Phase controlled variable angle ultrasonic flow meter
OwnerJoseph Baumoelinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An ultrasonic flowmeter includes a conduit for receiving a flow of a fluid and a flexible printed circuit board (FPC) including: a pair of ultrasonic transducers, wherein each transducer comprises a piezoelectric element divided into a plurality of segment electrodes and the FPC is bonded around the conduit; and a control circuit configured to sequentially activate the segment electrodes using a pulse train to cause at least one of the piezoelectric elements to emit a sonic signal. A delay time between activation of each successive segment electrode controls a phase velocity and an angle of emission of the corresponding sonic signal.
Claims20
An ultrasonic flowmeter comprising:
- a conduit for receiving a flow of a fluid;
- a flexible printed circuit board (FPC) comprising:
- a first ultrasonic transducer comprising a plurality of first segment electrodes located on a first side of a single first piezoelectric element;
- a second ultrasonic transducer comprising a plurality of second segment electrodes located on a first side of a single second piezoelectric element;
- a control circuit configured to sequentially activate the first segment electrodes using a pulse train to transmit a plurality of sonic signals to the second ultrasonic transducer,
- wherein a delay time between activation of each successive first segment electrode controls a phase velocity and an angle of emission of the corresponding sonic signal,
- wherein the FPC is bonded around the conduit.
An ultrasonic flowmeter comprising:
- a conduit for receiving a flow of a fluid;
- a flexible printed circuit board (FPC) comprising:
- a first ultrasonic transducer comprising a plurality of first segment electrodes located on a first side of a single first piezoelectric element;
- a second ultrasonic transducer comprising a plurality of second segment electrodes located on a first side of a single second piezoelectric element;
- a control circuit configured to sequentially activate the first segment electrodes using a pulse train to transmit a controlled frequency wave so that the second ultrasonic transducer receives a reflected wave, and
- wherein the control circuit is operated so that a transmit frequency of the transmitted wave is controlled so that a frequency of the received reflected wave, affected by a Doppler shift due to flow rate, is shifted by such an amount so as to cause a frequency of the reflected wave to be returned to that which is applied when the flow rate was zero,
- wherein the FPC is bonded around the conduit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.