US 10,760,949 B2 · Piezoelectric pressure wave analysis

Abstract

Appliances, methods, and systems (e.g., utilities) for use in analyzing received pressure waves to obtain and deduce various types of meaningful information therefrom (e.g., testing operation of an acoustic device that generates beams of acoustic energy). A pressure sensor in the disclosed system makes use of a piezoelectric layer or film (e.g., polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)) that has been substantially uniformly poled prior to interconnection with electrodes that are configured to send electrical signals to a controller or the like for generation of a dynamic, image (e.g., 2D) representing the received pressure waves. Among other advantages, the disclosed system leverages excellent economy of scale, can be configured in different arrangements with reduced cost, and limits the need for adapters or reverse engineering (e.g., as it can operate independently of the design of a probe or system under test.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A system for analyzing pressure waves, the system comprising:

a pressure sensor for generating electrical signals in response to impinging receipt of pressure waves including:
a first printed circuit board (PCB) that includes a plurality of rows of electrodes surrounded by ground for isolation;
a second PCB that includes a plurality of columns of electrodes surrounded by ground for isolation;
a piezoelectric layer disposed between the first and second PCBs and in conductive contact with the electrodes of the first and second PCBs, wherein each electrode of each row of electrodes of the first PCB is aligned with an electrode of a different one of the plurality of columns of electrodes of the second PCB, and wherein each respective pair of aligned electrodes is a respective individually-addressable sensor;
and
a controller electrically coupled with the individually-addressable sensors of the pressure sensor and having instructions to generate an image on a display based on the generated electrical signals received from the pressure sensor.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Piezoelectric pressure wave analysis

Life of this patent

Piezoelectric pressure wave analysis

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims16