Study on contactless ultrasonic sensor and seam tracking

The sensitivity of contactless ultrasonic sensor is improved from 3.3% to 26% through acoustic and electric matching technique in this paper.Along dual crest lines auto seam tracking is firstly realized with contactless ultrasonic sensing.The focused acoustic lens is accurately designed, and a sonic beam with 0.5 mm in diameter is achieved. By means of software and hardware technique the accuracy of seam tracking with ultrasonic sensing is 0.5 mm in lateral direction and 0.2 mm in longitudinal direction respectively.

Development of seam tracking system with ultrasonic sensor using self-tuning fuzzy control

One kind of the SAW seam tracking system with contactless ultrasonic sensor is presented in this paper. The new contactless ultrasonic sensor for seam tracking and the working principle of the seam tracking with the sensor are introduced. Based on the experiments, the optimal values of the fuzzy control parameters α and k 3 are defined by means of the off line adjusting method. Because the self tuning fuzzy control is adopted in the seam tracking system, the overshoot of the system is restrained, the steady state error is reduced, and the system's response speed is improved effectively. The results of the SAW seam tracking experiments show that this system's tracking accuracy is up to ±0.5 mm and the system can satisfy the requirements of the engineering application.

Object-tracking robot using ultrasonic sensor and servo motor

This paper proposes a method that rotation angle of servo motor and distance values of ultrasonic sensor are used for tracking an object in real-time while the robot keeps regular distance.Object detection distance widens by using ultrasonic sensors and object recognition,and movement of robot is controlled by angle of servo motor and distance of ultrasonic sensors.Not adopting the existing tracking methods:camera,laser-infrared(LRF)and many ultrasonic sensors,the proposed method proves that it is possible to track object using ultrasonic sensor and servo motor.Trajectory of robot is represented and analysed according to movement of object in limited conditions.

Indoor 3D Reconstruction Using Camera, IMU and Ultrasonic Sensors

The recent advances in sensing and display technologies have been transforming our living environments drastically. In this paper, a new technique is introduced to accurately reconstruct indoor environments in three-dimensions using a mobile platform. The system incorporates 4 ultrasonic sensors scanner system, an HD web camera as well as an inertial measurement unit (IMU). The whole platform is mountable on mobile facilities, such as a wheelchair. The proposed mapping approach took advantage of the precision of the 3D point clouds produced by the ultrasonic sensors system despite their scarcity to help build a more definite 3D scene. Using a robust iterative algorithm, it combined the structure from motion generated 3D point clouds with the ultrasonic sensors and IMU generated 3D point clouds to derive a much more precise point cloud using the depth measurements from the ultrasonic sensors. Because of their ability to recognize features of objects in the targeted scene, the ultrasonic generated point clouds performed feature extraction on the consecutive point cloud to ensure a perfect alignment. The range measured by ultrasonic sensors contributed to the depth correction of the generated 3D images (the 3D scenes). Experiments revealed that the system generated not only dense but precise 3D maps of the environments. The results showed that the designed 3D modeling platform is able to help in assistive living environment for self-navigation, obstacle alert, and other driving assisting tasks.

Ultrasonic Sensor-Based Embedded System for Vehicular Collusion Detection and Alert

The efficacy of an automated collision detection system is contingent upon the caliber and volume of data at its disposal. In the event that the data is deficient, incongruous, or erroneous, it has the potential to generate erroneous positive or negative outcomes, thereby compromising the system’s credibility. The occurrence of false positives is observed when the system erroneously identifies genuine activity as collusion. The phenomenon of false negatives arises when the system is unable to identify instances of genuine collusion. Collusion detection systems are required to handle substantial volumes of data in real time, capable of analyzing relationships between different objects. The intricate nature of collusion can pose difficulties in devising and executing efficient systems for its detection. The present study proposes an automated anti-collision system that utilizes sensor devices to detect objects and activate an alert mechanism in the event that the vehicle approaches the object in close proximity. The study introduces a novel methodology for mitigating vehicular accidents by implementing a combined system that integrates collision detection and alert mechanisms. The proposed system comprises an ultrasonic sensor, a microprocessor, and an alarm system. The sensor transmits a signal to the microcontroller, which in turn sends a signal to the warning unit. The warning unit is designed to prevent potential accidents by emitting an audible warning signal through a buzzer. Additionally, the distance information is displayed on an LCD screen. The Proteus Design Suite is utilized for simulation purposes, while Arduino.cc is employed for implementation.

