point during an exercise. This selected time point produces a one-dimensional image resulting in real-time, live observation of anatomy. Ultrasound used during functional movement can be referred to as dynamic ultrasound; this is feasible and reliable with the use of a linear transducer, elastic belt, and foam block to secure consistent transducer placement. The lateral abdominal wall is commonly investigated using ultrasound due to the overlapping nature of the muscles. Surface electromyography (sEMG) can complement M-mode ultrasound imaging because it measures the electrical representation of muscle activation. There is minimal evidence using M-mode ultrasound and sEMG simultaneously during core exercise. Exercises that challenge the core musculature involve both isometric holds (e.g., side plank), as well as oscillatory extremity movements (e.g., dead bug). In this study, both instruments will be used simultaneously to measure core muscle function during exercise. Ultrasound measurements will be obtained using a linear transducer and ultrasound unit, and sEMG measurements will be acquired from a wireless sEMG system. To make comparisons between participants and exercises, normalization methods using static, exercise starting positions for both instruments will be used. An activation ratio will be used for ultrasound and calculated by dividing the contracted thickness (thickness during a time point of exercise) by the rested (starting position) thickness. Muscle thickness will be measured in centimeters from the superior inferior fascial border to inferior superior fascial border. These methods aim to offer an innovative and practical measurement of muscle function with M-mode ultrasound and sEMG during core endurance exercises.

Prussian Blue/Carbon Nanotube Sensor Spread with Gelatin/Zein Glaze: A User-Friendly Modification for Stable Interference-Free H2O2 Amperometry.

We report the production and characterization of effective amperometric sensors for cathodic hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) detection. The proposed electrodes involve a combination of a H2O2-signaling Prussian Blue (PB)/carbon nanotube (CNT) layer with a glaze of the biopolymers gelatin (top) and zein (beneath) for protection against PB leakage. The sandwich-type sensor was constructed through simple "drop and dry" steps with (1) suspensions of the CNTs in a soluble PB solution, (2) zein in ethanol, and (3) gelatin in water, applied sequentially to the carbon working electrode disk of a screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) platform. The PB in the signaling layer acted as the electrocatalyst for H2O2 reduction at -150 mV vs Ag/AgCl/3 M KCl, enabling cathodic H2O2 amperometry with good target proportionality. Calibration trials confirmed the linearity of the response up to 700 μM (R2 > 0.998), with a sensitivity of 0.425 μA μM-1 cm-2 and a practical detection limit of 1 μM. Quantification of H2O2 in model and real samples with gelatin-zein-PB/CNT-SPCEs had a recovery of close to 100% of the true value. Since they are easily and cheaply made and yield accurate target assessments, gelatin-zein-PB/CNT-SPCEs are an ideal tool for electrochemical H2O2 analyses in human body fluids, health care products, and samples from industries that use H2O2 as a bleach and germicide. Workers with little experience in sensor fabrication and limited funding will particularly benefit from utilization of the proposed H2O2 probes, which as well as being used in H2O2 testing also have a potential application as the transducer unit of oxidase-based biosensors with amperometric H2O2 readout.

Power Generation using Hybrid Energy System for Domestic Purpose

We all are aware that the world is precisely running towards a quest for a substitute energy source. Till today, the maximum power requirement is met with the help of fossil fuels. Anyways the estimates which were made recently have predicted that the usage of the fossil fuels like oil and coal might last only till 2030, and later we will have to switch over to the usage of more efficient sources and emerging technologies. According to current situation the further usage of oil and coal will be replenished and whole world will need to foster for renewable energy source which can satisfy the growing needs of the future generation. For the past few years solar and wind energy have already been trapped and are widely accepted as an alternative source of energy. But in this paper we have planned to concatenate the three outcomes i.e. heat, pressure and sound. Most of the times these three energies are considered as unwanted source of energy and they go unnoticed. With the help of Peltier module, Piezoelectric transducer and sound absorption unit the energies like heat, pressure and noise can be converted into electrical energy respectively. Piezoelectric plate transducer is capable of producing energy using the pressure put on the piezo electric plate. In this paper a footstep piezoelectric plate is used easy to incorporate and even effect cost wise. Peltier module is a thermoelectric device which has the capability of converting the thermal/heat energy into electricity. It primarily works based on the principle of Seeback effect. This device is built using 2 different semiconductor material like p-type and n-type. As the heat emerges and spreads through the material, charge carriers begin to cold side from hot side. The resultant voltage is proportional to the difference in temperature between the layers of the device. As long as there is a difference in temperature the material keeps generating the potential difference. The voltage produced by the entire Peltier module is function of time and the temperature difference. The voltage varies with the change in temperature gradient and time. The sound absorption unit uses sound as an input for producing electric energy, because lot of sound is wasted in our surrounding where in it can used as a source of energy. By using these non-conventional type of energy resources, the generation of power can be achieved with a minimal cost and it will also pave a way to the conservation of the conventional energy source for future needs. This energy thus generated is boosted and stabilized using a DC-DC chopper and later utilized to operate a DC load.

