Sensor apparatus
First Claim
1. A sensor apparatus for measuring characteristics of a wall of a structure and/or a medium in contact with the structure, wherein the sensor apparatus includes a transducer arrangement disposed in operation at least partially around a planar or curved surface of the wall of the structure, or disposed over a region of a planar or curved surface of the wall of the structure, wherein:
- the sensor apparatus includes a transducer waveguide including at least one free distal end whereat one or more driver elements are mounted on the at least one free distal end, wherein the at least one free distal end includes a neck region which is operable to couple one or more Lamb modes of propagation between the one or more driver elements and a remainder of the transducer waveguide in contact with the wall of the structure;
wherein the neck region and the remainder of the transducer waveguide have a substantially similar thickness to the wall of the structure, and is fabricated from a material which is substantially similar to that of the wall of the structure, wherein the neck region and the remainder of the transducer waveguide have substantially similar acoustic dispersion characteristics as the wall of the structure; and
wherein the one or more driver elements are operable to excite an acoustic Lamb mode propagation within the wall of the structure, via the Lamb wave propagation in the transducer waveguide, for providing information indicative of properties of the wall and/or material present in the vicinity of the wall which interacts with the acoustic Lamb wave propagation in the wall of the structure.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A sensor apparatus is provided for measuring characteristics of a wall of a structure and/or a medium in contact with the structure, wherein the sensor apparatus includes a transducer arrangement disposed at least partially around a planar or curved surface of a wall of the structure, or disposed over a region of a planar or curved surface of a wall of the structure. The sensor apparatus includes a transducer waveguide including at least one free distal end whereat one or more driver and/or receiver elements are mounted on one or more sides of the at least one free distal end. Moreover, the transducer arrangement is operable, when interrogating the structure to perform at least one of: switching between selected acoustic wave modes present in an acoustic wave propagation, steering an acoustic propagation direction of the acoustic wave propagation.
22 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A sensor apparatus for measuring characteristics of a wall of a structure and/or a medium in contact with the structure, wherein the sensor apparatus includes a transducer arrangement disposed in operation at least partially around a planar or curved surface of the wall of the structure, or disposed over a region of a planar or curved surface of the wall of the structure, wherein:
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the sensor apparatus includes a transducer waveguide including at least one free distal end whereat one or more driver elements are mounted on the at least one free distal end, wherein the at least one free distal end includes a neck region which is operable to couple one or more Lamb modes of propagation between the one or more driver elements and a remainder of the transducer waveguide in contact with the wall of the structure; wherein the neck region and the remainder of the transducer waveguide have a substantially similar thickness to the wall of the structure, and is fabricated from a material which is substantially similar to that of the wall of the structure, wherein the neck region and the remainder of the transducer waveguide have substantially similar acoustic dispersion characteristics as the wall of the structure; and wherein the one or more driver elements are operable to excite an acoustic Lamb mode propagation within the wall of the structure, via the Lamb wave propagation in the transducer waveguide, for providing information indicative of properties of the wall and/or material present in the vicinity of the wall which interacts with the acoustic Lamb wave propagation in the wall of the structure. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21)
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19. A method of using a sensor apparatus for measuring characteristics of a wall of a structure and/or a medium in contact with the structure, wherein the sensor apparatus includes a transducer arrangement disposed in operation at least partially around a planar or curved surface of the wall of the structure, or disposed over a region of a planar or curved surface of the wall of the structure, wherein the method includes:
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(i) arranging for the sensor apparatus to include a transducer waveguide including at least one free distal end whereat one or more driver elements are mounted on the at least one free distal end, wherein the at least one free distal end includes a neck region which is operable to couple one or more Lamb modes of propagation between the one or more driver elements and a remainder of the transducer waveguide in contact with the wall of the structure; (ii) arranging for the neck region and the remainder of the transducer waveguide to have a substantially similar thickness to the wall of the structure, wherein the neck region and the remainder of the transducer waveguide is fabricated from a material which is substantially similar to that of the wall of the structure; (iii) arranging for the neck region and the remainder of the transducer waveguide to have substantially similar acoustic dispersion characteristics as the wall of the structure; and (iv) operating the one or more driver elements to excite an acoustic Lamb wave propagation within the wall of the structure, via the Lamb mode propagation in the transducer waveguide, for providing information indicative of properties of the wall and/or material present in the vicinity of the wall which interacts with the acoustic Lamb wave propagation, in the wall of the structure.
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20. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable data storage medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon, the computer-readable instructions being executable by a computerized device comprising processing hardware to perform the actions of:
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arranging for the sensor apparatus to include a transducer waveguide including at least one free distal end whereat one or more driver elements are mounted on the at least one free distal end, wherein the at least one free distal end includes a neck region which is operable to couple one or more Lamb modes of propagation between the one or more driver elements and a remainder of the transducer waveguide in contact with a wall of the structure; arranging for the neck region and the remainder of the transducer waveguide to have a substantially similar thickness to the wall of the structure, wherein the neck region and the remainder of the transducer waveguide is fabricated from a material which is substantially similar to that of the wall of the structure; arranging for the neck region and the remainder of the transducer waveguide to have a substantially similar acoustic dispersion characteristic as the wall of the structure; and operating the one or more driver elements to excite an acoustic Lamb wave propagation within the wall of the structure, via the Lamb mode propagation in the transducer waveguide, for providing information indicative of properties of the wall and/or material present in the vicinity of the wall which interacts with the acoustic Lamb wave propagation, in the wall of the structure.
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Specification