Steerable acoustic waveguide
First Claim
1. An apparatus for use with acoustic energy and a target, the apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of plates, each plate having a proximal end and a distal end and a length and a width and a thickness, the plurality of plates being disposed in a linear array, each plate having a position within the linear array, wherein for adjacent pairs of the plates, each of the adjacent pairs including a first plate and a second plate, a first major face for the first plate is in proximity to a second major face for the second plate; and
an enclosure, the enclosure comprising a sleeve and means for sealing that seals an end region for the apparatus, the means for sealing being sealed to the sleeve, wherein at least 70 percent of each plate is disposed within the enclosure;
wherein each of at least 70 percent of the plates is substantially isolated acoustically from each other one of the plates;
wherein each of at least 70 percent of the plates is substantially planar;
wherein each of at least 70 percent of the plates is substantially homogeneous;
wherein for at least 90 percent of the plates a width-thickness ratio is greater than or equal to 3; and
wherein for the linear array a length-width ratio is greater than or equal to 3.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A steerable acoustic waveguide apparatus includes plural plates arranged in one or more linear arrays. Steering of an acoustic beam radiated from the waveguide apparatus may be achieved through differential delays of acoustic signals resulting from differences in timing, frequency, or mode or resulting from differences in physical attributes of the plates. In one aspect, where the apparatus is used with a target that is confined by a conduit such as a pipe, a longitudinal plane for the conduit intersects the linear array, an array plane for the linear array has a conduit orientation relative to the longitudinal plane, and the conduit orientation is substantially perpendicular or substantially parallel. The waveguide apparatus may serve as a thermal buffer and may simplify access to an acoustic path in a device such as an ultrasonic flowmeter.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. An apparatus for use with acoustic energy and a target, the apparatus comprising:
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a plurality of plates, each plate having a proximal end and a distal end and a length and a width and a thickness, the plurality of plates being disposed in a linear array, each plate having a position within the linear array, wherein for adjacent pairs of the plates, each of the adjacent pairs including a first plate and a second plate, a first major face for the first plate is in proximity to a second major face for the second plate; and an enclosure, the enclosure comprising a sleeve and means for sealing that seals an end region for the apparatus, the means for sealing being sealed to the sleeve, wherein at least 70 percent of each plate is disposed within the enclosure; wherein each of at least 70 percent of the plates is substantially isolated acoustically from each other one of the plates; wherein each of at least 70 percent of the plates is substantially planar; wherein each of at least 70 percent of the plates is substantially homogeneous; wherein for at least 90 percent of the plates a width-thickness ratio is greater than or equal to 3; and wherein for the linear array a length-width ratio is greater than or equal to 3. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An apparatus for use with a transducer and a target that is confined by a conduit, the apparatus conveying acoustic energy between the transducer and the target, the apparatus comprising:
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a plurality of plates, each plate having a proximal end and a distal end and a length and a width and a thickness, the plurality of plates being disposed in a linear array, each plate having a position within the linear array, wherein for adjacent pairs of the plates, each of the adjacent pairs including a first plate and a second plate, a first major face for the first plate is in proximity to a second major face for the second plate; wherein each of at least 70 percent of the plates is substantially isolated acoustically from each other one of the plates; wherein each of at least 70 percent of the plates is substantially planar; wherein each of at least 70 percent of the plates is substantially homogeneous; wherein for at least 90 percent of the plates a width-thickness ratio is greater than or equal to 3; wherein for the linear array a length-width ratio is greater than or equal to 3; wherein a longitudinal plane for the conduit intersects the linear array; wherein an array plane for the linear array has a conduit orientation relative to the longitudinal plane; and wherein the conduit orientation is substantially perpendicular or substantially parallel. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
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18. An apparatus for use with acoustic energy and a target that is confined by a conduit, the apparatus comprising:
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a plurality of plates, each plate having a proximal end and a distal end and a length and a width and a thickness, the plurality of plates being disposed in a linear array, each plate having a position within the linear array, wherein for adjacent pairs of the plates, each of the adjacent pairs including a first plate and a second plate, a first major face for the first plate is in proximity to a second major face for the second plate; wherein each of at least 70 percent of the plates is substantially isolated acoustically from each other one of the plates; wherein each of at least 70 percent of the plates is substantially planar; wherein each of at least 70 percent of the plates is substantially homogeneous; wherein for at least 90 percent of the plates a width-thickness ratio is greater than or equal to 3; wherein for the linear array a length-width ratio is greater than or equal to 3; wherein each plate has a distal plane and each distal plane intersects a region, a region dimension for the region being less than or equal to ten percent of an inner dimension for the conduit; and wherein the region includes a central position for the conduit or an inner surface of an opposite wall for the conduit.
