Liquid level sensor
AssigneeBAE SYSTEMS plc
InventorPeter David Foote
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A liquid level sensing system, including: an input acoustic waveguide, and an output acoustic waveguide, positioned extending into liquid to be sensed; the input waveguide being arranged to receive acoustic energy; an acoustic sensor attached to the output waveguide for sensing acoustic energy at the output waveguide that has been transferred from the input waveguide to the output waveguide by being acoustically coupled by the liquid; and a processor arranged to process timing characteristics of the sensed acoustic energy to determine a measure of the liquid level.
Claims15
A liquid level sensing system, comprising:
- a first substantially elongate acoustic waveguide, constituting an input waveguide;
- a second substantially elongate acoustic waveguide, constituting an output waveguide, the input waveguide and the output waveguide both being positioned for extending, when in use, into liquid to be sensed and positioned relatively close to each other compared to lengths of the input and output waveguides, the input waveguide being arranged to receive acoustic energy;
- an acoustic sensor attached to the output waveguide for sensing acoustic energy at the output waveguide that has been transferred from the input waveguide to the output waveguide by the input waveguide and the output waveguide being acoustically coupled by the liquid;
- and
- a processor arranged to process timing characteristics of sensed acoustic energy to determine a measure of the liquid level.
A liquid level sensing method, comprising:
- providing an input acoustic waveguide and an output acoustic waveguide in a liquid container;
- injecting acoustic energy into the input acoustic waveguide;
- sensing timing information of acoustic energy that has been coupled into the output acoustic waveguide from the input acoustic waveguide;
- and
- determining a measure of a liquid level of liquid in the liquid container from the timing information.
A machine readable storage medium storing a computer program, or at least one of a plurality of computer programs, in a tangible medium for performing a liquid level sensing method, comprising:
- injecting acoustic energy into an input acoustic waveguide is a liquid container;
- sensing timing information of acoustic energy that has been coupled into an output acoustic waveguide, also in the container, from the input acoustic waveguide;
- and
- determining a measure of a liquid level of liquid in the liquid container from the timing information.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.