Ultrasonic depth measurement apparatus and methods
First Claim
1. Apparatus for determining the depth of precipitation accumulating on the surface of a pathyway, comprising:
- a sensor having an electrical transducer for emitting and sensing ultrasonic energy and having a body of material for propagating the ultrasonic energy therethrough, which body is to be embedded in the pathway with the top surface of the body being substantially flush therewith and exposed to the precipitation, said transducer being physically coupled to the body;
means for supplying electrical pulses to said transducer to cause it to emit pulses of ultrasonic energy, which are reflected as first and second reflections from the top surface of the body and from the upper surface of an accumulation of precipitation on the top surface of the body and are respectively returned to said transducer which in response to the reflected pulses produces corresponding first and second electrical signals;
means connected to said transducer for amplifying the first and second electrical signals corresponding to the first and second reflections, thereby to produce an amplifier output;
means connected to said amplifying means for initiating a first timing signal upon the occurrence of the first electrical signal;
means for comparing the amplifier output with a threshold level which has a magnitude that decreases with time, the operation of said comparing means being started upon an occurrence of the first timing signal, the comparing means initiating a second timing signal when the amplifier output reaches the threshold level; and
means for generating a third electical signal representing the depth of the precipitation as a function of the time interval between occurrences of the first and second timing signals.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Apparatus for determining the depth of precipitation accumulating on the surface of a pathway, such as an airport runway or the like, includes a sensor having electrical transducer means for emitting and sensing ultrasonic energy and having a body of material adapted to be embedded in the pathway with the top surface of the body being substantially flush therewith and exposed to the precipitation, the transducer means being physically coupled to the body. A circuit causes the transducer means to emit pulses of ultrasonic energy, which are reflected as first and second reflections from the top surface of the body and from the upper surface of an accumulation of precipitation on the top surface of the body and are respectively returned to the transducer which, in response to the reflected pulses, produces corresponding first and second electrical signals. An amplifier is connected to the transducer means for amplifying the first and second electrical signals corresponding to the first and second reflections, thereby to produce an amplifier output. Another circuit is connected to the amplifier for initiating a first timing signal upon the occurrence of the first electrical signal. A further circuit compares the amplifier output with a threshold level which has a magnitude that decreases with time, the operation of the comparing circuit being started upon an occurrence of the first timing signal, the comparing circuit initiating a second timing signal when the amplifier output reaches the threshold level. Still another circuit in the apparatus generates a third electrical signal representing the depth of the precipitation as a function of the time interval between occurrences of the first and second timing signals. Other circuits and methods for depth and related measurements are also described.
-
Citations
70 Claims
-
1. Apparatus for determining the depth of precipitation accumulating on the surface of a pathyway, comprising:
-
a sensor having an electrical transducer for emitting and sensing ultrasonic energy and having a body of material for propagating the ultrasonic energy therethrough, which body is to be embedded in the pathway with the top surface of the body being substantially flush therewith and exposed to the precipitation, said transducer being physically coupled to the body; means for supplying electrical pulses to said transducer to cause it to emit pulses of ultrasonic energy, which are reflected as first and second reflections from the top surface of the body and from the upper surface of an accumulation of precipitation on the top surface of the body and are respectively returned to said transducer which in response to the reflected pulses produces corresponding first and second electrical signals; means connected to said transducer for amplifying the first and second electrical signals corresponding to the first and second reflections, thereby to produce an amplifier output; means connected to said amplifying means for initiating a first timing signal upon the occurrence of the first electrical signal; means for comparing the amplifier output with a threshold level which has a magnitude that decreases with time, the operation of said comparing means being started upon an occurrence of the first timing signal, the comparing means initiating a second timing signal when the amplifier output reaches the threshold level; and means for generating a third electical signal representing the depth of the precipitation as a function of the time interval between occurrences of the first and second timing signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
-
-
33. Apparatus for determining the depth of precipitation accumulating on the surface of a pathway, comprising:
-
a sensor having an electrical transducer for emitting and sensing ultrasonic energy and having a body of material for propagating the ultrasonic energy therethrough, which body is to be embedded in the pathway with the top surface of the body being substantially flush therewith and exposed to the precipitation, said transducer being physically coupled to the body; means for supplying electrical pulses to said transducer to cause it to emit pulses of ultrasonic energy, which are reflected as first and second reflections from the top surface of the body and from the upper surface of an accumulation of precipitation on the top surface of the body and are respectively returned to said transducer which in response to the reflected pulses produces corresponding first and second electrical signals; means connected to said transducer for amplifying the first and second electrical signals corresponding to the first and second reflections, thereby to produce an amplifier output; means for genrating a third electrical signal representing the depth of the precipitation as a function of the time interval between occurrences of the first and second electrical signals; and means for periodically adjusting the degree of amplication provided by the amplifying means so that the peak value of the first electrical signal in the amplifier output is maintained substantially constant and for producing a fourth electrical signal representing the peak value prior to amplification of the first electrical signal from said transducer. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
-
-
39. Apparatus for determining the depth of precipitation accumulating on the surface of a pathway, comprising:
-
