As part of the Sonar Transducer Reliability Improvement Program, the Applied Physics Laboratory, the US Naval Research Laboratory and the US Naval Undersea Systems Center have been studying ways to increase the reliability of undersea acoustic transducers. The objectives are to investigate failures in operational transducers and determine their failure modes: to investigate developmental transducer systems; and to determine aging rates for seals, cables, connectors, and other components that affect leak rates and thus life expectancy. To accomplish these tasks, (a) electrical tests and visual inspections are performed on transducer arrays in service to determine whether failures occur and to collect background data, and (b) autopsies are conducted on failed or failing developmental and in-service units to define failure modes and to recommend corrective action. In addition to physical dissection and inspection, the autopsies include mechanical, physical, chemical, electrical, acoustical, and metallurgical tests. Both the in-service inspections and the autopsies are documented on videotape.
Failure analysis through autopsy of undersea acoustic transducers
Fehleranalyse durch die 'Autopsie' von akustischen Unterwasserwandlern
1987
Conference paper
English
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