Development of Measurement System for Flow and Shape Using Array Ultrasonic Sensors

In Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident, the fuel debris formed in the Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) and Primary Containment Vessel (PCV) at Unit 1 - 3. To accelerate and decide further decommissioning steps of the FDNPP, it is crucial to obtain realistic information of the debris and localize contaminated water leakage from PCV. Due to high radiation and dark environment inside the PCV, investigating instruments and techniques should necessarily to meet specification of radiation resistance, waterproofness, dust resistance and so on. This study focuses on development of ultrasonic measurement system using a couple of sectorial array sensors to localize contaminated water leakage and visualize shape of object that repre- senting fuel debris, simultaneously. In this study, Total Focusing Method (TFM) and Ultrasonic Velocity Profiler (UVP) methods are considered to visualize object shape and flow pattern around it, respectively. To demonstrate applicability and reliability of developed measurement system with sectorial array sensors, a mock-up experiment result of simulated water leakage and fuel debris shape were discussed in this paper.

Low palladium content CeO_(2)/ZnO composite for acetone sensor with sub-second response prepared by ultrasonic method

In practical applications,noble metal doping is often used to prepare high performance gas sensors,but more noble metal doping will lead to higher preparation costs.In this study,CeO_(2)/ZnO-Pd with low palladium content was prepared by ultrasonic method with fast response and high selectivity for acetone sensing.With the same amount of palladium added,the selectivity coefficient of CeO_(2)/ZnO-Pd is 1.88 times higher than that of the stirred sensor.Compared with the pure PdO-doped CeO_(2)/ZnO-PdO material,the content of Pd in CeO_(2)/ZnO-PdO is about 30%of that in CeO_(2)/ZnO-PdO,but the selectivity coefficient for acetone is 2.56 times higher.The CeO_(2)/ZnO-Pd sensor has a higher response(22.54)to 50×10^(−6) acetone at 300℃and the selectivity coefficient is 2.57 times that of the CeO_(2)/ZnO sensor.The sensor has a sub-second response time(0.6 s)and still has a 2.36 response to 330×10^(−9) of acetone.Ultrasonic doping makes Pd particles smaller and increases the contact area with gas.Meanwhile,the composition of n-p-n heterojunction and the synergistic effect of Pd/PdO improve the sensor performance.It shows that ultrasonic Pd doping provides a way to improve the utilization rate of doped metals and prepare highly selective gas sensors.

Hybrid pedestrian positioning system using wearable inertial sensors and ultrasonic ranging

Pedestrian positioning system(PPS)using wearable inertial sensors has wide applications towards various emerging fields such as smart healthcare,emergency rescue,soldier positioning,etc.The performance of traditional PPS is limited by the cumulative error of inertial sensors,complex motion modes of pedestrians,and the low robustness of the multi-sensor collaboration structure.This paper presents a hybrid pedestrian positioning system using the combination of wearable inertial sensors and ultrasonic ranging(H-PPS).A robust two nodes integration structure is developed to adaptively combine the motion data acquired from the single waist-mounted and foot-mounted node,and enhanced by a novel ellipsoid constraint model.In addition,a deep-learning-based walking speed estimator is proposed by considering all the motion features provided by different nodes,which effectively reduces the cumulative error originating from inertial sensors.Finally,a comprehensive data and model dual-driven model is presented to effectively combine the motion data provided by different sensor nodes and walking speed estimator,and multi-level constraints are extracted to further improve the performance of the overall system.Experimental results indicate that the proposed H-PPS significantly improves the performance of the single PPS and outperforms existing algorithms in accuracy index under complex indoor scenarios.

Design and measurement of a piezoresistive ultrasonic sensor based on MEMS

A kind of piezoresistive ultrasonic sensor based on MEMS is proposed,which is composed of a membrane and two side beams.A simplified mathematical model has been established to analyze the mechanical properties of the sensor.On the basis of the theoretical analysis,the structural size and layout location of the piezoresistors are determined by simulation analysis.The boron-implanted piezoresistors located on membrane and side beams form a Wheatstone bridge to detect acoustic signal.The membrane-beam microstructure is fabricated integrally by MEMS manufacturing technology.Finally,this paper presents the experimental characterization of the ultrasonic sensor,validating the theoretical model used and the simulated model.The sensitivity reaches -116.2 dB（0 dB reference = 1 V/μbar,31 kHz）,resonant frequency is 39.6 kHz,direction angle is 55°.

The design and test of MEMS piezoresistive ultrasonic sensor arrays

The design,fabrication and packaging of a type of MEMS piezoresistive ultrasonic transducer array are introduced.The consistency of the resonance frequency and the sensitivity of the array are tested.Moreover,we detect the directivity and the multi-target identification ability of the array.The results of the consistency of the resonance frequency and the sensitivity show that there is a gap between the practical and theoretical results.This paper analyzes this problem in detail and points out the direction of improvement.As for the directivity,the actual result is consistent with the theoretical one.The results of multiple target distinguishing tests demonstrate that the smallest resolution angle of the array is 5.72°when the distance between the sensor array and measured objects is 2 m.