Development and application performance of road spring-type piezoelectric transducer for energy harvesting

Piezoelectric pavement energy transducers have attracted attention because they can directly convert mechanical energy into electric energy, thus enabling environmental protection, energy regeneration, and high energy output. However, existing piezoelectric transducers used in pavements made of piezoelectric ceramics are brittle and have short lives under long-term vehicle loading fatigue. In the present study, to raise the efficiency of energy harvesting, a new road piezoelectric transducer with a specified flexibility was designed and fabricated with two types of structures, plane and spring types, and their output performances were evaluated and compared. The test results showed that at the excitation frequency of 10 Hz and test displacement of 2 mm, the maximum output power of the spring piezoelectric energy harvester reached 14.183 mWmax for a matching resistance of 1 kΩ, and the output power was 2.24 times that of the plane piezoelectric energy harvester. Then, a fatigue test under an excitation frequency of 10 Hz and testing displacement of 2 mm was performed for the durability of the road spring-type piezoelectric transducer unit, and results showed that the piezoelectric transducer has a good durability and meets the general conditions for road engineering. Finally, the road spring-type piezoelectric energy harvester was tested on an actual road. When a pickup truck drove at a speed of 40 km h−1, the output power of the spring piezoelectric energy harvester reached a maximum of 592.77 mWmax for a matching resistance of 3 kΩ. Thus, this spring-type piezoelectric harvester can be ideally applied in road traffic.

Circular synthetic aperture acoustic imaging of spherical targets in cylindrical rod clutter

A model apparatus has been built to demonstrate acoustic imaging of several spherical targets in cylindrical clutter. Reflective ultrasonic tomography imaging was chosen because the medical community, using photo-acoustic tomography imaging, utilizes a similar back-projection imaging algorithm. The experiment involves suspending an ultrasonic transducer unit (resonant frequency 1.0 MHz) in an aquarium filled with water. The transducer (sender-receiver) generates a 5-cycle tone burst. The circular plane array transducer diameter is D = 1.27 cm. Its wavelength is 1.48 mm (using c = 1482 m/s). The target, located 15 cm from the source, consists of two 0.64 cm diameter metal spheres separated by 5 cm. A mechanical structure of thin perforated disks (10 cm diam) comprise a step-motor controlled rotational platform that supports the targets and slender stainless steel cylindrical vertical rods (2 mm diameter, 10 cm long) that serve as the clutter. Received echoes versus time (data sets) were measured at 10° rotation increments of the structure (from 0° to 360°) for back-projecting the 2-D image reflectance of the targets among the clutter (using Mathematica®). The original apparatus and supporting electronics were built by Madeline Bell for her USNA Capstone research (Fall 2020) involving scattering from cylindrical targets.

Validity of various portable devices to measure sit-to-stand velocity and power in older adults

BackgroundMovement velocity and power in a single STS are related to functional performance in older adults. Identifying accessible tools that provide valid measures of STS velocity/power would allow practitioners to evaluate physical function in clinical settings where time, space and finances are limited. Research questionDoes a linear position transducer (LPT), iPhone application (App), and inertial measurement unit (IMU) obtain valid measurements of velocity and power during a single STS compared with 3D motion capture? MethodsTwenty-seven community-dwelling older adults aged ≥60 years completed a single STS test with mean velocity and power simultaneously measured with 3D motion capture, an LPT, IMU and App. Acceptable validity was established if the Pearson correlation coefficient (r) was very high (≥0.7) and bias as a standardised effect size (ES) was small (<0.6). The relationship between STS velocity/power and 30s chair STS performance was also evaluated. ResultsMeasures of STS velocity obtained by the LPT (r = 0.94, ES = −0.21) and App (r = 0.89, ES = −0.19) were very highly valid when compared to 3D motion capture, and were very strongly related to 30s STS performance (r ≥0.74). The LPT (r = 0.87, ES = 0.13) and App (r = 0.74, ES = −0.12) also showed very high correlations and negligible bias for measuring STS power. Data collected by the IMU failed to meet our pre-determined threshold of acceptable validity for STS velocity (r = 0.72, ES = 1.00) or power (r = 0.61, ES = 0.34). SignificanceThe LPT and iPhone App, but not the IMU, are valid tools for measuring STS velocity and power in community-dwelling older adults. Clinicians can use STS velocity obtained by either the LPT or App as a simple and valid proxy for functional status, which could help identify patients at high-risk of incident disability.

