Electromechanical transducers for fluid viscosity measurement
OwnerXiang Yaninventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Electromechanical transducers and methods are disclosed for measuring fluid parameters, including viscosity and product of viscosity and density. The said transducers utilize the electromechanical transduction materials to excite and measure the vibration of composite beam(s) with sensor plate(s) attached to the end(s) of the beam(s). The fluid viscous force acted on the surfaces of the sensor plate(s) damps the beams' vibration. The voltage output or the change of the electrical conductance of the transducer can be used to measure fluid parameters.
Claims11
An electromechanical transducer for measuring viscosity of a fluid, said transducer comprising:
- plural of parallel composite beams of identical length, where each composite beam is comprised of one substrate sandwiched between two electromechanical transduction materials,
- wherein said composite beams are attached to a common supporting structure at one end and are rigidly connected together at the other end with at least one sensor plate attached at this end;
- wherein the normal direction of the said sensor plate is orthogonal to the normal direction of the said composite beams;
- and
- a recess on the sensor plate controlling the immersion depth in the fluid.
A method of obtaining viscosity of a fluid utilizing a transducer having a composite beam made of a substrate sandwiched between two electromechanical transduction materials, a supporting structure and a sensor plate attached to opposite ends of the composite beam, wherein the normal directions of the sensor plate and the composite beam are orthogonal to each other, a recess on the sensor plate controlling the immersion depth in the fluid, comprising:
- inputting an alternative voltage to one electromechanical transduction material to set up bending vibration of the composite beam;
- outputting an alternative voltage from second electromechanical transduction material;
- and
- deriving viscosity of the fluid from the product of the frequency and the ratio of output to input voltages at the resonance of the vibration.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.