Measurement device

• US 9,194,944 B2
• Filed: 07/14/2010
• Issued: 11/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Nakagawa, Tatsuo, Hyodo, Akihiko, Kurata, Hideaki, Oho, Shigeru
• Primary Examiner(s): GREGORY, BERNARR E
• Application Number:
  US13/809,746
• Publication Number:
  US 20130113644A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,959 Days
• Field of Search: 342/5, 342/6, 342/21, 342/22, 342 27- 29, 342/59, 342/82, 342 89-103, 342/147, 342/156, 342/159, 342/175, 342/188, 342192-197, 342/42, 342/43, 342/118, 342/124, 342/125, 600/300, 600/309, 600/310, 600/407, 600/430
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 23/284 Electromagnetic waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 23/2845 for discrete levels G01F23/288, G01F23/292 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/04 Systems determining presence of a target based on relative movement of target G01S13/56
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/08 Systems for measuring distance only indirect measurement G01S13/46
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/751 wherein the responder or reflector radiates a coded signal

Abstract

Disclosed is a measurement device that can accurately measure size, position, the presence of an object, and the like by means of a simple and low-cost method. Specifically, disclosed is a measurement device that is provided with: a transmitter that transmits radio waves; a vibrating surface that vibrates mechanically; a receiver that receives radio waves; and a controller that transmits radio waves from the transmitter, and on the basis of the signal of the radio waves reflected by the vibrating surface and received by the receiver, outputs information about a measured object on the pathway between the transmitter and the receiver with the vibrating surface therebetween.

Claims

1. A measurement device comprising:

a transmitter that transmits radio waves;

a vibrating surface that vibrates physically;

a receiver that receives radio waves; and

a controller that controls outputting of information about a measured object on the pathway between the transmitter and the receiver with the vibrating surface therebetween, based on the radio waves transmitted from the transmitter, reflected by the vibrating surface, and received by the receiver;

wherein

the receiver extracts a modulated signal component from the radio waves transmitted from the transmitter and modulated by the vibration of the vibrating surface;

the receiver extracts the signal component modulated by the vibration of the vibrating surface through multiplying the radio waves received by the receiver by an oscillator signal that oscillates at the same frequency as the frequency of the radio waves transmitted by the transmitter; and

the receiver down-converts the radio waves through multiplying the radio waves by two kinds of oscillator signals whose phases are orthogonal to each other, and calculates the sum of the intensities of obtained two kinds of signals.

2. A measurement device comprising:

a transmitter that transmits radio waves;

a vibrating surface that vibrates physically;

a receiver that receives radio waves; and

a controller that controls outputting of information about a measured object on the pathway between the transmitter and the receiver with the vibrating surface therebetween, based on the radio waves transmitted from the transmitter, reflected by the vibrating surface, and received by the receiver;

wherein

the receiver extracts a modulated signal component from the radio waves transmitted from the transmitter and modulated by the vibration of the vibrating surface;

the receiver extracts the signal component modulated by the vibration of the vibrating surface through multiplying the radio waves received by the receiver by an oscillator signal that oscillates at the same frequency as the frequency of the radio waves transmitted by the transmitter;

the transmitter and the receiver are integrated in an all-in-one structure as a transceiver;

the transceiver generates a radio wave transmitted by the transmitter on the basis of the output signal of the high-frequency oscillator, and multiplies the radio wave received by the receiver by the output signal of the high-frequency oscillator; and

the receiver performs synchronous detection on an output signal obtained through multiplying the radio waves received by the receiver by the output signal of the high-frequency oscillator with the use of an oscillator signal whose frequency equal to the vibration frequency of the vibrating surface.

3. A measurement device comprising:

a transmitter that transmits radio waves;

a vibrating surface that vibrates physically;

a receiver that receives radio waves;

a controller that controls outputting of information about a measured object on the pathway between the transmitter and the receiver with the vibrating surface therebetween, based on the radio waves transmitted from the transmitter, reflected by the vibrating surface, and received by the receiver; and

a carrier that changes the positional relation between the pathway and the measured object in a direction perpendicular to the pathway, wherein

the receiver extracts a modulated signal component from the radio waves transmitted from the transmitter and modulated by the vibration of the vibrating surface; and

the controller controls the carrier to change the positional relation between the pathway and the measured object in the direction perpendicular to the pathway, and the receiver extracts the intensity of the modulated signal component.

4. The measurement device according to claim 3, wherein

the measured object is a container containing a liquid, and

the receiver detects the position of the liquid level of the liquid with the use of the intensity of the signal component.

5. The measurement device according to claim 3, wherein

the vibrating surface is a curved surface, and the pathway includes the end face of the measured object that reflects the radio waves.

6. A measurement device comprising:

a transmitter that transmits radio waves;

a vibrating surface that vibrates physically;

a receiver that receives radio waves;

a controller that controls outputting of information about a measured object on the pathway between the transmitter and the receiver with the vibrating surface therebetween, based on the radio waves transmitted from the transmitter, reflected by the vibrating surface, and received by the receiver; and

a plurality of vibrating surfaces, wherein

the controller switches vibrating surfaces to be vibrated among the plurality of vibrating surfaces by means of a control signal, and

the receiver receives radio waves respectively reflected by the vibrating surfaces to be vibrated among the plurality of vibrating surfaces, and outputs information about the measured object on the basis of the received radio waves.

7. A measurement device comprising:

a transmitter that transmits radio waves;

a vibrating surface that vibrates physically;

a receiver that receives radio waves;

a controller that controls outputting of information about a measured object on the pathway between the transmitter and the receiver with the vibrating surface therebetween, based on the radio waves transmitted from the transmitter, reflected by the vibrating surface, and received by the receiver; and

a plurality of vibrating surfaces, wherein

the controller vibrates the plurality of vibrating surfaces with different frequencies respectively, and

the receiver receives radio waves respectively modulated by the different frequencies, and outputs information about the measured object on the basis of the received radio waves.

8. The measurement device according to claim 7, wherein

the information is information about the presence or absence, the position, the size, the liquid volume, or the height of the liquid level of an object.

9. A measurement device comprising:

a transmitter that transmits radio waves;

a vibration generator that generates vibrations vibrating at a vibration frequency;

a receiver that receives radio waves that propagate along a pathway via the vibration generator and extracts the signal intensity of a frequency component whose frequency is equal to the vibration frequency of the vibration generator; and

a carrier that carries a measured object, and changes the positional relation between the pathway and the measured object in the direction perpendicular to the pathway.

10. The measurement device according to claim 9, wherein

the vibration generator includes a plurality of vibration sources, and a switch that controls timings for generating the vibrations of the vibration sources.

11. The measurement device according to claim 9, wherein

the vibration generator includes a plurality of vibration sources that have different frequencies respectively.

12. The measurement device according to claim 9, wherein

the receiver detects an interference wave between a first radio wave that propagates along a first pathway on which a radio wave is reflected by the vibration generator and is not reflected by a measured object and a second radio wave that propagates along a second pathway on which a radio wave is reflected by the vibration generator and by the measured object.

13. The measurement device according to claim 9, wherein

the receiver outputs any of the presence or absence, the position, the size, the liquid volume, and the height of the liquid level of a detected object on the pathway.

14. The measurement device according to claim 9, wherein

the radio waves are milliwaves or microwaves.

15. The measurement device according to claim 9, wherein

the radio waves have frequencies of 1 GHz to 300 GHz.