Ultrasonic method for measuring water holdup of low velocity and high-water-cut oil-water two-phase flow

Oil reservoirs with low permeability and porosity that are in the middle and late exploitation periods in China＇s onshore oil fields are mostly in the high-water-cut production stage.This stage is associated with severely non-uniform local-velocity flow profiles and dispersed-phase concentration（of oil droplets） in oil-water two-phase flow,which makes it difficult to measure water holdup in oil wells.In this study,we use an ultrasonic method based on a transmission-type sensor in oil-water two-phase flow to measure water holdup in lowvelocity and high water-cut conditions.First,we optimize the excitation frequency of the ultrasonic sensor by calculating the sensitivity of the ultrasonic field using the finite element method for multiphysics coupling.Then we calculate the change trend of sound pressure level attenuation ratio with the increase in oil holdup to verify the feasibility of the employed diameter for the ultrasonic sensor.Based on the results,we then investigate the effects of oildroplet diameter and distribution on the ultrasonic field.To further understand the measurement characteristics of the ultrasonic sensor,we perform a flow loop test on vertical upward oilwater two-phase flow and measure the responses of the optimized ultrasonic sensor.The results show that the ultrasonic sensor yields poor resolution for a dispersed oil slug in water flow（D OS/W flow）,but the resolution is favorable for dispersed oil in water flow（D O/W flow） and very fine dispersed oil in water flow（VFD O/W flow）.This research demonstrates the potential application of a pulsed-transmission ultrasonic method for measuring the fraction of individual components in oil-water two-phase flow with a low mixture velocity and high water cut.

基于背衬层匹配的压电式柔性超声传感器优化

基于聚偏氟乙烯(PVDF)压电薄膜的柔性超声传感器具有体积小、质量轻、易于阵列化等优点,但容易受到背部杂波干扰和阻抗不匹配的影响,导致回波信号频率成分复杂且信噪比较低。为有效吸收传感器背部杂波,提升超声波单向辐射的能力,利用钨粉和硅胶设计针对柔性超声传感器的背衬层,在保持传感器整体柔性的同时使传感器的信号电压幅值提高了200%。其次,根据柔性超声传感器的电学特性提出了柔性超声传感器阻抗匹配优化方法,并通过梯度实验获得最佳匹配参数,使传感器的信噪比从2 dB提高到30 dB。优化后的柔性超声传感器具有宽频带、高频率、窄脉冲的优良性能,对不同曲率、不同壁厚的管道试件厚度的测量实验结果表明其可以达到0.01 mm的精度。

Development of an Accurate Low-cost Ultrasonic Localization System for Autonomous Mobile Robots in Indoor Environments

An accurate low-cost ultrasonic localization system is de- veloped for automated mobile robots in indoor environments, which is essential for automatic navigation of mobile robots with various tasks. Although ultrasenic sensors are more cost-effective than other sensors such as Laser Range Finder （LRF） and vision, but they are inaccurate and directionally ambiguons. First, the matched filter is used to measure the distance accurately. For resolving the computational complexity of the matched filter, a new matched filter algorithm with simple compution is proposed. Then, an ultrasonic localization system is proposed which consists of three ultrasonic receivers and two or mote transmitters for improving position and orientation accuracy was developed. Finally, an extended Kalman filter is designed to estimate both the static and dynamic positions and orientations. Various simu lations and experimental results show that the proposed system is effective.

Visualisation of air–water bubbly column flow using array Ultrasonic Velocity Profiler

In the present work, an experimental study of bubbly two-phase flow in a rectangular bubble column was performed using two ultrasonic array sensors, which can measure the instantaneous velocity of gas bubbles on multiple measurement lines. After the sound pressure distribution of sensors had been evaluated with a needle hydrophone technique, the array sensors were applied to two-phase bubble col- umn, To assess the accuracy of the measurement system with array sensors for one and two-dimensional velocity, a simultaneous measurement was performed with an optical measurement technique called particle image velocimetry （PIV）. Experimental results showed that accuracy of the measurement system with array sensors is under 10% for one-dimensional velocity profile measurement compared with PIV technique. The accuracy of the system was estimated to be under 20% along the mean flow direction in the case of two-dimensional vector mapping.

