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US 12,000,798 B2Granted
Detection of structural variations in articles using acoustic resonance spectroscopy
AssigneeAWE Technologies, LLC
InventorDipen N. Sinha
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus and method utilizing acoustic resonance spectroscopy applicable to any mechanical device or structure having internal or external components that need to be positioned away from a set point and then returned to the original position, such as a valve which is opened to pass fluids and subsequently closed, for noninvasively providing a measure of the deviation from the original position, and for classifying or grouping together objects that appear to be identical from the outside, but which may have slight external or internal differences, such as sealed containers filled with different fluids or materials, are described.
Claims31
An apparatus for determining whether fluid is leaking through a valve seat when said valve is in a closed condition, comprising:
- a valve comprising a valve seat, a disk or plug for forming a fluid seal with said seat, a stem for driving said disk or plug against said seat, and a valve body having an outside surface;
- an acoustic transmitting transducer disposed in vibrational contact with the outside surface of said valve for generating vibrations in the valve body when excited by a chosen voltage signal;
- an acoustic receiver disposed in vibrational contact with the outside surface of said valve for receiving vibrations induced in said valve body, and converting the received vibrations into electrical voltages;
- a frequency sweep generator in electrical communication with said acoustic transmitting transducer, for generating chosen excitation voltage signals having frequencies within a selected frequency range thereon;
- a narrow-band, band-pass tracking filter having a center frequency which tracks the frequencies within the selected frequency range generated by said frequency sweep generator, and having a chosen frequency bandwidth, for receiving electrical voltages from said acoustic receiver and filtering the electrical voltages;
- and
- a microcontroller for controlling said frequency sweep generator and said band-pass tracking filter, for storing the filtered electrical voltages from said band-pass tracking filter, for generating at least two acoustic resonance spectra of said valve in its closed condition, and for comparing the at least two generated acoustic resonance spectra to determine whether there is a difference therebetween.
4 more elements
A method for determining whether fluid is leaking through a valve seat of a valve when said valve is in a closed condition, comprising:
- generating vibrations having chosen frequencies in a selected frequency range in said valve comprising a valve seat, a disk or plug for forming a fluid seal with the seat, a stem for driving said disk or plug against the seat, and a valve body having an outside surface using an acoustic transmitting transducer disposed in vibrational contact with the outside surface of said valve and driven by a frequency sweep generator;
- receiving resonance vibrations induced in the valve body using an acoustic receiver disposed in vibrational contact with the outside surface of said valve, and converting the received vibrations into electrical voltages;
- receiving the electrical voltages and filtering the electrical voltages using a narrow-band, band-pass tracking filter having a center frequency which tracks selected excitation frequencies in the selected frequency range;
- storing the filtered electrical voltages, whereby an acoustic resonance spectrum of said valve is generated;
- comparing the generated acoustic resonance spectrum of said valve with at least one other acoustic resonance spectrum obtained for said valve in the closed condition thereof;
- and
- determining whether there is a difference between the generated acoustic resonance spectrum and the at least one other acoustic resonance spectrum.
4 more elements
A method for determining whether a vessel similar or identical in appearance to other vessels is similar or identical thereto, and contains similar fluids thereto, comprising:
- generating vibrations having chosen frequencies in a selected frequency range in said vessel from an acoustic transmitting transducer disposed in vibrational communication with the outside surface of said vessel, and driven by a frequency sweep generator;
- receiving resonance vibrations induced in said vessel using an acoustic receiver disposed in vibrational communication with the outside surface of said vessel, and converting the received vibrations into electrical voltages;
- receiving the electrical voltages and filtering the electrical voltages using a narrow-band, band-pass tracking filter having a center frequency which tracks selected excitation frequencies in the selected frequency range;
- storing the filtered electrical voltages, whereby an acoustic resonance spectrum of said vessel is generated;
- comparing the generated resonance spectrum of said vessel with at least one acoustic resonance spectrum obtained for another of said vessels;
- and
- determining whether there is a difference between the generated acoustic resonance spectrum and the at least one other acoustic resonance spectrum.
4 more elements
A method for determining the tightness of sealing flanges, comprising a cover flange and a flange attached to a pipe secured by bolts and nuts or a clamp, for accessing fluids in a vessel, comprising:
- generating vibrations having chosen frequencies in a selected frequency range in said sealing flanges, said nuts and bolts or said clamp, said pipe, and said vessel, using an acoustic transmitting transducer disposed in vibrational communication with an outside surface of said pipe or said vessel and driven by an acoustic frequency sweep generator;
- receiving resonance vibrations induced in said sealing flanges, said nuts and bolts or said clamp, said pipe, and said vessel, combined, using an acoustic receiver disposed in vibrational contact with the outside surface of said pipe or said vessel, and converting the received vibrations into electrical voltages;
- receiving the electrical voltages and filtering the electrical voltages using a narrow-band, band-pass tracking filter having a center frequency which tracks selected excitation frequencies in the selected frequency range;
- storing the filtered electrical voltages, whereby an acoustic resonance spectrum of the combination of said sealing flanges, said nuts and bolts or said clamp, said pipe, and said vessel, is generated;
- comparing the generated acoustic resonance spectrum that includes the frequency range of the combination of said sealing flanges, said nuts and bolts or said clamp, said pipe, and said vessel, with at least one other acoustic resonance spectrum obtained for the combination of said sealing flanges, said nuts and bolts or said clamp, said pipe, and said vessel;
- and
- determining whether there is a difference between the generated acoustic resonance spectrum and the at least one other acoustic resonance spectrum.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.