Ewald Benes

General one‐dimensional treatment of the layered piezoelectric resonator with two electrodes

A general transfer matrix description of arbitrarily oriented layered piezoelectric structures is presented. Except for the restriction to two electrodes, it is the most general one‐dimensional treatment possible. The description is derived as an exact solution of the fundamental differential equations and the boundary conditions at the terminating surfaces and at the electrical port. It allows the calculation of the electrical admittance appearing between the electrodes for any frequency, as well as the determination of the entire resonance frequency spectrum using only simple matrix multiplications. It covers the general case of multimode excitations and its coupling results. Thus it is not restricted to a single displacement direction and can be used for the rigorous analysis of layered structures containing, e.g., doubly rotated Y‐cut quartz crystals.

Ultrasonic separation of suspended particles

The forces on suspended particles in acoustic fields are reviewed briefly and the theoretical modelling of ultrasonic separators based on piezoelectrically excited layered resonators is described. Two flow-through resonator chamber concepts for ultrasonic particle (bio-cell) separation are investigated: (a) the coagulation or sedimentation approach, (b) the so-called h-shaped ultrasonic separator. The h-shaped ultrasonic separator is analysed by combining for the first time the mathematical modelling of the laminar flow with the acoustic force based velocity field of the particles relative to the suspension medium. This allows a complete modelling of the resonators particle separation performance. Examples for separation chamber designs optimized by use of the mathematical model are presented and the calculated particle traces in the h-resonator are shown and compared with experimental results. For direct comparison of different ultrasonic flow through separator concepts a separation performance figure is introduced and its value is given for the two investigated separator concepts for the sample suspensions of polystyrene spheres, yeast and spirulina cells in (salt) water. The presented results are of importance for the state of the art design of acoustic cell filters for perfusion type bioreactors, as recently launched at the biotechnology market, as well as for the ultrasonic separation of plant (algae) cells under low gravity conditions, where the sedimentation concept fails.

Comparison between BAW and SAW sensor principles

A comparison is given between piezoelectrically excited bulk acoustic wave (BAW) and surface acoustic wave (SAW) elements with respect to their primary sensitivity functions and principal capabilities for sensor applications. The importance of mode purity for high dynamic range sensors is emphasized. Characteristic sensor examples are reviewed, and the special demands on the electronics for BAW and SAW elements in the sensor field are described (e.g., cable problem, wireless SAW sensors). For a fair evaluation, a performance figure, SQ, defined as the product of reduced sensitivity S and resonator Q-value, is introduced. The potential of alternative piezoelectric materials for future sensor developments is discussed briefly.

Piezoelectric resonator with acoustic reflectors

A piezoelectric resonator, particularly for pressure, acceleration, temperature and load transducers, consisting of a resonator core having holding discs on its opposite sides, said holding discs being formed of solid body layers, said layers consisting alternatively of materials having strongly different acoustic impedance for unit cross-sectional area.

Layered piezoelectric resonators with an arbitrary number of electrodes (general one‐dimensional treatment)

A general transfer matrix description for one‐dimensional layered structures consisting of piezoelectric and nonpiezoelectric anisotropic layers of arbitrary number is used to calculate the electrical admittance matrix for such resonators with N electrodes. The calculation is done in detail for linearly stacked resonators with two free surfaces as well as for ring resonators with a closed acoustical path. Experimental and theoretical results are given and compared for a ring resonator with two piezoelectric layers excited by four electrodes. Such a configuration can be used to generate unidirectional resonant waves.

A computer-controlled system for the measurement of complete admittance spectra of piezoelectric resonators

A measurement system for the characterisation of the electrical properties of piezoelectric resonators is presented. Admittance of the resonator is measured at successive frequencies controlled by an algorithm which uses small frequency steps when a resonance is found, and large steps between the resonances. During the measurement, characteristic frequencies are marked for each resonance. Further evaluation of the data is done by a least-squares fit, which yields the parameters of the equivalent circuit for each resonance in closed form.

Viability of plant cell suspensions exposed to homogeneous ultrasonic fields of different energy density and wave type.

