Ultrasonic method and system for fluid quality measurement, classification, and monitoring

A method for measuring fluid quality, comprising:

• insonifying, using a first transducer, a fluid to be measured using ultrasound energy generated by two or more transducers in a generated frequency range spectrum from about 500 KHz to 5 MHz over a period of time, thereby creating cavitation of bubbles in the fluid to be measured, the first transducer and a second transducer being integrated into a ring around a pipe holding the fluid, the second transducer being opposite the first transducer on the ring such that liquid to be insonified flows between the first transducer and second transducer;
• receiving, using the second transducer, an analogue signal of the fluid to be measured including ultrasonic energy created by the cavitation of the bubbles in the fluid to be measured;
• creating, using a computer, a time domain ultrasound signature based on the analogue signal;
• converting, using the computer, the time domain ultrasound signature into a frequency response signature unique to the fluid being measured, wherein the frequency response signature represents the amplitude for each frequency in the generated frequency range spectrum;
• classifying the fluid to be measured using the root mean square of the ultrasound energy to characterize the frequency response signature;
• and
• identifying, using the computer, an impurity in the fluid to be measured by matching the classified frequency response signature to a unique identifying signature of a solid or contaminant to be identified, wherein the frequency response signature is compared to a unique identifying signature contained in a library of frequency response signatures.