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19. An apparatus for use with acoustic energy, the apparatus comprising:
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a plurality of subarrays, each subarray comprising a plurality of plates, the plurality of subarrays being disposed in a high-level array, each subarray having a subarray position within the high-level array, wherein the high-level array is a one-dimensional array or a two-dimensional array; and a plurality of acoustic transducers, the high-level array being acoustically coupled to the plurality of acoustic transducers; wherein each plate has a proximal end and a distal end and a length and a width and a thickness, the plurality of plates within each subarray being disposed in a linear array, each plate having a position within the linear array, wherein for each adjacent pair of the plates, the adjacent pair including a first plate and a second plate, a first major face for the first plate is in proximity to a second major face for the second plate; and wherein each of at least 70 percent of the plates is substantially isolated acoustically from each other one of the plates; wherein each of at least 70 percent of the plates is substantially planar; wherein each of at least 70 percent of the plates is substantially homogeneous; wherein for at least 90 percent of the plates a width-thickness ratio is greater than or equal to 3; and wherein for the linear array a length-width ratio is greater than or equal to 3. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
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23. An apparatus for use with acoustic energy and a target, the apparatus comprising:
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a plurality of plates, each plate having a proximal end and a distal end and a length and a width and a thickness, the plurality of plates being disposed in a linear array, each plate having a position within the linear array, wherein for adjacent pairs of the plates, each of the adjacent pairs including a first plate and a second plate, a first major face for the first plate is in proximity to a second major face for the second plate; and an acoustic transducer, the linear array being acoustically coupled to the acoustic transducer; wherein each of at least 70 percent of the plates is substantially isolated acoustically from each other one of the plates; wherein each of at least 70 percent of the plates is substantially planar; wherein each of at least 70 percent of the plates is substantially homogeneous; wherein for at least 90 percent of the plates a width-thickness ratio is greater than or equal to 3; wherein for the linear array a length-width ratio is greater than or equal to 3; and wherein the plurality of plates comprises a plurality of segments joined at longitudinal folds. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 27)
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26. A method comprising:
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(a) providing a plurality of plates disposed in a linear array and a plurality of acoustic transducers, the linear array being acoustically coupled to the plurality of acoustic transducers, each plate having a position within the linear array, wherein a value for an attribute or a longitudinal offset differs among the plates in coordination with the position within the linear array;
wherein each of at least 70 percent of the plates is substantially isolated acoustically from each other one of the plates and is substantially planar and is substantially homogeneous;
wherein for at least 90 percent of the plates a width-thickness ratio is greater than or equal to 3; and
wherein for the linear array a length-width ratio is greater than or equal to 3;(b) exciting the plates with acoustic energy emitted from the plurality of acoustic transducers, the acoustic energy having one of N states, each of the N states corresponding to a combination of values for three parameters for the acoustic energy, the parameters being frequency, mode, and timing difference, each of the N states having one of M values for the mode, each of the N states having one of F values for the frequency, each of the N states having one of T values for the timing difference, wherein M, F, and T are integers, wherein M equals one or two, wherein F equals two or three, wherein T equals two or three, and wherein N is greater than or equal to eight and less than or equal to M multiplied by F multiplied by T; (c) changing the state for the acoustic energy by resetting at least one of the parameters for the acoustic energy; (d) repeating step (c) until the acoustic energy has cycled through each of the N states.
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Specification