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Novel horn designs for power ultrasonics

Conference Paper in Proceedings of the IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium · September 2004

DOI: 10.1109/ULTSYM.2004.1418291 · Source: IEEE Xplore

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 Novel Horn Designs for Power Ultrasonics
S. Sherrit, M.Badescu, X. Bao, Y. Bar-Cohen, 2. Chang,
Jet Propulsion Laboratov,
Calfornia hsfitute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
email: ssherrit@jpl.nasa.gov

Ahslroct-Ultrasonic horns are used in a variety of of a piezoelectric and acoustic elements as discussed by
industrial and medical applications. At JPL a rock-samplingtool Mason[l],[2] was reported previously[3]. This particular
based on an ultrasonic horn was developed to drill, abrade and standard stepped horn [4] design was found to have a
core rock samples including hard basalts. This device is an impact resonance at 2 1.5 kHz and the free tip velocity at resonance
device, which uses ultrasonic vjbratlons that occur at the horn tip was determined to be linear with respect to the applid voltage
to produce a sonic resonance with the aid of a loosely connected
and ranged from 1 to 10 rds depending on the acoustic load.
mass. Although standard horns are found in many current
industrial designs they suffer from a few key limitations when The vibrations of the horn tip excite the fiee mass,
used for USDC applications. Manufacturing a horn requim which resonates between the horn tip and the top of the drill
turning down stock material (e.& Titanium) from the larger outer
diameter to the horn tip diameter, and this process is both time stem at frequency of the order of 1000 Hz depending on the
consuming and wasteful. In this paper, we present novel horn axial force. Acoustic energy in the free mass resonator is
designs that are specifically designed for impact applications as transferred to the top of the drill stem and propagates to the
the USDC. One such design addressed the excasive length that is bithock interface where the rock is excited past its ultimate
involved with the use of the horn limiting its applications when strain and fractures. A complete model of this design was
system dimensions are constrained. For this purpose, a folded recently published [5j which predicted the drilling rates as a
horn design was conceived that reduces the overall length of the
resonator (physical length) but maintains or increases the acoustic
function of the drive power. In order to increase the
length. Initial experiments with horns having such P design performance of the h l l and make the design more compact we
indicate that the tip displacement can be further adjusted by have investigated the “dog-bone” and “folded” horn designs.
phasing the bending displacements and the extensional Schematic diagrams of these novel horn designs are shown in
displacements. Another conceived horn design i s the “dog bone” Figure 2.
horn that uses an end mass on the horn tip i o increase the impact
efficiency of the horn. In this paper, the experimental resufts for
these novel born designs are presented and compared to the
results predicted by theory.
Keywords; piezoelectric, ultrasonic horn, drilling, high power

I. INTRODUCTION

A variety of industrial applications exist where power

ultrasonic eIements such as the ultrasonic horn are used. These
include the Automotive, Food Preparation, Medical, Textile
and Material Joining and Fabrication Industries. The standard
transducer used in these devices consists of three main parts,
the backing, the piezoelectric elements and the horn. The
horn acts as a strain amplifier and for a stepped horn the strain Figure 1. Photograph and Schematic of the UltrasonidSonic DrillerlCorer.
amplification is a function of the square of the diameter ratio.
The horn length primarily determines the frequency of
resonance and the level of amplification at the resonance is 11. FOLDED HORNS
proportional to the transducer mechanical Q, which is a
hnction of the attenuation of the horn material and radiation In many applications it would be useful to reduce the
damping. resonance frequency which generally requires the use of longer
horns. Though the horn can be of the order of fractions of
A drillinglcoring device was developed at JPL and meters long, in many applications size is of a premium for
Cybersonics Inc. that is based on the ultrasonic horn and a space applications. In addition, manufacturing a horn such as
schematic of the ultrasonidsonic drillerkorer (USDC)is shown shown in Figure 1 requires the turning down of the stock
in Figure 1 along with a photograph of a device operating while
titanium from the Iarger outer diameter to the horn tip diameter,
being held by the power cord. The device consists of three which is both time consuming and wasteful. In the following
main parts; an ultrasonic actuator, a free mass and a drill stem. section we present our analysis on a variety of new horn
Circuit analysis of the actuator based on the equivalent circuit
designs and compare the results to initial experimental thickness increased. In simulations showing the displacements
measurements tip displacement was also shown to increase as the fold
thickness decreased due to an increase in bending

stack
and
backing bolt
"dog-bone"horn
I b I

stack
Yolded" horn

-
I
i displacements.

Figure 3. An ANSYS FEM ou@ut using an axis-symmetric mesh of the a)

regular stepped horn, b) inverted stepped horn, c) inverted stepped horn with 1
fold and d) the inverted stepped horn with 2 folds.