Dynamic gamma-ray monitoring at radioprotection levels with extrinsic polymer optical fiber sensors

The dynamic performance of extrinsic gamma-ray sensors at radioprotection levels is studied. The sensors have been fabricated with chemically etched polymer optical fibers covered with an inorganic scintillator powder (Terbium doped Gadolinium Oxysulfide). This scintillator shows a maximum emission peak at 543 nm, therefore only the signal amplitude at this wavelength has been measured with a commercial grade CCD spectrometer. The transducers have been done at the end of both short (1 m) and large fiber patchcords (27 m). Short patchcords are further mechanically spliced to a fiber link 25 m length through an industrial grade connector-less mating sleeve, and therefore can be easily replaced if needed.All tests were run under gamma irradiation from a 137Cs source, the reference isotope for environmental protection. The measured response of the devices is very repeatable and stable, with a percentage standard deviation below 2% when the air kerma rate is above 1 Gy/h. This deviation increases for lower rates. A Limit of Detection of 0.2 Gy/h, with an integration time at the detection stage of 10 s, has been achieved for transducers done in the 1 m length patchcords spliced to the 25 m length fiber link. This integration time can be further reduced when no splice is included between transducer and detection unit. The behavior of the devices is linear with the delivered air kerma rate, and can provide reliable measurements under repeated radiation exposures. This behavior makes the sensors useful to quickly detect the presence of hazardous radioactive materials in accidental leakage scenarios.

Support Vector Machine with Wavelet Decomposition Method for Fault Diagnosis of Tapered Roller Bearings by Modelling Manufacturing Defects

Tapered roller element bearings are generally applied in machines and transmission gearboxes. In manufacturing outer ring, inner ring and the rollers usually suffer damages. It is a challenging task to reveal and classify the defects. This paper presents an efficient method for fault classification by support vector machines. The faults on the bearing parts created by laser beam machine have similar shape and surface topography as the grinding faults from the manufacturing process. Vibration signature is collected by sensitive transducer and high resolution data acquisition unit. A test-rig is constructed to model the circumstances of the operation of the built-in tapered roller bearings. Moreover, test-rig is planned with the aim to mitigate the harmful vibration components from the environment that influence the precision of the vibration measurement. Feature extraction is executed by wavelet decomposition. Decomposition level is determined by FFT considering the structural frequencies of the bearing elements. The proper wavelet is selected by the Energy-to-Shannon Entropy criteria from Daubechies and Symlet wavelet families. The fault classification is done by R Cran software using support vector machine classifiers. Time domain parameters of the vibration signature such as kurtosis, skewness, crest factor and range are provided to the classifier. Classification rates are high enough to ensure the efficiency of the method in all cases in the study.

AGRO SENSORS

Soil nutrient is detected by the use of ISFETs and the corresponding current is obtained from it according to the variation in concentration of the nutrient in soil and their pH. The use of metal oxide coated semiconductors for gas detection is high nowadays. The Ion sensitive field effect transistor has the electrode. This on reaction with the analyst changes its resistance value and corresponding signals are generated and the transducer unit in the sensor gives the varying current output. This could be then processed that is converted to voltage, amplified and then given to a window detector where in the voltage obtained from the sensor could be tested for it be in between two reference voltage levels and these reference voltage levels represent the level of nutrients in the soil either it is deficient, in surplus or in sufficient amounts. This could be used to make the LEDs glow. It proves to be an easy way of observing the soil nutrient content even by an illiterate. The checking of soil nutrient content could be automated and made periodic by the use of microcontroller, the feedback mechanism involving the soil’s nutrient content value as the common input and the ideal or required value as the reference input.

Influência de exercícios de pilates no solo nos músculos estabilizadores lombares em idosas

The practice of regular physical activity is recognized as a strong ally of active aging, healthy, or successful, whose hallmark is the independent and effective performance of activities of daily living. The Pilates Method (MP) has emerged as a good alternative physical activity in older adults with the main objective of strengthening and stretching the muscles simultaneously, raising body awareness. The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of MP on the strength and conductivity of the electrical stimulation of the lumbar paraspinal muscles as well as muscle contraction transversus abdominis (TrA) in older women before and after performing Pilates exercises on the ground. The instruments used were surface electromyography, force transducer and pressure biofeedback unit. Participants were aged 13, who underwent 12 sessions of Pilates exercises on the ground with an average duration of 50 minutes, are reviewed at the end of the intervention protocol. The participants had increased strength and electrical activation of the lumbar paraspinal muscles, as well as increased ability to contract the transversus abdominis muscle. Based on the results obtained we can conclude that there was a significant improvement of strength and electrical conductivity of the stabilizing muscles of the lumbar voluntary and therefore training with MP positively influenced this musculature.

Research of the Design and Simulation of Ultrasonic Focusing System with Phased Array

At present, the most common way of ultrasonic focusing is concave spherical self-focusing, ultrasonic focusing on lens and phased array ultrasonic focusing. Phased array ultrasonic focusing system is made up by multiple independent transducer unit array, according to the specific way and timing, real-time control of different arrays of ultrasonic signal phase. Established the ideal point source consisting of piezoelectric transducer phased array model 4 * 4 by the use of COMSOL, and results got the phased array focused in the simulation experiments.