X-Authentication-Warning: delorie.com: mail set sender to geda-user-bounces using -f
X-Recipient: geda-user AT delorie DOT com
Subject: [geda-user] (Off-topic) Question wrt driving HV piezo transducer
To: geda-user AT delorie DOT com
References: <c3aa1897-3806-3f72-feef-85551a63c2db AT linetec DOT nl>
 <alpine DOT DEB DOT 2 DOT 00 DOT 1802091235090 DOT 12270 AT igor2priv>
 <6221de93-bb98-d397-79b4-eecf3975c2e6 AT linetec DOT nl>
 <alpine DOT DEB DOT 2 DOT 00 DOT 1802091324350 DOT 12270 AT igor2priv>
 <f2259553-7015-8fc8-33b2-8ca8be6c5a45 AT linetec DOT nl>
 <alpine DOT DEB DOT 2 DOT 00 DOT 1802091427450 DOT 12270 AT igor2priv>
 <20180209161532 DOT 6AF57804CEFA AT turkos DOT aspodata DOT se>
 <alpine DOT DEB DOT 2 DOT 00 DOT 1802091735590 DOT 12270 AT igor2priv>
 <20180209204934 DOT CAA35804CEFA AT turkos DOT aspodata DOT se>
 <alpine DOT DEB DOT 2 DOT 00 DOT 1802100406500 DOT 12270 AT igor2priv>
From: "Richard Rasker (rasker AT linetec DOT nl) [via geda-user AT delorie DOT com]" <geda-user AT delorie DOT com>
Message-ID: <b125c1d5-48a1-c1dc-3ee1-db9875d50bf6@linetec.nl>
Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2018 17:23:49 +0100
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101
 Thunderbird/52.6.0
MIME-Version: 1.0
In-Reply-To: <alpine.DEB.2.00.1802100406500.12270@igor2priv>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
Content-Language: en-US
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by delorie.com id w1FGNrJb022678
Reply-To: geda-user AT delorie DOT com
Errors-To: nobody AT delorie DOT com
X-Mailing-List: geda-user AT delorie DOT com
X-Unsubscribes-To: listserv AT delorie DOT com
Precedence: bulk

Hello,

My apologies for asking a non-gEDA/PCB related question here, but I've 
been asked to look into a project with a piezo transducer for distance 
measurements. I was supplied with a transducer for research and testing 
(the Airmar ARK41, f0 ~= 40kHz, drive = 1800Vpp max).

The main thing here is that I'm not all that knowledgeable about 
HV-transformers, and that there's not too much to be found on the 
Internet, either in terms of schematic designs or in terms of 
suitable/available parts. As we're talking about high voltage and a 
rather pricey piece of hardware (some $350, I believe), I'd like to be a 
bit better prepared than just build some stuff and blast away, with 
possible catastrophic (read: expensive) failure.

I was thinking about obtaining or making a ferrite-core transformer with 
a 1:100 turns ratio, and driving this with a half H-MOSFET bridge from 
an 18V (adjustable) DC power supply. Can someone point out some existing 
designs? Or are there people here who are willing to discuss some design 
ideas? For instance, I'm wondering if a resonant setup (i.e. with a 
secondary HV capacitor in the nF range) is a good idea or not, how to 
estimate a damping resistor in the output and quite a few more 
questions. I do have some experience with old TV flyback style HV 
generators, but this is a little different.

Thanks in advance, and once again my apologies  if my request for help 
is inappropriate here -- I won't pollute this list any further with this :-)

Best regards,

Richard