Exposure of Petunia hybrida cell suspensions to ultrasound at a frequency of 2.43 MHz in a standing wave field at an energy density of 70 Jm-3 (pressure amplitude of 0.78 MPa) decreased their mean viability to 35% after 20 min of sonication. A comparison of propagating wave and standing wave treatments at equal frequency (2.15 MHz) and energy density (8.5 Jm-3) showed, in the first case, a rapid decline in mean viability of cells (to 30% after 10 min of sonication) and, in the second case, a retaining of the initial viability (95%), respectively. Cells sonicated 4 days after subculture were more sensitive than cells sonicated 2 or 6 days after transfer to new culture medium. It was concluded that cellular viability depends primarily on the acoustic energy density, the exposure time, and the mechanical properties of the cells determined by age. As a consequence of the trapping of cells in the anti-node planes of the standing wave, propagating wave fields reduced cellular viability compared with standing wave fields at equal energy density.

Viscosity sensor utilizing a piezoelectric thickness shear sandwich resonator

This paper describes a novel quartz crystal sensor for measurement of the density-viscosity product of Newtonian liquids. The sensor element consists of two piano-convex AT-cut quartz crystals vibrating in a thickness-shear mode with the liquid sample in between. This special set-up allows suppression of disturbing resonances in the liquid layer. Such resonances are generated in the common single-plate arrangements due to compressional waves caused by spurious out-of-plane displacements of the shear vibrating finite plate. The primary measurands of the sensor are the fundamental resonance frequency and the associated resonance Q-value, which are influenced by the viscously entrained liquid contacting the quartz surface. The sensor allows the measurement of samples with viscosities from almost zero (air!) up to 200 cP with a sample volume of 130 /spl mu/l.

Motional capacitance of layered piezoelectric thickness-mode resonators

The Butterworth-Van Dyke equivalent circuit for description of the electrical behavior of piezoelectric bulk resonators is considered. The motional capacitance, C/sub 1/, in the circuit characterizes the strength of piezoelectric excitability of a vibration mode. For layered one-dimensional (1-D) structures this parameter can be calculated from the admittance given by the transfer matrix description of H. Nowotny and E. Benes (1987). Introducing the equivalent area of a vibration mode, the calculation is generalized for the three-dimensional (3-D) case of thickness-mode vibration amplitudes varying only slowly in the lateral directions. Detailed formulae are given for the case of singly rotated quartz crystals or ultrasonic transducers with additional layers on one or two sides. Good agreement of the calculated C/sub 1/ with experimental data is shown for mass-loaded planoconvex AT-cut quartz crystals.<<ETX>>

Ultrasound affects distribution of plasminogen and tissuetype plasminogen activator in whole blood clots in vitro

Ultrasound of 2 MHz frequency and 1.2 W/cm(2) acoustic intensity was applied to examine the effect of sonication on recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator (rt-PA)-induced thrombolysis as well as on the distribution of plasminogen and t-PA within whole blood clots in vitro. Thrombolysis was evaluated quantitatively by measuring clot weight reduction and the level of fibrin degradation product D-dimer (FDP-DD) in the supernatant. Weight reduction in the group of clots treated both with ultrasound and rt-PA was 35.2% +/-6.9% which is significantly higher (p<0.0001) than in the group of clots treated with rt-PA only (19.9% +/-4.3%). FDP-DD level in the supernatants of the group treated with ultrasound and rt-PA increased sevenfold compared to the group treated with rt-PA alone, (14895 +/-2513 ng/ml vs. 2364 +/-725 ng/ml). Localization of fibrinolytic components within the clots was accomplished by using gel-entrapping technique and immunohistochemistry. Spatial distributions of t-PA and plasminogen showed clearly that ultrasound promoted the penetration of rt-PA into thrombi significantly (p<0.0001), and broadened the zone of lysis from 8.9 +/-2.6 microm to 21.2 +/-7.2 microm. We speculate that ultrasound enhances thrombolysis by affecting the distribution of rt-PA within the clot.