Patent Application
20240263980
The subject matter described herein generally relates to ultrasonic transducers, and more particularly, to ultrasonic transducers disposed in flow meters.
Flow meters of various types are utilized to measure different characteristics of fluids such as velocity, acceleration, and so forth. One such flow meter, an ultrasonic flow meter, is widely used in the oil and gas industry and operates to measure a velocity of a fluid that travels through pipes of various shapes and dimensions. In particular, the ultrasonic flow meter may include one or more ultrasonic transducers that generate, emit, and receive sounds waves and enable the ultrasonic flow meter to determine fluid velocity through a pipe by measuring various travel times associated with these sound waves.
These ultrasonic transducers include attenuating components that dampen the vibration capability of these transducers, which in turn limit the ability of these transducers to generate sounds waves at particular frequencies.
Aperture filled backing based ultrasonic transducer systems and ultrasonic transducer apparatuses are provided. In one aspect, an ultrasonic transducer comprises an enclosure including an impedance matching member, at least one piezoelectric component, an adhesive material, and a backing member including a plurality of apertures disposed thereupon. In aspects, the impedance matching member is coupled to a first surface of the at least one piezoelectric component and the backing member is coupled to a second surface of the at least one piezoelectric component, the first surface is diametrically opposed to the second surface. In aspects, the adhesive material is disposed between the at least one piezoelectric component and the backing member for coupling the at least one piezoelectric component to the backing member, and between the at least one piezoelectric component and the impedance matching member for coupling the at least one piezoelectric component to the impedance matching member.
In another aspect, a method comprises disposing an impedance matching member, at least one piezoelectric component, an adhesive material, and a backing member within an enclosure, the backing member including a plurality of apertures, positioning a portion of the adhesive material between the at least one piezoelectric component and the backing member, coupling, using the portion of the adhesive material, the backing member to a first surface of the at least one piezoelectric component using the adhesive material, positioning an additional portion of the adhesive material between the at least one piezoelectric component and the impedance matching member, and coupling, using the additional portion of the adhesive material, the impedance matching member to a second surface of the at least one piezoelectric component, wherein the first surface is diametrically opposed to the second surface.
In another aspect, an ultrasonic transducer system comprises an enclosure including an impedance matching member, at least one piezoelectric component, an adhesive material, and a backing member including a plurality of apertures disposed thereupon in accordance with a pattern, the impedance matching member is coupled to a bottom surface of the at least one piezoelectric component and the backing member is coupled to a top surface of the at least one piezoelectric component, the bottom surface is diametrically opposed to the top surface, the adhesive material disposed between the at least one piezoelectric component and the backing member for coupling the at least one piezoelectric component to the backing member, and between the at least one piezoelectric component and the impedance matching member for coupling the at least one piezoelectric component to the impedance matching member.
The aspects herein may be better understood by referring to the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals indicate identically or functionally similar elements, of which:
It should be understood that the above-referenced drawings are not necessarily to scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of various preferred features illustrative of the basic principles of the disclosure. The specific design features of the present disclosure, including, for example, specific dimensions, orientations, locations, and shapes, will be determined in part by the particular intended application and use environment.
Ultrasonic flow meters are widely used to measure velocities of fluids that travel through pipes of various shapes and dimensions. In particular, the ultrasonic flow meter may include one or more ultrasonic transducers that generate, emit, and receive sounds waves and enable the ultrasonic flow meter to determine fluid velocity through a pipe by measuring various travel times associated with sound waves that contact the fluid and travel from one transducer to another. Conventionally, ultrasonic transducers include rigid attenuating components that are disposed on various surfaces of one or more piezoelectric crystals that are included in these transducers. While these attenuating components provide a level of stability to the transducer, they operate to significantly dampen or reduce the vibration capabilities of these transducers, which in turn reduces the ability of these transducers to generate sound waves that correspond to particular frequencies, e.g., a higher range of frequencies. As such, the applicability of conventional transducers is limited.
