Application Cases

When it is necessary to detect and diagnose internal defects in structures or materials without causing any damage, a technique known as non-destructive testing (NDT) is employed. This method leverages the excellent propagation characteristics of ultrasonic waves in materials, allowing for rapid detection of internal defects by emitting ultrasonic waves and analyzing the returning echoes.

Ultrasonic non-destructive testing finds applications across various industrial fields, such as material defect detection, structural health monitoring, and pressure vessel inspection. To generate ultrasonic waves and drive the ultrasonic transducer, a power amplifier with sufficient frequency and voltage capability is essential. The ATA-2041 high-voltage amplifier is well-suited for this purpose, offering a bandwidth of (-3 dB) DC to 500 kHz and a voltage of up to 400 Vp-p (±200 Vp), enabling it to drive high-voltage loads effectively.

Today, Aigtek Electronics will share some classic application cases of the ATA-2041 high-voltage amplifier in the field of material non-destructive testing. We hope this valuable information will provide assistance and inspiration for your testing projects.

Case 1: Application of ATA-2041 High-Voltage Amplifier in Impact Damage Detection Technology for Composite Materials

Test Equipment Used:
ATA-2041 high-voltage amplifier, PZT piezoelectric wafer, stacked piezoelectric ceramics, vibration exciter, signal generator, multifunctional testing instrument, etc.

Experiment Overview:
Nonlinear vibration-acoustic modulation technology introduces two continuous sinusoidal signals of different frequencies into a structure—a low-frequency vibration signal and a high-frequency ultrasonic signal. When the structure is intact, the received signal spectrum contains only the two input frequency components. However, when a defect exists in the structure, the applied low-frequency vibration causes repeated opening and closing of the defect's contact interface, resulting in a modulation effect between the low-frequency vibration and high-frequency ultrasonic wave. This leads to additional components such as modulation sidebands and higher-order harmonics in the received signal. By analyzing the spectral components of the received signal, the presence of defects in the structure can be determined. The principle of nonlinear vibration-acoustic modulation detection is illustrated below:

According to the vibration-acoustic modulation principle, when a defect exists in the structure, the low-frequency vibration and high-frequency ultrasonic signal interact to produce modulation sidebands. The order and amplitude of these sidebands depend on the modulation intensity and the extent of structural damage.

Case 2: Application of ATA-2041 High-Voltage Amplifier in Non-Destructive Hardness Detection of Pears Based on Acoustic Vibration Response Method

Test Equipment Used:
Pears, test bench, piezoelectric beam sensor, ATA-2041 high-voltage amplifier, vibration control and dynamic signal acquisition analyzer, computer, etc.

Experiment Overview:
This study established a detection device using a piezoelectric beam sensor for signal excitation and sensing. The stability of the device's signal detection was analyzed, and parameters such as the resonance frequency and acoustic velocity of the pears were extracted to evaluate their hardness. These response parameters were then subjected to linear regression analysis with the Magness-Taylor (M-T) puncture method for hardness measurement to develop a hardness detection model for pears. The model was driven by a high-voltage amplifier for sensor excitation, with data collected by a dynamic signal acquisition analyzer.

Case 3: Application of ATA-2041 High-Voltage Amplifier in Interface Damage Detection of Concrete Composite Structures

Test Equipment Used:
ATA-2041 voltage amplifier, data acquisition card, oscilloscope, arbitrary function waveform generator, etc.

Experiment Overview:
A MASW (Multi-channel Analysis of Surface Waves) detection system was set up. The core hardware of the MASW system consists of an excitation source and sensors, with the primary goal of generating surface waves with rich frequency content for acquisition by a sensor array. The selection criteria were determined based on theoretical analysis, and other hardware components were chosen to complement the excitation source and sensors. The software part of the detection system includes signal acquisition, storage, and data processing, with signal acquisition tailored to the actual equipment used.

For piezoelectric ceramic excitation, an arbitrary function waveform generator was used to generate excitation signals during the initial selection phase. Since the signal generator's voltage output is relatively low, a voltage amplifier was required to amplify the signals. This study employed an arbitrary function waveform generator and the ATA-2041 voltage amplifier, which together can generate arbitrary signals within a frequency range of up to 500 kHz and a voltage range of up to 200 V.

The specifications of the ATA-2041 high-voltage amplifier featured in this wireless power transfer case study are as follows:

Figure: Specifications of the ATA-2041 High-Voltage Amplifier