Table 1. A tist o f the resonance frequencies for the various horn types is
Figure 2. A "dog-boiic" IumItop) and an invened stepped horn with three shown in W z . Acoustic length and CMSS sectional area i s kept constant
steps( bottom). to first order. The frequency i s also shown as a function of the thickness
of the fold.
In a folded horn as is shown in Figure 2 the tip
displacement can be further adjusted by including bending
displacements. By adjusting the fold thickness one can
increase or decrease the bending contributions to the tip Resonance
displacement. This gives transducer designers another degree Horn Type Frequency
of freedom in the horn design in addition to the number of ( k W
folds. The inverted horn is similar to the standard horn
however the horn tip is a tube rather than a solid rod. In the Regular R 18.3
doubly folded horn the horn starts out as an inverted horn with
Inverted no folds IFo 18.3
the same area ratio. (cross sectional area of the she11 is the same
as the cross sectional area o f the horn tip of Figure 1.) At Inverted one folds IF,(2 mthick fold) 14.7
approximately 1/3 the length of the standard horn the shell is
folded back towards the base and the thickness of this length of Inverted one folds IF, (4m m thick fold) 16.0
shell i s adjusted to maintain the same area ratio. Finally as the Inverted one folds IF,(6 m m thick fold) 16.0
horn approaches the base it is turned once again to form a solid
tip. In order to investigate the one-dimensional model a series Inverted two folds IF2(2 mrn thick fold) 14.1
of FEM modal (ANSYS161) and harmonic simulations were Inverted two fdds IF2(4 m m thick fold) 16.2
performed on inverted, single and double folded horns. An
axis-symmetric view of the models is shown in Figure 3. The Inverted two folds IF2(6mm thick fold) 16.4
inverted and folded horns are designed to keep the acoustic
length and the cross sectional areas the same as those for the
standard horn. It should be noted that we have shown only The FEM resuPs on the foIded horn displayed a variety of
inverted folded horns however one can visualize regular folded behaviors including extension in the inner and outer sections as
horns and combinations of the two folded horn types connected well as the midsection of the horn. The fold width was found
mechanically in series. The axis of rotation runs vertically on to affect the resonance hquency of the device below a few
the left side of the devices shown. Table 1 lists the horn type millimeters, which was iikely due to bending at the fold. This
and the I tength extensional resonance Frequency determined
5' suggested that the fold thickness can be used to fine-tune the
from the ANSYS modal analysis. The data shows an overall resonance of the device. In order to test the validity of the
reduction of the resonance frequency as folds are added, The FEM results a folded horn was fabricated a5 shown in Figure 4.
resonance frequency was also shown to increase as the fold It was apparent from the solid models that manufacturing a
horn as is shown in Figure 3c and 3d from titanium could not The impedance spectrum of the folded horn is shown in
be, easily accomplished using standard manufacturing Figure 5. The mechanical Q of the folded horn was a factor of
techniques and the horn shown in Figure 4 was fabricated in ten beiow the standard straight horn. This had a detrimental
two parts using EDM. effect on the displacement measured at the tip of the folded
horn. It was also a factor of IO roughly smaller (10 microns as
compared to > 100) than the straight horn. Upon closer
inspection of this folded horn design it was determined that the

nD
screw threads connecting the base plate of the horn to the outer
walls of the horn were the likeIy source of the increased
dissipation of energy and reduction of resonance. Another
design without screw threads that can be manufactured quite
easily, which we intend to investigate was reported earlier[7].

111. IMPACT HORNS

-.*.
The USDC is an impact device which converts
ultrasonic or sonic energy to Iower frequency pulses. The
device efficiency is related to the amplitude and the momentum
transfer of the tip to the free mass which is a function of the
horn design and impact area. The interaction time of the tip
with the free mass is limited to 10's of microseconds so only
the first few centimeters of the horn experience the reaction
force while the free mass is in contact. This suggests that for
an impact device we may increase the amplitude of the device
without reducing the effective interaction mass by increasing
the horn diameter only at the horn tip. We studied 5 different
horn designs including: the conventional horn with a cross-
section area reduction, a horn without cross-section area
reduction, a horn with a neck section located symmetrically in
Figure4. A Solidworks assembly drawing of' the (a) folded horn.
piezoelectric stack actualor. and backing. (b) Cross seaion of the folded horn.
the middle, a horn with a neck located cioser to the horn tip,
c) A photosraph of assembled folded horn compared to standard stepped horn. and a horn with a neck located closer to the piezoelectric st&.
The five designs of the ultrasonic horn are shown in Figure 6
below for a low frequency actuator we are building for deep
dri Iling.
0.1

0.01

0.001
8
a
-5
u
0.0001

z
8 O.[HHIOI

0 . m 1

O.MxKwOl-( , , , ,
10 20 M 40 50

Figure 5. The impedance spectra of the folded horn compared to the standard Figure 6. The 5 designs o f ultrasonic horn studied: a) Conventional, b) Neck
model. In order to match the amplitude o f the fundamental peak the quality of at middle span of horn. c)Neck moved down 20 mm, d)Neck moved up 20
the horn material had to be reduced by a factor o f IO. The reduced resonance mm, e) No neck.
amplitude in tlw impedance values for the folded horn is the result of the
lower Q of the device. which is likely caused by poor energy transfer across Note that the five horns are not of the same scaIe due to the
the screw threads in the base
requirement that the overall length be adjusted to keep the
neutral plane at the piezoelectrichorn boundary. The actual After performing the modal analysis a harmonic
size of the piezoelectric stack is the same for each horn. A analysis was performed by exciting the piezoelectric stack with
finite element analysis was performed by using the 200-volt peak-to-peak electric field at the resonance fiequency.
commercially available code ANSYS [ 6 ] . In this high power The harmonic analysis provides the maximum horn tip
ultrasonic application, the actuator is designed and fabricated to displacement data. The results from the modal and the
have high mechanical Q, and is operated at or near its first harmonic analysis are shown in Table 2. The results suggested
longitudinal resonance frequency. Using modal analysis a specific benefit of the horn with a neck in the middle and the
allowed us to isolate this resonance mode. The anti-resonance results were then used in a full model of the USDC to
frequency of the same mode was derived too, and together with determine the power delivered versus the impact momentum
the resonance frequency the electro-mechanical coupling factor delivered to the rock and the results are shown in Figure 7. The
was theoretically calculated. The modal analysis is also very results show that both the maximum momentum and the power
useful in determining the neutral plane of the vibration of the at each momentum level are greater for the “dog-bone’’ horn
actuator. with the neck located symmetrically in the middle.
Table 2. Results of modal and harmonic analysis (Q=lOOO)

Honi Horn Resonance Anti- Coupling Max IV. CONCLUSIONS

Type
.. length (Hz) Resonance Factor Displacement
(1A) (W (m)
Standard 250 5314 5726 0.372 0.209 A folded horn was designed and modeled for space
Neckat 200 5473 5947 0.391 0.185 applications where reduction of volume and mass is of prime
middle I importance. These devices were tested and found to compare
Neckup I 175 I 5421 I 5916 I 0.400 I 0.185
favorably to the theory. It was shown that both extensional
0.209 and bending modes could be added to produce a significant tip
down 20 displacement and the primary feature controlling this was the
0.472 0.133
fold thickness. In order to increase the drilling efficiency, a
“dog-bone” horn was studied to increase the impact
momentum of the USDC a’ctuator and preliminary modeling
It is desirable to have the neutral plane coincident with the suggest a further increase in the USDC efficiency is possible
location where the USDC is mounted to the structure of, say, a with this configuration due to the resultant increase in
rover or a robotic arm. Otherwise, the whole structure will momentum transfer to the bithock interface.
interact with the actuator and the interaction may significantly
change the design resonance mode of the isolated USDC.
Consequently, some energy will be lost dissipating into the ACKNOWLEDGMENT
whole structure and the efficiency of USDC will go down.
The research at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a division
of the California Institute of Technology, was carried out
Power VS Momentum (Free Mass 500g) under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration.
REFERENCES

[ 11 W.P. Mason, Electromechanical Transducers and Wave Filters, Princeton,

NJ, Van Nostrand, 1948
[2] W.P. Mason, Phvsical Acoustics and the Properties of Solids, D. Van
Nostrand Co., Princeton, NJ, 1958
[3]S. Sherrit, B.P. Dolgin, Y. Bar-Cohen, D. Pal, J. Kroh, T. Peterson
“Modeling of Horns for SonicLJltrasonic Applications,” Proceedings of the
IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium, Lake Tahoe, CA, October 1999,
pp. 647-651
[4] J. F. Belford, “the Stepped Horn”, Proceeding of the National Electronics
Conference, 16, Chicago, pp. 814-822, 1960
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
[5]X. Bao, Y. Bar-Cohen, Z . Cheng, B.P. Dolgin, S. Sherrit, D.S. Pal, S. Du,
Momentum Greater Than (N-s)
T. Peterson, “Modeling and Computer Simulation of the Ultrasonic/Sonic
Figure 7. Power as a function of the maximum momentum transfer for the Driller/Corer (USDC)”, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and
various horn designs. Frequency Control, 50, pp. 1147-1160, Sept. 2003
[GIANSYS Inc. www.ansys.com
Experiments show that if the mounting point is not [7]S. Sherrit, S.A. Askins, M. Gradziol, B.P. Dolgin, X. Bao, Z . Chang, and
designed to be located at the neutral plane, the mounting does Y. Bar-Cohen, “Novel Horn Designs for Ultrasonic/Sonic Cleaning Welding,
Soldering, Cutting and Drilling,” Paper 4701-34, Proceedings of the SPIE
not last and screws or bolts holding the structure to the USDC Smart Structures and Materials Symposium, San Diego, CA, March 17-19,
may thread out or break. Therefore for each design of the 2002
ultrasonic horn, the length of the horn is adjusted to align the
neutral plane and the mounting point.

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