Spherical acoustic transducer

Claim 2

An acoustic transducer comprising: a spherical shell formed from electromechanically active material; a plurality of electrodes attached to the shell outer surface and regularly spaced over equal area segments thereof; an electrode connected to the shell inner surface to provide a common voltage reference point; and combining means coupling the outer electrodes and the inner electrode for generating at least one dipole voltage upon vibration of the spherical shell.

Claim 3

An acoustic transducer according to claim 1, in which the combining means generates n orthogonally phased dipole voltages and an omnidirectional pattern voltage upon vibration of the spherical shell.

Claim 4

An acoustic transducer comprising: a spherical shell formed from electromechanically active material; a plurality of electrodes attached to the shell outer surface and evenly distributed thereover for detecting the electrical manifestations of radial mode and circumferential mode vibration inducible in the spherical shell; an electrode attached to the shell inner surface for providing a common voltage reference point; and combining means coupling the outer electrodes and the inner electrode for generating at least two orthogonally phased dipole voltages upon vibration of the spherical shell.

Claim 5

An acoustic transducer comprising: a spherical shell formed from electromechanically active material; a plurality of electrodes attached to the shell outer surface and evenly distributed thereover for detecting the electrical manifestations of radial mode and circumferential mode vibration inducible in the spherical shell; an electrode attached to the shell inner surface for providing a common voltage reference point; and combining means coupling the outer electrodes and the inner electrode for generating at least two orthogonally phased dipole voltages upon vibration of the spherical shell.

Claim 6

An acoustic transducer comprising: a spherical shell formed from electromechanically active material and having its elemental surface area boundaries joined at a common metallic locus, the metallic locus serving as a common voltage reference line; a plurality of electrodes attached to the shell outer surface and regularly spaced over equal area segments thereof; and combining means coupling the electrodes and the metallic locus for generating an output dipole voltage upon vibration of the spherical shell.

Claim 7

An acoustic transducer comprising: a spherical shell formed from electromechanically active material and having its elemental surface area boundaries joined at a common metallic locus, the metallic locus serving as a common voltage reference line; a plurality of electrodes attached to the shell outer surface and regularly spaced over equal area segments thereof; and combining means coupling the electrodes and the metallic locus for generating an output dipole voltage upon vibration of the spherical shell.

Claim 8

An acoustic transducer according to claim 4, wherein the elemental surface areas form hemispheres.

Claim 9

An acoustic transducer comprising: a spherical shell formed from electromechanically active material and divided into a plurality of elemental surface areas; a plurality of electrodes attached to the shell outer surface and distributed such that a pair of electrically insulated electrodes is assigned to each elemental area, one electrode of each pair serving as a reference voltage point thereof; a common electrode attached to the shell inner surface for maintaining a substantially radial electric field; and combining means coupling the electrode pairs for generating a dipole voltage upon vibration of the spherical shell.

Claim 10

An acoustic transducer comprising: a spherical shell formed from electromechanically active material and divided into a plurality of elemental surface areas; a plurality of electrodes attached to the shell outer surface and distributed such that a pair of electrically insulated electrodes is assigned to each elemental area, one electrode of each pair serving as a reference voltage point thereof; a common electrode attached to the shell inner surface for maintaining a substantially radial electric field; and combining means coupling the electrode pairs for generating a dipole voltage upon vibration of the spherical shell.

Claim 11

An acoustic transducer according to claim 6, wherein the plurality of elemental surface areas consists of octant segments.

Claim 12

An acoustic transducer according to claim 6, wherein the common electrode reduces the inter-electrode capacitance between each surface electrode pair.

Claim 13

An acoustic transducer according to claim 6, wherein the reference voltage point electrode of each pair is connected together to form a common ground.

Claim 14

An acoustic transducer according to claim 6, wherein the reference voltage point electrodes of each pair are connected in predetermined connectable groups.

Claim 15

An acoustic transducer according to claim 6, wherein the transducer includes means for applying a positive biasing voltage to the remaining electrode of each pair.

Claim 16

An acoustic transducer according to claim 6, wherein the electromechanically active material is selected from the group of piezoelectric material.

Claim 17

An acoustic transducer according to claim 6, wherein the electromechanically active material is selected from the group of magnetostrictive materials.

Claim 18

An acoustic system comprising: a transducer body comprising a shell having an outer radiating surface curved about a plurality of mutually orthogonal axes and an inner surface; a plurality of electrical means coUpled respectively to different regions of at least one of said surfaces of said body; each of said regions extending for a sufficient distance to provide for substantial curvature along said surface in all directions; means for coupling a voltage reference to the other of said surfaces; signal combining means; and means for coupling different phase signals between said combining means and said plurality of electrical means coupled to said body.

Claim 19

An acoustic system comprising: a transducer body comprising a shell having an outer radiating surface curved about a plurality of mutually orthogonal axes and an inner surface; a plurality of electrical means coUpled respectively to different regions of at least one of said surfaces of said body; each of said regions extending for a sufficient distance to provide for substantial curvature along said surface in all directions; means for coupling a voltage reference to the other of said surfaces; signal combining means; and means for coupling different phase signals between said combining means and said plurality of electrical means coupled to said body.

Claim 20

The system in accordance with claim 14 in which said combining means are coupled with said plurality of electrical means coupled respectively to different regions of said body in a format which generates at least a plurality of radiation patterns along different axes.

Claim 21

The system in accordance with claim 14 in which the combining means generate an orthogonally phased dipole voltage and an omnidirectional pattern voltage.

Claim 22

The system in accordance with claim 15 in which at least a plurality of said radiation patterns are directive.