Accordingly, the ultrasonic transducers with a flexible and malleable backing member, as described in the present disclosure, address and overcome the above described deficiencies. In particular, the flexible and malleable backing member may be designed to have a density and mass that is lower than the attenuating components that are utilized in conventional ultrasonic transducers. Further, in aspects, the backing member may include a plurality of apertures that correspond to various geometric shapes, e.g., triangle, hexagon, circle, square, and so forth. Due to these factors, the backing member, which may be disposed on a top surface of a piezoelectric component that is included as part of the ultrasonic transducer, may operate to vibrate or oscillate at a rate that is substantially similar to the rate of oscillation of the piezoelectric component. As a result, the piezoelectric component may operate to generate sound waves at frequencies and that are much higher than the sound waves that may be generated by the transducers that include the above described attenuating component. Furthermore, due to the flexible characteristic of the backing member, the piezoelectric component may vibrate in multiple modes or orientations, e.g., longitudinal orientation and/or radial orientation. Conventionally, the ability of the piezoelectric component to vibrate in these modes may be limited by the heavier attenuating component. It is noted that the ultrasonic transducers with flexible and malleable backing members provides numerous advantages over conventional ultrasonic transducer designs. In particular, the use of the flexible backing members provides these transducers with various advantages such as an improved signal penetration power, a higher level of signal transmission, and a more robust signal shape for the sound generated by the piezoelectric components included in these transducers. Additionally, another advantage of the ultrasonic transducers with the flexible and malleable backing members, as described in the present disclosure, is that such backing members are more robust and durable as compared to conventional filler-based backings. In particular, unlike conventional filler-based backings, the malleable backing members are resistant to instances of severing or delamination. Yet another advantage is that the malleable backings, as described herein, may be designed in various sizes and geometries such that a signal shape and a signal strength that corresponds to a particular threshold may be achieved.
Aspects of ultrasonic transducers with malleable backings are described with greater detail below.
For example, as illustrated in
In certain embodiments, the piezoelectric component 204 may be composed of piezoelectric materials such as quartz, lead zicronate titanate, barium titanate, lithium niobate, and so forth. These materials are non-limiting examples. In certain embodiments, the example backing member 202 may be formed of a flexible, malleable, and durable material. In aspects, the impedance matching member 206 may be formed of materials that provide acoustic attenuation that is below a particular threshold and shear sound that is less than a particular threshold. Additionally, the impedance matching member 206 may operate to restrict distortion to a particular threshold. In particular, the example backing member 202 may be formed of a material that has a density in the range of, e.g., 350 kilograms per cubic meter to 500 kilograms per cubic meter. The density range of 350 kilograms per cubic meter to 500 kilograms per cubic meter is a non-limiting example. It is noted that other density ranges are also contemplated. In aspects, the density range may be lower for flat sections or portions of the backing that do not include apertures and may be higher for backings with various apertures that correspond to various geometric shapes e.g., triangle, hexagon, circle, square, and so forth. Further, the example backing member 202 may have a thickness 203 in the range of approximately 2 millimeters to 10 millimeters. However, it is noted that other thickness values and/or value ranges are also contemplated. In particular, the thickness 203 of the example backing member 202 may be tuned or modified based on various factors, e.g., density of the example backing member 202 and a sound speed. Such a density and thickness range enables the example backing member 202 to substantially conform with the movement (e.g., vibration) of the piezoelectric component 204 without dampening or attenuating the movement of the piezoelectric component 204.
For example, in operation, the piezoelectric component 204 may receive an electric signal (e.g., from a battery or a power source that is external to or included as part of the ultrasonic transducer 102) and convert this electric signal into a sound wave by vibrating or oscillating at a particular rate and in accordance with a particular orientation. For example, the piezoelectric component 204 may vibrate or oscillate in accordance with a longitudinal configuration or a radial configuration.
Based on such oscillation, the example backing member 202 (which is disposed on the top surface of the piezoelectric component 204) may also oscillate at rate that is similar to the rate at which the piezoelectric component 204 oscillates. However, due to the position of the example backing member 202 and the density and thickness of the backing member 202, the oscillation or vibration rate of the piezoelectric component 204 is not reduced or damped. Simultaneously, the manner of oscillation and the desired frequency of the piezoelectric component 204 satisfies a threshold frequency value in a stable manner. In other words, the piezoelectric component 204 may oscillate in a stable and consistent manner without experiencing any dampening of attenuation due to the positioning and other characteristics of the example backing member 202 adhered to it. Further, the density, thickness, and orientation of the backing member 202 relative to the piezoelectric component 204 may enable the ultrasonic transducer 102 to generate sounds waves at higher frequencies as compared to conventional ultrasonic transducers, as described in greater detail below.
