Sonic Concepts announces PiezoCAD Release 3.0 for Windows, our piezoelectric transducer modeling software package. PiezoCAD was developed by George Keilman of Sonic Concepts, a transducer design consulting firm. PiezoCAD has been distributed for fifteen years, and is currently in use in companies, government laboratories, and universities throughout the United States, Europe, Japan, and around the world.

PiezoCAD uses a chain matrix technique to calculate the overall system characteristics from the electric terminals to the front acoustic port. The user can select piezoelectric material parameters from extensive piezoelectric database tables, including plate, beam, and bar mode elements in ceramic, crystalline, polymer, and composite materials. The user can enter multiple acoustic matching and backing layers from acoustic database tables, as well as load medium characteristics. Thickness, velocity, attenuation, and cross-sectional area can be entered for each layer. Piezoelectric and acoustic material database tables can be updated from within PiezoCAD, or edited directly using Microsoft Access.

On the electrical port, the user can specify a matching network including any combination of series or shunt resistors, inductors, or capacitors; transformers; coaxial cable, and multiple identical piezoelectric layers that are electrically connected in parallel. The user can enter any desired frequency range for the calculations, including calculating transducer response characteristics at higher harmonics.

PiezoCAD output includes a selection of acoustic and electric input immittance functions; transmit and receive power conversion efficiencies; transmit, receive, and pulse-echo transfer functions and time domain waveforms. All calculated results are given in MKS units, and provide quantitative design performance. For example, transmit transfer functions are given in units of Pascals/Volt, where displayed function is the pressure in Pascals at the front face of the transducer per drive volt, versus frequency.

The user can quantitatively assess the transducer response to various transmitted voltage or received pressure waveforms. A tone burst excitation waveform can be specified within PiezoCAD. Alternately, the excitation waveform can be loaded from an external data file that the user creates with their own software.

Pulse-echo calculations allow the user to view the round-trip response of a transducer, including optional attenuation in the load medium. A cursor function is available on all plots, allowing the user to read graphical values directly. The analytic envelope of the pulse is calculated using a Hilbert transform technique and displayed on all time domain waveforms. By clicking on any plot, the user can adjust the amplitude and frequency or time scales as desired.

Calculated results can be output to a file for later use in PiezoCAD. The user can optionally output selected graphical data to a file that is compatible with popular spreadsheet programs.

PiezoCAD graphics or text displays may be copied to the Windows Clipboard. From the Clipboard, the graphics can be pasted into a Windows application program, such as a word processor. The example on the right demonstrates this capability. This PiezoCAD spectrum was copied and pasted into a Microsoft Word document.

PiezoCAD graph data can also be copied and pasted into other programs, such as spreadsheets. The pasted data includes the time or frequency axis and data values.

PiezoCAD is compatible with a wide variety of PC compatible computers running Microsoft Windows XP, 98, and 2000. PiezoCAD supports high-resolution hard copy on Windows-compatible printers.

In summary, PiezoCAD is an excellent tool for rapid iterative transducer design optimization. Please contact Sonic Concepts for pricing. Discounts are available for academic institutions, previous customers, and multiple orders. A demo version is available for $75 plus shipping, and it includes the complete manual. The demo cost can be applied toward the purchase price.

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