# US 11,906,293 B2 · 1D ultrasonic transducer unit for material detection

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- Number: US 11,906,293 B2
- Document ID: US11906293B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/167,076
- Filed: 2021-02-03
- Published: 2022-05-26
- Granted: 2024-02-20
- Earliest claimed: 2018-08-03
- Assignees: Pepperl + Fuchs GmbH
- Applicants: Pepperl + Fuchs SE
- Inventors: Regine Augenstein; Thomas Kaindl
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11906293B2

## CPC

- G01B 17/06: for measuring contours or curvatures
- B06B 1/0622: {on one surface}
- B06B 1/0625: {Annular array}
- G01B 17/08: for measuring roughness or irregularity of surfaces
- G01F 23/296: Acoustic waves
- G01K 11/22: using measurement of acoustic effects
- G01N 29/2462: {Probes with waveguides, e.g. SAW devices}
- G01N 29/262: {by electronic orientation or focusing, e.g. with phased arrays (phased arrays per se G10K11/34)}
- G01N 29/28: providing acoustic coupling {, e.g. water (impedance matching G10K11/02)}
- G01N 29/348: {with frequency characteristics, e.g. single frequency signals, chirp signals (measuring frequency of mechanical vibrations or acoustic waves in general G01H1/06, G01H3/04; measuring frequency or analysing frequency spectra G01R23/00)}
- G10K 11/22: for conducting sound through hollow pipes, e.g. speaking tubes
- G10K 11/346: {using phase variation}
- G01N 2291/106: one or more transducer arrays
- G01S 7/521: Constructional features
- G01B: MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEAR DIMENSIONS; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS
- B06B: METHODS OR APPARATUS FOR GENERATING OR TRANSMITTING MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS OF INFRASONIC, SONIC, OR ULTRASONIC FREQUENCY, {e.g.} FOR PERFORMING MECHANICAL WORK IN GENERAL (for particular applications, see the relevant subclasses, e.g. B07B1/40, B23Q17/12, B24B31/06; measurement of mechanical vibrations G01H; in direction finding, locating, distance or velocity measuring G01S; {generating seismic energy G01V1/02}; control of mechanical vibrations in general G05D; sound-producing devices, e.g. bells, sirens, whistles G10K, {e.g. methods or devices for transmitting, conducting, or directing sound in general G10K11/00}; generation of electrical oscillations H03B; electromechanical resonators in general H03H; electromechanical transducers {for communication techniques, e.g. microphones, speakers} H04R)
- G01F: MEASURING VOLUME, VOLUME FLOW, MASS FLOW OR LIQUID LEVEL; METERING BY VOLUME
- G01K: MEASURING TEMPERATURE; MEASURING QUANTITY OF HEAT; THERMALLY-SENSITIVE ELEMENTS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR (radiation pyrometry G01J5/00)
- G01N: INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES (measuring or testing apparatus or processes other than immunoassay, involving enzymes or microorganisms C12M, C12Q)
- G10K: SOUND-PRODUCING DEVICES; METHODS OR DEVICES FOR PROTECTING AGAINST, OR FOR DAMPING, NOISE OR OTHER ACOUSTIC WAVES IN GENERAL; ACOUSTICS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G01S: RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES

## Abstract

A 1D ultrasonic transducer unit for material detection, comprising a housing having securing device for securing to a surface and having at least three discrete ultrasonic transducers designed to decouple sound waves with a consistent operating frequency between 20 kHz and 400 kHz in a gaseous medium, and a control unit designed to control each ultrasonic transducer individually, wherein two ultrasonic transducers, directly adjacent to one another, are spaced apart by a distance, the 1D ultrasonic transducer unit has a sound channel per ultrasonic transducer with an input opening, associated with exactly one respective ultrasonic transducer, and an output opening, the output openings are arranged along a straight line, a distance from the directly adjacent output opening corresponds at most to the full or half the wavelength in the gaseous medium and is smaller than the corresponding distance.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A 1D ultrasonic transducer unit for material detection, the transducer unit comprising:
a housing comprising a communication interface;
at least three ultrasonic transducers, each ultrasonic transducer being designed to emit and/or to receive a sound wave with a consistent working frequency; and
a control unit adapted to control each ultrasonic transducer individually,
wherein each ultrasonic transducer comprises a transducer housing, a piezoelectric body disposed in the transducer housing, and a sound decoupling layer disposed at an open end of the transducer housing for decoupling sound waves in a gaseous medium, and is disposed at a fixed position in the housing,
wherein the working frequency of the sound waves is in a range from 20 kHz to 400 kHz,
wherein, two ultrasonic transducers, directly adjacent to one another, in the housing are spaced apart by a distance from a center of the sound decoupling layer to a center of the sound decoupling layer of at most 10 cm,
wherein the 1D ultrasonic transducer unit comprises one sound channel per ultrasonic transducer,
wherein each sound channel comprises an input opening and an output opening,
wherein exactly one of the input openings is associated with each sound decoupling layer,
wherein the output openings are each arranged in a wall of the housing, or the sound channels penetrate the wall of the housing,
wherein a distance from a center of one of the output openings to a center of a directly adjacent output opening corresponds at most to a wavelength in the gaseous medium or at most to half a wavelength in the gaseous medium,
wherein a distance between two directly adjacent output openings is in each case smaller than a distance between the ultrasonic transducers associated with the corresponding input openings,
wherein each sound channel has at least a length corresponding to a diameter of the input opening,
wherein the housing comprises a securing device for securing to a surface,
wherein the control unit is at least partially disposed in the housing,
wherein the housing comprises a movable cover device designed to close the output openings of all sound channels, and
wherein a width of the output opening is smaller than a width of the corresponding input opening and a height of the output opening is greater than a height of the corresponding input opening.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The 1D ultrasonic transducer unit according to claim 1, wherein a quotient of the surface area of the output opening to a surface area of the input opening has a value between 0.5 and 1.5.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The 1D ultrasonic transducer unit according to claim 1, wherein each sound channel has a length from the sound decoupling layer of each ultrasonic transducer to the output opening of the associated sound channel and the length is an integral multiple of one eighth of a wavelength of the sound frequency or an integral multiple of half the wavelength of the sound frequency.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The 1D ultrasonic transducer unit according to claim 1, wherein each sound channel is formed of a metal or a plastic.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The 1D ultrasonic transducer unit according to claim 1, wherein each ultrasonic transducer comprises a sound uncoupling layer between the sound decoupling layer and the transducer housing.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The 1D ultrasonic transducer unit according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is disposed completely or partially in the housing.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The 1D ultrasonic transducer unit according to claim 1, wherein the housing is designed at least according to an IP 40 protection class.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The 1D ultrasonic transducer unit according to claim 1, wherein the communication interface is designed for wireless data transmission.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The 1D ultrasonic transducer unit according to claim 1, wherein a quotient of a surface area of the output opening to a surface area of the input opening has a value between 0.30 and 1.2.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The 1D ultrasonic transducer unit according to claim 1, wherein a quotient of a surface area of the output opening to a surface area of the input opening has a value between 0.9 and 1.1.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The 1D ultrasonic transducer unit according to claim 1, wherein the output openings are arranged along a straight line.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The 1D ultrasonic transducer unit according to claim 1, wherein the output openings are arranged to lie on a curved surface.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The 1D ultrasonic transducer unit according to claim 12, wherein the curved surface is a concaved curved surface.

### Claim 14 (depends on 12)

The 1D ultrasonic transducer unit according to claim 12,
wherein the width and the height of the input opening are equal, and
wherein the width and the height of the output opening are not equal.