Westinghouse Electric Corporation

USA As Represented by Secretary of the Navy

Charles H Jones

John H Thompson

George R Douglas

John W Kesner

Milton S Gottlieb

George A Gilmour

Dale D Skinner

John W Coltman

An array of transducer elements receives energy from a target or targets in a field of view and operates on the transducer outputs to provide a plurality of different levels of shading. The most useful portion of the field pattern is selected and combined with other most useful portions of other field patterns into a single composite display which results in one or more relatively narrow lobes, indicating targets, and without the presentation of side lobes which may be masking targets.

Target detection system

A transducer assembly which includes a plurality of staves releasably arranged around the periphery of a torpedo. Each stave includes a transducer backing member such as foam polyurethane to simulate an air backing, and a solid acoustically transparent transducer support member, such as polyurethane, disposed in front of it. A curved reflector made up of a plurality of sheets of onionskin paper is positioned between, and compressed by, the backing and transducer support members. A plurality of transducer active elements is arranged vertically within the transducer support member with the arrangement imparting a certain desired directivity pattern to receiving beams associated with such apparatus.

Transducer assembly

A sonar system which insonifies a target area in a plurality of distinct and separated insonified regions as a result of an acoustic transmission and thereafter fills in the blank regions upon subsequent transmissions, with each transmission always leaving a space between insonified regions, which is filled in by a subsequent transmission or transmissions.

Interlaced sonar system

A passive sonar system which forms multiple receiver beams for detection of possible targets. The transducer array for the system includes a plurality of pairs of transducers, the transducers of each pair lying along a generally radial line emanating from a central point. The output signal from the outer transducer of each pair is delayed by 90.degree. or .lambda./4C relative to the inner transducer, and the delayed signal is combined with the output signal from the other transducer of the pair in a summing amplifier so that only one signal per transducer pair need be sampled by a multiplexer for transmission via a coaxial cable to beamformer apparatus. The concept is applicable to groups of transducers with more than just a pair, i.e., with three or more transducers. Appropriate additional delays are provided with all of the output signals and delayed output signals of a group being received by a single summing amplifier.

Sonar apparatus

A conical acoustic lens in conjunction with a ring of transducer elements located on a circle disposed above the lens is utilized to form a plurality of radial beams for imaging a target area beneath the apparatus. The transducers may occupy the fully 360.degree. of the circle or a sector less than 360.degree. in which the case the apparatus may be rotated to give full 360.degree. coverage.

Wide angle acoustic camera

A passive ranging system is disclosed wherein the transducer array has its eam pattern modulated so as to match the arrival angles of the different wave fronts arriving at the array from various target distances. The beams are formed by orientating a multiplicity of readout arms at appropriate angles with respect to a recording medium which has the individual signals detected by each transducer of the array recorded thereon in different horizontal tracks. The readout arms thus simultaneously scan all of the signals associated with the arrival angles for a particular range and produce a signal whose amplitude is a measure of the probability of a target at this range.

Sonar ranging system

A side looking sonar system having a transducer made up of a plurality of active transducer element sections lying along a line and wherein the element sections are relatively phased to provide for all range focusing and multiple beam formation. The element sections are longer in the middle of the transducer and reduce in length toward the ends of the transducer. In one case the line is an arc lying in a plane, with the plane having a certain depression angle.

Side looking sonar apparatus

1. A transducer for translating compressional waves in a liquid medium into lectrical waves in an electric circuit and vice versa comprising an elongated transducer element having a spherically concave active face disposed with its smaller dimension between two circles of latitude spaced apart in a hemisphere a distance substantially equal to the wavelength in the liquid medium of a predetermined operating frequency.

Electro-acoustic transducer with line focus

A detector of acoustic emissions from a structure includes a piezoelectric element responsive to both compressional wave energy and to shear wave energy from any direction so that the source of the acoustic emission may be determined.

Piezoelectric acoustic emission instrumentation

Acoustic imaging system wherein signals from a target of interest impinge upon a set of receiving transducers. The transducer signals are processed and form the input signals to a transparent delay line through which is projected coherent light from a laser. Suitable optics and detectors are positioned relative to the projected laser beam so as to produce an output signal that is applied to a CRT to display a range profile or contour map of the target area.

Underwater imaging system

An energy imaging system providing high resolution at the center of the field of view and reduced resolution as a function of the distance away from the center.

Imaging system

The invention provides a transducer for use with a conical reflector in which the transducer comprises a frusto-conical radiating member that is coaxially positioned with respect to the reflector member. The half angles of the radiating member and reflectors are related such that every ray from a selected point of interest on the axis that is reflected from the reflector cone to the active surface of the radiating member intersects substantially normally to the active surface. Where the energy is directed to a point of interest distant from the reflector, the half angles are related in accordance with the formula ##EQU1## ; AND, WHERE THE POINT OF INTEREST IS ON THE AXIS, THE HALF ANGLES ARE RELATED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FORMULA ##EQU2## where .phi. = CONICAL REFLECTOR HALF ANGLE;

Conical transducer and reflector apparatus

A large depth-of-field arc-transducer for use in sonar systems is provided in which at least one transducer element is positioned to lie along the arc of a circle of radius R. The active faces of the transducer elements are directed to a point that lies on a line normal to the plane of the arc and passes through the center thereof. The radius R is equal to between 0.3 to 0.6 Rs and, preferably about 0.5 Rs, where Rs is the distance from said point to the midpoint of the arc-transducer. An improved depth-of-field sonar system is provided where at least two arc-transducers are used having different radii, and preferably, where each radius R is equal to between 0.3 to 0.6 Rs.

Growing community of inventors

Pasadena, MD, United States of America

Charles H Jones