Spatial Analysis of Soybean Plant Height and Plant Canopy Temperature Measured with On-the-Go Tractor Mounted Sensors

There is a growing interest in the Open Ag community to use inexpensive sensors controlled by open-source software to measure plant height and plant canopy temperature of agricultural crops. Plant height and plant canopy temperature are key indicators of plant health. This research study reports on an ongoing research initiative to test a compact and inexpensive mobile sensor to measure plant height and plant canopy temperature. The system is controlled by open source software and hardware. The specific objectives for this study were to analyze the relationship between plant height and plant canopy temperature of soybeans (Glycine max L.) measured with the mobile system and to analyze the spatial correlation of the plant height and plant canopy temperature measurements. Data were collected in a soybean plot in 2018 and 2019. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and geostatistical techniques were used to evaluate the data. A negative statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05) relationship was observed between the plant height and the plant canopy temperature measurements (r = −0.54, 2018;r = −0.37, 2019). Also, both parameters were spatially correlated;however, plant height had a greater spatial continuity than plant canopy temperature. Furthermore, similar patterns were observed for the in-field variability of the plant height and plant temperature maps derived via kriging. Similarities in plant height and plant canopy temperatures were observed from one year to the next, suggesting that the sensor technologies could be used as a historical record for monitoring growth patterns in soybean fields. The sensors and techniques used in this study can be easily adapted to other crops, thus providing two important layers for monitoring plant growth and potentially plant stress.

Damage Detection in CFST Column by Simulation of Ultrasonic Waves Using STFT-Based Spectrogram and Welch Power Spectral Density Estimate

Structural health monitoring employs different tools and techniques to provide a prediction for damages that occur in various structures.Damages such as debond and cracks in concrete-filled steel tube column(CFST)are serious defects that threaten the integrity of the structural members.Ultrasonic waves monitoring applied to the CFST column is necessary to detect damages and quantify their size.However,without appropriate signal processing tools,the results of the monitoring process could not be crucial.In this research,a monitoring process based on a Multiphysics numerical simulation study was carried out.Two signal processing tools:short time Fourier transform(STFT)and Welch Power Spectral Density Estimate(PSD)were used to analyse the captured raw signals.The STFT spectrogram was effective in identifying the different size of damage based on a graphical interpretation.The results show that the increasing of frequency of the excited signal give a better results.The increase in peak magnitude values in Welch PSD was found to be proportionate to the change in damage length whereas the damage depth has a less effect.The results for the crack size identification were less promising than those of debond damage because of the different type of the signal’s propagation path.Simulation process conducted by COMSOL software has proved the validity of the adopted signal processing techniques in detecting such damages in CFST columns.

Flaw Detection Capability and Sensitivity in the Inspection of Nuclear Containment Liner and Shell Mock-Ups Utilizing a Magnetostrictive Sensor (MsS) Guided Wave UT Technique

This paper describes the results of a project on the inspection of visually inaccessible areas of nuclear containment liners and shells via the advanced Magnetostrictive sensor (MsS) Guided Wave (GW) nondestructive inspection technique. Full scale mockups that simulated shell and liner regions of interest in the containment of both a Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) and Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) were constructed. Inspections were performed on the mock-ups in three stages to discern the signal attenuation caused by flaws and caused by concrete in the structures. The effect of concrete being in close proximity to the liner and shell was determined, and the capability to detect and size flaws via this GW technique was evaluated.

Design and Implementation of an Ultrasonic Heat Meter Based on MSP430F437

Flowing with the reform of the hot water heating method in China, heat meter will enter into households in the near future. A portable ultrasonic heat meter is designed in this paper. The meter uses chip microprocessor MSP430F437 as the data process core, and uses ultrasonic flow sensor to measure flow rate of the hot water, and capture input and output temperatures of the hot water using the thermal resistance sensor Ptl000, and then household energy consumption is calculated via temperature difference between input temperature and output temperature of the hot water multiplied by volume of hot water that is calculated though flow rate integration of hot water. In order to test the performance of the proposed heat meter, experiments is carried out. Both the temperature and flow measurement results satisfy the requirements of accuracy and the heat meter is effective in the heat measurement.

The Design Liquid-level Monitoring System of Adopting the Ultrasonic Sensing Technology

Utilizing the technology of Ultrasonic wave,relevant test arithmetic and the PC to carry on monitoring,controlling and cen-tralized management of the liquid-level in the liquid container. It can prevent from keeping in touch with the examined liquid,not only has increased the continuous working time of the system greatly,simplifying maintenance of the sensor conveniently,can also realize overhauling in producing and boost the productivity and management level. The working principle,hardware structure of the instrument and the design method are presented,and the selection of sensor and MCU is discussed in detail in this paper. MCU are used to control the emission and receiving. Then the liquid-level are calculated,which makes the design more intelligent.

基于单片机的超声波测距系统设计

基于超声波测距的渡越时间检测原理,实现对近距离障碍物无接触的实时测量,本文提出一种基于STC89C52RC单片机实现温度补偿的超声波测距的设计方法。该超声波测距系统工作稳定,同时具有低成本、高精度、微型化等优点,可应用在道路限高、液位测量、倒车雷达预警、机器人自动避障、工业场地等应用场合,具有一定实际应用价值。