# US 5,341,809 A · Ultrasonic flowmeter > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 5,341,809 A - Document ID: US5341809A - Status: Granted - Kind: A - Application number: 07/845,949 - Filed: 1992-03-04 - Granted: 1994-08-30 - Earliest claimed: 1990-08-31 - Assignees: Hitachi, Ltd. - Inventors: Kageyoshi Katakura - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US5341809A ## CPC - G01F 1/667: Arrangements of transducers for ultrasonic flowmeters; Circuits for operating ultrasonic flowmeters - A61B 8/4494: {characterised by the arrangement of the transducer elements} - G01F 1/663: by measuring Doppler frequency shift - G01P 5/244: {involving pulsed waves} - G01S 15/50: Systems of measurement, based on relative movement of the target - G01S 15/582: {using transmission of interrupted pulse-modulated waves and based upon the Doppler effect resulting from movement of targets} - G01F: MEASURING VOLUME, VOLUME FLOW, MASS FLOW OR LIQUID LEVEL; METERING BY VOLUME - A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D) - G01P: MEASURING LINEAR OR ANGULAR SPEED, ACCELERATION, DECELERATION, OR SHOCK; INDICATING PRESENCE, ABSENCE, OR DIRECTION, OF MOVEMENT (measuring or recording blood flow A61B5/02, A61B8/06; monitoring speed or deceleration of electrically-propelled vehicles B60L3/00; vehicle lighting systems adapted to indicate speed B60Q1/54; determining position or course in navigation, measuring ground distance in geodesy or surveying G01C; combined measuring devices for measuring two or more variables of movement G01C23/00; measuring velocity of sound G01H; measuring velocity of light G01J7/00; measuring direction or velocity of solid objects by reception or emission of radiowaves or other waves and based on propagation effects, e.g. Doppler effect, propagation time, direction of propagation, G01S; measuring speed of nuclear radiation G01T; measuring acceleration of gravity G01V; {measuring or recording the speed of trains B61L23/00; speed indicators incorporated in motor vehicles B60K35/00; measuring frequency or phase G01R; traffic control G08G}) - 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 flowmeter employing an array of ultrasonic wave transducer elements, the flowmeter being arranged in such a way that reception signals of plural reception beams aligned in parallel with one another are formed from detection signals of reflection ultrasonic waves from the transducer elements; the Fourier transformation is performed with respect to a direction of alignment of the reception beams; a moving target indication processing is then performed among a plurality of reception signals derived from the repetitive transmissions; the result of the Fourier transformation is treated as two-dimensional signals of time series corresponding to the transmission of the ultrasonic wave, and with respect to a plurality of straight lines coinciding at respective angles with the origin of a coordinate, signal values on each of the straight lines are treated as a one-dimension sequence of numbers to perform the Fourier transformation; and an axial velocity component and a lateral (transverse) velocity component of a moving object are obtained on the basis of the resulting signal distribution. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device comprising: a transducer including an array of elements; means for driving repeatedly part of said transducer elements in a prescribed interval thereby to repeatedly transmit an ultrasonic wave to a target; a parallel reception beam forming means for phase adjusting said signals from said transducer elements and for producing parallel reception signals derived from reception beams with different directivities; a sampling means for sampling each of said parallel reception signals and for storing said sampled signals; filtering means for performing moving target indication through a differential processing across signals having a certain time duration since transmission; a first one-dimension Fourier transform means, including a plurality of outputs, for performing a Fourier transformation with respect to a direction of alignment of the reception beams; and a second Fourier transform means including a plurality of outputs for performing a Fourier transformation sequentially for the outputs of said first Fourier transform means with respect to a direction of repetitive transmission, wherein lateral velocity and axial velocity of a moving object in said target are obtained from a two-dimensional distribution of the outputs of said second Fourier transform means. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing devices according to claim 1, wherein said parallel reception beam forming means includes means for forming a plurality of reception beams for different angular directions simultaneously. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 1, wherein said parallel reception beam forming means includes means for a plurality of reception beams having a substantially equal focal distance and different angular directions simultaneously. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 1, wherein said parallel reception beam forming means includes a one-dimension Fourier transform means for performing the Fourier transformation for each of the reception signals received by said transducer elements with respect to a direction of alignment of said transducer elements. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 1, further comprising means for obtaining a distribution of velocity vectors on a two-dimensional plane from the outputs of said second Fourier transform means an displaying the distribution on a two-dimension screen. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 1, wherein said filtering means performs the moving target indication for signals from said sampling means or outputs from said first one-dimension Fourier transform means. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 1, wherein said first one-dimension Fourier transform means performs the one-dimensional Fourier transformation for outputs of said sampling means. