Tunable Piezoelectric Transducers via Custom 3D Printing: Conceptualization, Creation, and Customer Discovery of Acoustic Applications

In an increasingly data-driven society, sensors and actuators are the bridge between the physical world and the world of "data." Electroacoustic transducers convert acoustic energy into electrical energy (or vice versa), so it can be interpreted as data. Piezoelectric materials are often used for transducer manufacturing, and recent advancements in additive manufacturing have enabled this material to take on complex geometric forms with micro-scale features. This work advances the additive manufacturing of piezoelectric materials by developing a model for predictive success of complex 3D printed geometries in Mask Image Projection-Stereolithography (MIP-SL) by accounting for mechanical wear on Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). This work proposes a framework for the rapid manufacture of 3D printed transducers, adaptable to a multitude of transducer element forms. Using the print model and transducer framework, latticed hydrophone elements are designed and tested, showing evidence of selectively tunable sensitivity, resonance, and directivity pattern. These technology advancements are extended to enable a workflow for users to input polar coordinates and receive an acoustic element of a continuously tuned directivity pattern. Investigation into customer problem spaces via tech-push methods are adapted from the NSF's Lean Launchpad to reveal insight to the problems faced in hydrophone applications and other neighboring problem spaces.