a sensor having an electrical transducer for emitting and sensing ultrasonic energy and having a body of material for propagating the ultrasonic energy therethrough, which body is to be embedded in the pathway with the top surface of the body being substantially flush therewith and exposed to the precipitation, said transducer being physically coupled to the body; means for supplying electrical pulses to said transducer to cause it to emit pulses of ultrasonic energy, which are reflected as first and second reflections from the top surface of the body and from the upper surface of an accumulation of precipitation on the top surface of the body and are respectively returned to said transducer which in response to the reflected pulses produce corresponding first and second electrical signals; means for generating a third electrical signal representing the depth of the precipitation as a function of the time interval between occurrences of the first and second electrical signals; means for accumulating respective totals of the number of times the third electrical signal represents a value of depth lying within each one of a series of depth intervals, and for computing precipitation depth as a function of the totals; and means for displaying the computed value of precipitation depth. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
-
-
51. A method for determining the depth of precipitation accumulating on the surface of a pathway, with a sensor having an ultrasonic transducer physcially coupled to a body of material for propagating ultrasonic energy therethrough, the body having a top surface, the method comprising the steps of:
-
embedding the body of material and the ultrasonic transducer in the pathway with the top surface of the body being substnatially flush therewith and exposed to the precipitation; supplying electrical pulses to the ultrasonic transducer to cause it to emit pulses of ultrasonic energy, which are reflected as first and second reflections from the top surface of the body and from the upper surface of an accumulation of precipitation on the top surface of the body and are respectively returned to the transducer which in response to the reflected pulses produces corresponding first and second electrical signals; generating a third electrical signal representing the depth ofthe precipitation as a function of the time interval between occurences of the first and second electrical signals; accumulating respective totals of the number of times the third electrical signal represents a value of depth lying within each one of a series of depth intervals; computing precipitation depth as a function of the totals; and displaying the computed value of precipitation depth. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60)
-
-
61. Apparatus for determining the depth of precipitation accumulating on the surface of a pathway, comprising:
-
a sensor having an electrical transducer for emitting and sensing ultrasonic energy and having a body of material for propagating the ultrasonic energy therethrough, which body is to be embedded in the pathway with the top surface of the body being substantially flush therewith and exposed to the precipitation, said transducer being physically coupled to the body; means for supplying electrical pulses to said transducer to cause it to emit pulses of ultrasonic energy, which are reflected as a plurality of reflections from the top surface of the body and from the upper surface of an accumulation of precipitation on the top surface of the body and are respectively returned to said transducer which in response to the reflected pulses produces corresponding electrical signals; means for generating a third electrical signal representing the depth of the precipitation as a function of the time interval between occurrences of at least two of the electrical signals; means for accumulating respective totals of the number of times the third electrical signal represents a value of depth lying within each one of a series of depth intervals, and for computing precipitation depth as a function of the totals, and means for displaying the computed value of precipitation depth.
-
-
62. Apparatus for determining the depth of precipitation accumulating on the surface of a pathway, comprising:
-
a sensor having an electrical transducer for emitting and sensing ultransonic energy and having a body of material for propagating the ultrasonic energy therethrough, which body is to be embedded in the pathway with the top surface of the body being substantially flush therewith and exposed to the precipitation, said transducer being physically coupled to the body; means for supplying electrical pulses to said transducer to cause it to emit pulses of ultrasonic energy which are reflected as first and second reflections from the top surface of the body and from the upper surface of an accumulation of precipitation on the top surface of the body and are respectively returned to said transducer which, in response to the reflected pulses, produces corresponding first and second electrical signals, said pulse supplying means including an oscillator electrically connected to said transducer and a temperature-sensitive electrical element connected to said oscillator for varying the frequency of said oscillator as a function of temperature, said oscillator and temperature-sensitive element being physically associated with said sensor so that said sensor, said oscillator and said temperature-sensitive element can be embedded together in the pathway; and means for generating a third electrical signal representing the depth of the precipitation as a function of the time interval between occurrences of the first and second electrical signals and for generating a fourth electrical signal representing the temperature as a function of the frequency of said oscillator. - View Dependent Claims (63)
-
-
64. Apparatus for determining the depth of precipitation accumulating on the surface of a pathway, comprising:
-
a sensor having an electrical transducer for emitting and sensing ultrasonic energy and having a body of material for propagating the ultrasonic energy therethrough, which body is to be embedded in the pathway with the top surface of the body being substantially flush therewith and exposed to the precipitation, said transducer being physically coupled to the body; means for supplying electrical pulses to said transducer to cause it to emit pulses of ultrasonic energy which are reflected as first and second reflections from the top surface of the body and from the upper surface of an accumulation of precipitation on the top surface of the body and are respectively returned to said transducer which, in response to the reflected pulses, produces corresponding first and second electrical signals, wherein the first electrical signal has a peak value; means for deriving another electrical signal representing the peak value of the first electrical signal; and means for generating an additional electrical signal representing the depth of the precipitation as a function of both the time interval between occurrences of the first and second electrical signals and the peak value represented by the electrical signal from said deriving means. - View Dependent Claims (65, 66, 67)
-
-
68. Apparatus for determining the depth of precipitation accumulating on the surface of a pathway, comprising:
-
a sensor having an electrical transducer for emitting and sensing ultrasonic energy and having a body of material for propagating the ultrasonic energy therethrough, which body is to be embedded in the pathway with the top surface of the body being substantially flush therewith and exposed to the precipitation, said transducer being physically coupled to the body; means for supplying electrical pulses to said transducer to cause it to emit pulses of ultransonic energy which are reflected as first and second reflections from the top surface of the body and from the upper surface of an accumulation of precipitation on the top surface of the body and are respectively returned to said transducer which, in response to the reflected pulses, produces corresponding first and second electrical signals; means for generating a third electrical signal representing the depth of the precipitation as a function of the time interval between occurrences of the first and second electrical signals; and means connected to said generating means and responsive to said third electrical signal for producing a signal representing a rate of change of precipitation depth. - View Dependent Claims (69, 70)
-
Specification