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) An ultrasonic flowmeter according to claim 1, wherein said first one-dimensional Fourier transform means performs the one-dimension Fourier transformation for the outputs of said filtering means. ### Claim 9 An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device comprising: a transducer including an array of elements; means for driving repeatedly part of said transducer elements in a prescribed interval thereby to repeatedly transmit an ultrasonic wave to a target; a parallel reception beam forming means for modifying a phase of signals from said transducer elements and for producing parallel reception signals derived from reception beams with different directivities; a sampling means for sampling each of said parallel reception signals and for storing said sampled signals; filtering means including a plurality of outputs, for performing moving target indication through a differential processing across signals having a certain time duration since transmission; a first one-dimension Fourier transform means, including a plurality of outputs, for performing Fourier transformation with respect to a direction of alignment of the reception beams; a second Fourier transform means including a plurality of outputs for performing Fourier transformation sequentially for the outputs of said first Fourier transform means with respect to a direction of repetitive transmission, function generation means including a plurality of outputs for generating a prescribed function of space frequency in correspondence to all measurable lateral velocities and axial velocities; and a two-dimensional correlation means for evaluating a two-dimensional correlation function between the outputs of said second Fourier transform means and the outputs of said function generation means, wherein the axial velocity and the lateral velocity are evaluated from the position of a peak value of the output distribution of said two-dimensional correlation means. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 9, wherein said parallel reception beam forming means forms a plurality of reception beams having different angular directions simultaneously. ### Claim 11 (depends on 9) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 9, wherein said parallel reception beam forming means forms a plurality of reception beams having a substantially equal focal distance and different angular directions simultaneously. ### Claim 12 (depends on 9) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 9, wherein said parallel reception beam forming means includes a one-dimensional Fourier transform means for performing Fourier transformation for each of the reception signals received by said transducer elements with respect to a direction of alignment of said transducer elements. ### Claim 13 (depends on 9) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 9, further comprising means for obtaining distribution of velocity vectors on a two-dimensional plane from the outputs of said two-dimension correlation device and displaying the distribution on a two-dimensional screen. ### Claim 14 (depends on 9) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 9, wherein said filtering means performs the moving target indication for signals from said sampling means or outputs from said first one-dimension Fourier transform means. ### Claim 15 (depends on 9) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 9, wherein said one-dimension Fourier transform means performs the one-dimension Fourier transformation for the outputs of said sampling means prior to the filtering operation. ### Claim 16 (depends on 9) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 9, wherein said first one-dimension Fourier transform means performs the one-dimension Fourier transformation for the outputs of said filtering means. ### Claim 17 An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device comprising: means for repeatedly transmitting an ultrasonic wave to a target; a transducer including an array of transducer elements for receiving ultrasonic waves reflected from said target; a sampling means for sampling signals from said transducer elements; a Fourier transformer means including a plurality of output for performing Fourier transformation on the signals, which are provided from said transducer elements to be sampled, with respect to a direction of repetitive transmission; and means for deriving a target velocity by analyzing the outputs of said Fourier transformer means on a multi-dimensional plane having a first axis indicating locations of the outputs of said Fourier transformer means and a second axis indicating locations of said transducer elements. ### Claim 18 An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device comprising: a transducer including an array of elements; means for driving repeatedly part of said transducer elements in a prescribed in interval thereby to repeatedly transmit an ultrasonic wave to a target; a parallel reception beam forming means for phase adjusting signals from said transducer elements and for producing parallel reception signals derived from reception beams with different directivities; a sampling means for sampling each of said parallel reception signals and for storing said sampled signals; filtering means for performing moving target indication through a differential processing across signals having a certain time duration since transmission; a first one-dimension Fourier transform means, including a plurality of outputs, for performing Fourier transformation with respect to a direction of the reception beam alignment; and a second one-dimensional Fourier transform means, including a plurality of outputs, which treats outputs of said first one-dimension Fourier transform means as two-dimension signals of time series corresponding to the transmission of the ultrasonic wave and treats, with respect to a plurality of straight lines coinciding at the origin of a coordinate with respective angles, signals values on each of the straight lines as a one-dimension sequence of numbers to perform the Fourier transformation, wherein lateral velocity and axial velocity of a moving object in said target are obtained from a two-dimensional distribution of the output of said second one-dimension Fourier transform means. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 18, wherein said parallel reception beam forming means forms a plurality of reception beams having different angular directions simultaneously. ### Claim 20 (depends on 18) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 18, wherein said parallel reception beam forming means forms a plurality of reception beams having a substantially equal focal distance and different angular directions simultaneously. ### Claim 21 (depends on 18) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 18, wherein said parallel reception beam forming means includes a one-dimension Fourier transform means for performing Fourier transformation for each of the reception signals received by said transducer elements with respect to a direction of alignment of said transducer elements. ### Claim 22 (depends on 18) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 18, further comprising means for obtaining a distribution of velocity vectors on a two-dimensional Fourier transformer means and displaying the distribution on a two-dimension screen. ### Claim 23 (depends on 18) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 18, wherein said filtering means performs the