Conventionally, an ultrasonic transducer may include a particular component (e.g., a dampening component or an attenuating component) that is disposed on a top portion of a piezoelectric crystal and is operable to attenuate or dampen the vibration of the piezoelectric crystal in order to generate a sharper signal. However, the result of such an attenuating component is that the overall vibration or oscillation rate of the piezoelectric crystal is reduced, which in turn reduces the overall sound wave frequency that the ultrasonic transducer may generate. In contrast, the use of the example backing member 202 enables the piezoelectric component 204 to vibrate or oscillate at a higher rate, which in turn enables the ultrasonic transducer 102 to generate sound waves at higher frequencies. For example, the use of the example backing member 202 may enable the ultrasonic transducer 102 to generate a sound wave having a frequency that is in the range of approximately 200 KHz, while the frequency generated by an ultrasonic transducer that uses an attenuating component (which is denser and heavier than the example backing member 202), may enable the ultrasonic transducer to generate a sound wave with a frequency that is significantly lower than the frequency range of 200 KHz, e.g., 50 KHz to 100 KHz. In aspects, the use of the example backing member 202 provides the ultrasonic transducer 102 with various advantages, e.g., improved signal penetration power and a higher level of signal transmission. Further, in aspects, the use of the example backing member 202 also provides a more robust signal shape for the sound generated by the piezoelectric component 204. In aspects, the robust signal shape corresponds to a value of 4-6 cycles to the peak and a dampening (i.e. high decay rate) that is in excess of a maximum peak value up to a minimum of 40% to 60%. In aspects, as stated above, the shape of the signal may be modified to suit higher and lower bandwidths by tuning or modifying the geometry and dimensions of the example backing member 202. Further, the use of the example backing member 202 enables the maintaining of a signal transmission and shape at a particular level while simultaneously providing signal damping that satisfies a particular threshold.
In other aspects, when the piezoelectric component 204 vibrates in a longitudinal or radial direction, as described above, the vibration or oscillation may be in accordance with an oscillation rate 402. In aspects, the rate of oscillation of the piezoelectric component 204 may be in a range from 30 kHz to 250 kHz. The example backing member 208, which may include the plurality of apertures 210 that have a triangle shape, may also oscillate in accordance with the oscillation rate 402. In other words, the example backing member 208 may be formed of a flexible material having a density that enables the example backing member 208 to vibrate in accordance with the oscillation rate (e.g., oscillation rate 402) at which the piezoelectric component 204 vibrates.
In block 502, the ultrasonic transducer 102 may include an impedance matching member 206, a piezoelectric component 204, and the example backing member 202 or the example backing member 208 as illustrated in
In block 504, the first portion 214 of the adhesive material may be positioned between the piezoelectric component 204 and the backing member 208. As illustrated in
In block 506, the piezoelectric component 204 may be coupled to the example backing member 208 using the first portion 214 of the adhesive material. As stated above, the piezoelectric component 204 may be bonded to the example backing member 208 such that there is a minimal or negligible gap between the example backing member 208 and the piezoelectric component 204.
In block 508, the second portion 216 of the adhesive material may be positioned between the piezoelectric component 204 and the impedance matching member 206. As illustrated in
In block 510, the piezoelectric component 204 may be coupled to the example impedance matching member 206 using the second portion 216 of the adhesive material. As stated above, the piezoelectric component 204 may be bonded to the example impedance matching member 206 such that there is a minimal or negligible gap between the example impedance matching member 206 and the piezoelectric component 204.
Further non-limiting aspects or aspects are set forth in the following numbered clauses:
While there have been shown and described illustrative aspects that provide for online installations of ultrasonic steam measurement devices in steam pipes, it is to be understood that various other adaptations and modifications may be made within the spirit and scope of the aspects herein. For example, the aspects have been primarily shown and described herein with relation to steam-carrying pipes. However, the aspects in their broader sense are not as limited. Rather, the devices and techniques described herein may be applied to vessels carrying other forms of pressurized fluids, as well. Moreover, the device and techniques described herein may be applied to steam measurement devices other than ultrasound-based measurement devices. Thus, the aspects may be modified in any suitable manner in accordance with the scope of the present claims.
It should be understood that terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular aspects only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,” “includes,” or variations thereof, when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. The term “coupled” denotes a physical relationship between two components whereby the components are either directly connected to one another or indirectly connected via one or more intermediary components.
Approximating language, as used herein throughout the specification and claims, may be applied to modify any quantitative representation that could permissibly vary without resulting in a change in the basic function to which it is related. Accordingly, a value modified by a term or terms, such as “about,” “approximately,” and “substantially,” are not to be limited to the precise value specified. In at least some instances, the approximating language may correspond to the precision of an instrument for measuring the value. Here and throughout the specification and claims, range limitations may be combined and/or interchanged, such ranges are identified and include all the sub-ranges contained therein unless context or language indicates otherwise.
The foregoing description has been directed to aspects of the present disclosure. It will be apparent, however, that other variations and modifications may be made to the described aspects, with the attainment of some or all of their advantages. Accordingly, this description is to be taken only by way of example and not to otherwise limit the scope of the aspects herein. Therefore, it is the object of the appended claims to cover all such variations and modifications as come within the true spirit and scope of the aspects herein.
