WIRELESS MEASUREMENT DEVICE USING SURFACE ACOUSTIC WAVE (SAW)-BASED MICRO SENSOR AND METHOD OF USING THE SAW-BASED MICRO SENSOR

• US 20130174662A1
• Filed: 09/14/2011
• Published: 07/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ajou University Industry Cooperation Foundation
• Original Assignee: Ajou University Industry Cooperation Foundation
• Inventors: Yang, Sang Sik, Park, Ik Mo, Kim, Young kil, Lee, Kee Keun, Kwon, Ick Jin, Oh, Hae Kwan
• Granted Patent: US 9,116,034 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 73/627
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 21/00 Measuring or testing not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: G01H 17/00 Measuring mechanical vibrations or ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves, not provided for in the preceding groups see provisionally also G01H1/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 1/165 with acoustic surface waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 9/0025 with acoustic surface waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/0256 Adsorption, desorption, surface mass change, e.g. on biosensors
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/0423 Surface waves, e.g. Rayleigh waves, Love waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/022 Fluid sensors based on microsensors, e.g. quartz crystal-microbalance [QCM], surface acoustic wave [SAW] devices, tuning forks, cantilevers, flexural plate wave [FPW] devices microdevices per se B81B
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/2481 Wireless probes, e.g. with transponders or radio links
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0675 the resonating marks being of the surface acoustic wave [SAW] kind SAW devices per se H03H9/64
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0717 the sensor being capable of sensing environmental conditions such as temperature history or pressure

Abstract

A wireless measurement device includes a sound acoustic wave (SAW)-based micro sensor converting a wirelessly received pulse signal into an SAW and generating a plurality of pulse signals by reflecting the SAW, and wirelessly transmitting the plurality of pulse signals to measure a variance of an environmental element; and a reader generating and wirelessly transmitting a pulse signal to the SAW-based micro sensor to measure variances in environmental elements.

Claims

1. A wireless measurement device comprising:

a sound acoustic wave (SAW)-based micro sensor converting a wirelessly received pulse signal into an SAW and generating a plurality of pulse signals by reflecting the SAW, and wirelessly transmitting the plurality of pulse signals to measure a variance of an environmental element; and

a reader generating and wirelessly transmitting a pulse signal to the SAW-based micro sensor to measure variances in environmental elements, whenever an interval between the plurality of pulse signals received by reflecting the transmitted pulse signal by the SAW micro sensor is corresponding to a determined interval between pulse signals of an environmental element, the reader generating and wirelessly transmitting a pulse signal to the SAW-based micro sensor and measuring a variance in the environmental element by counting times of pulse signals generated for a certain amount of time.

2. The wireless measurement device of claim 1, wherein the SAW-based micro sensor comprises:

an antenna wirelessly transmitting and receiving a pulse signal;

an inter-digital transducer (IDT) generating an SAW by applying the pulse signal received at the antenna to a plurality of metallic electrodes formed parallel to one another and converting a plurality of SAWs reflected by the reflector part into a plurality of pulse signals, and wirelessly outputs the plurality of pulse signals via the antenna; and

the reflector part comprising a plurality of reflectors and reflecting the SAW generated by the IDT.

3. The wireless measurement device of claim 2, wherein the IDT has a single phase unidirectional transducer configuration.

4. The wireless measurement device of claim 1, wherein the reader comprises:

an environmental element variance measurement part generating and transmitting a pulse signal for measuring a variance of an environmental element to the SAW-based micro sensor via an radio frequency (RF) part, whenever an interval between the plurality of pulse signals received by reflecting the transmitted pulse signal by the SAW micro sensor is corresponding to a determined interval between pulse signals of an environmental element, the environmental element variance measurement part generating and wirelessly transmitting a pulse signal to the SAW-based micro sensor via the RF part and measuring a variance in the environmental element by counting times of pulse signals generated for a certain amount of time; and

the RF part wirelessly transmitting the pulse signal generated by the environmental element variance measurement part to the SAW-based micro sensor and transmitting the plurality of pulse signals wirelessly received from the SAW-based micro sensor to the environmental element variance measurement part.

5. The wireless measurement device of claim 4, wherein the RF part comprises:

an antenna wirelessly transmitting and receiving a pulse signal;

a transmitter modulating the pulse signal generated by the environmental element variance measurement part and transmitting the modulated signal to the SAW-based micro sensor via the antenna; and

a receiver modulating the plurality of pulse signals reflected by the SAW-based micro sensor and received via the antenna ANT and transmitting the modulated signals to the environmental element variance measurement part.

6. A method of wirelessly measuring by using an SAW-based micro sensor, the method comprising:

generating a pulse signal and wirelessly transmitting the pulse signal to the SAW-based micro sensor, performed by a reader, to measure a variance of an environmental element;

converting the wirelessly received pulse signal into an SAW, and to measure the variance of the environmental element, generating a plurality of pulse signals by reflecting the SAW, and wirelessly transmitting the plurality of pulse signals, performed by an SAW-based micro sensor; and

generating and wirelessly transmitting a pulse signal to the SAW-based micro sensor and measuring the variance of the environmental element by counting times of pulse signals generated for a certain amount of time whenever an interval between the plurality of pulse signals received by reflecting the transmitted pulse signal by the SAW micro sensor is corresponding to a determined interval between pulse signals of the environmental element, performed by the reader.