moving target indication for signals from said sampling means or outputs from said first one-dimension Fourier transform means. ### Claim 24 (depends on 18) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 18, wherein said first one-dimension Fourier transform means performs the one-dimension Fourier transformation for the outputs of said sampling means prior to the filtering means. ### Claim 25 (depends on 18) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 18, wherein said first one-dimension Fourier transform means performs the one-dimension Fourier transformation for the outputs of said filtering means. ### Claim 26 An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device comprising: a transducer including an array of elements; means for driving repeatedly part of said transducer elements in a prescribed interval thereby to repeatedly transmit an ultrasonic wave to a target; a parallel reception beam forming means for modifying phrases of signals from said transducer elements and for producing parallel reception signals derived from reception beams with different directivities; a sampling means for sampling each of said parallel reception signals and for storing said sampled signals; filtering means including a plurality of outputs, for performing moving target indication through a differential processing across signals having a certain time duration since transmission; a first one-dimension Fourier transform means, including a plurality of outputs, for performing Fourier transformation with respect to a direction of alignment of the reception beams; a second one-dimension Fourier transform means, including a plurality of outputs, which treats the outputs of said first one-dimension Fourier transform means as two-dimension signals of time series corresponding to the transmission of the ultrasonic wave and treats, with respect to a plurality of straight lines coinciding at the origin of a coordinate with respective angles, signal values on each of the straight lines as a one-dimensional sequence of numbers to perform the Fourier transformation; and a coordinate transform means, including a plurality of outputs, which transforms the outputs of said second one-dimension Fourier transform means to a lateral velocity and an axial velocity of a moving object, wherein the lateral velocity and the axial velocity of a moving object in said target are obtained. ### Claim 27 (depends on 26) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 26, wherein said parallel reception beam forming means forms a plurality of reception beams having different angular directions simultaneously. ### Claim 28 (depends on 26) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 26, wherein said parallel reception beam forming means forms a plurality of reception beams having a substantially equal focal distance and different angular directions simultaneously. ### Claim 29 (depends on 26) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 26, wherein said parallel reception beam forming means including a one-dimensional Fourier transform means for performing Fourier transformation for each of the reception signals received by said transducer elements with respect to a direction of alignment of said transducer elements. ### Claim 30 (depends on 26) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 26, further comprising means for obtaining a distribution of velocity vectors on a two-dimensional plane from the outputs of said coordinate transform means and displaying the distribution on a two-dimensional screen. ### Claim 31 (depends on 26) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 26, wherein said filtering means performs the moving target indication for signals from said sampling means or outputs from said first one-dimension Fourier transform means. ### Claim 32 (depends on 26) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 26, wherein said first one-dimension Fourier transform means performs the one-dimension Fourier transformation for outputs of said sampling means prior to the filtering means. ### Claim 33 (depends on 26) An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device according to claim 26, wherein said first one-dimension Fourier transform means performs the one-dimension Fourier transformation for the outputs of said filtering means. ### Claim 34 An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device comprising: means for repetitive transmission of ultrasonic waves; a receiving array transducer elements for receiving reflection signals of said ultrasonic waves; means for converting received signals into phase delay and amplitude information; means for converting the received signals with the phase delay and amplitude information into a multi-dimensional function with parameters related to a spatial location and time of each transmission; and means for converting the multi-dimensional function into a multi-dimensional velocity vector. ### Claim 35 An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device comprising: a transducer including an array of elements; means for driving repeatedly part of said transducer elements in a prescribed interval thereby to repeatedly transmit an ultrasonic wave to a target; a first one-dimension Fourier transform means, including a plurality of outputs, for performing Fourier transformation with respect to a direction of alignment for signals from said transducer elements; and a second one-dimension Fourier transform means which treats the outputs of said first one-dimension Fourier transform means as two-dimension signals of time series corresponding to the transmission of the ultrasonic wave and treats, with respect to a plurality of straight lines coinciding at an origin of a coordinate with respective angles, signal values on each of the straight lines as a one-dimension sequence of numbers to perform the Fourier transformation; wherein the lateral velocity and the axial velocity of a moving object in said target are obtained. ### Claim 36 An ultrasonic velocity analyzing device comprising: means for repeatedly transmitting an ultrasonic wave to a target; a transducer including an array of transducer elements for receiving ultrasonic waves reflected from said target; a sampling means for sampling signals from said transducer elements; a Fourier transducer means, including a plurality of outputs, for performing Fourier transformation on the signals, which are provided from said transducer elements to be sampled, with respect to a direction of said transducer elements; and means for deriving a target velocity by analyzing the outputs of said Fourier transformer means on a multi-dimensional plane having a first axis indicating locations of the outputs of said Fourier transformer means and a second axis indicating a direction of repetitive transmission.