Honeywell International Inc.

Enraf B.v.

Bin Sai

Vijendran Gopalan Venkoparao

Longfei Chen

Laurent Mauduit

Fernand Wicht

Mohammed Ibrahim Mohideen

Fouad Nusseibeh

Lokesh Rayasandra Boregowda

Marc M Pos

Raghavendra Muniraju

Petr Stluka

Jiri Vass

Wen Peng

Dong Luo

Joseph J Pane

Dinesh Ramegowda

Charan Ebsv

Ronald Schrier

Manu Shastry C R

Balasubramanya Raju B K

Bas Kastelein

Christian L Bies

Michel Delsard

Fabien Aeschlimann

Ronald C Sehrier

MeiFa Chen

Fabian Weber

Sam Chen

Binbing Liu

Jie Tong

In an embodiment, a radar level gauge system can include an antenna system comprising an imaging phased array in an isolated antenna arrangement that supports monopulse processing for radar image resolution and mapping of a surface of a material. The imaging phased array can provide a narrow-beam with beam scanning/steering and can emit a transmit beam that scans the surface of the material and forms the mapping of the surface. The mapping can comprise a 3D volumetric model that can include an image of a surface profile of the surface based on signals returned from the surface. The imaging phase array and the antenna system are protected from condensation and contamination from chemicals and viscous materials.

Imaging radar level gauge with adaptive beam steering capability operating under harsh conditions

An ultrasonic-based system includes a transmitter and receiver, an ultrasonic transducer including piezoelectric element having a matching layer thereon connected to the transmitter. A controller is coupled to the transmitter. The transmitter is for driving the piezoelectric element with a pulsed electrical signal, where the piezoelectric element transmits a transmit ultrasonic signal. A current/voltage measurement circuit is coupled to sense a current or voltage in the transmitter. The controller is for implementing an algorithm for an ultrasonic transducer monitoring method including comparing an amplitude of the pulsed signal to a predetermined limit. When the pulsed signal is determined to be outside the limit, an impedance of the piezoelectric element is determined to be abnormal. When the pulsed signal is within the limit, the amplitude of the received signal is compared to a lower limit, which when below results in determining a cleaning operation for the ultrasonic transducer is needed.

Ultrasonic transducer health status monitor

An ultrasonic flowmeter and a fluid pipeline. The ultrasonic flowmeter includes: a housing, which defines a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet with a fluid passage therebetween; and at least two pairs of ultrasonic sensors, wherein each pair of the at least two pairs of ultrasonic sensors have a first ultrasonic sensor and a second ultrasonic sensor arranged opposite to each other; wherein at least some of the at least two pairs of ultrasonic sensors are arranged in grooves on an inner wall of the fluid passage, and center points of front end faces of at least some of the at least two pairs of ultrasonic sensors are located on a cylindrical curved surface defined by the inner wall of the fluid passage.

Ultrasonic flow meter path layout configuration

Methods and system include power harvesting with process and device monitoring. A power management system including a solar cell can be integrated with a display panel into a common housing. A capacitor and a rechargeable battery connected to the power management system can receive power from the solar cell and provide electrical power, first from the capacitor and then second from the rechargeable battery, to electronic components including the display engaged in monitoring processes and devices deployed in isolated locations. Electronics can include a microprocessor programmed to provide collected data display on the display panel and wireless transmission to a remote monitoring station. A rotatable stem operated by a step-motor and connected to the common housing can orient the integrated display and solar cell towards sunlight according to an internal time clock synchronizing movement of the display panel via a step motor and thereby maximize harvesting of electrical energy.

Systems and methods for energy harvesting and use in support of monitored processes and devices

A system includes a first levitation magnet. The system also includes a suspension magnet configured underneath the first levitation magnet. The suspension magnet oscillates continuously. Magnetic flux cuts across electrical coil windings. Energy is generated as a result of the magnetic flux that cuts across the electrical coil windings. A second levitation magnet is positioned underneath the suspension magnet and first levitation magnet. The suspension magnet is configured to levitate between the first levitation magnet and the second levitation magnet.

Autonomous wireless multivariant sensor node&#x2014;AWSN

A fluid mixture parameter determination (FMPD) system for analyzing a fluid mixture while moving includes a computing system and at least one material model that includes two or more model parameters for a plurality of material compositions stored in the memory. An ultrasonic sensor and a millimeter wave (MMW) sensor are each coupled to sense the fluid mixture and are coupled to the computing system. The ultrasonic sensor is for providing ultrasonic data to the computing system including a velocity of the fluid mixture or a volumetric flow, and a velocity of sound (VoS) through the fluid mixture. The MMW sensor is for providing MMW velocity data to the computing system. The computing system is for utilizing the material model together with the ultrasonic data and the MMW velocity data for identifying parameters including a plurality of components in the fluid mixture and a concentration for the plurality of components.

Millimeter-wave and ultrasound sensors

A system, method, and apparatus for reducing ringing effects associated with a transducer comprises a transducer body, a transducer cap, a piezoelectric element formed in the cap, and a damping material formed around the piezoelectric element wherein the damping material suppresses a ringing effect associated with the transducer, while an O-ring is used together with damping material to support high pressure applications up to 230 bars.

Ultrasonic transducer

An ultrasonic flowmeter (USM) includes a meter body including a pipe section for flowing a fluid therethrough including a first and second ultrasonic transducer, top-works including a housing and a PCB, a controller coupled to the ultrasonic transducers through a transmitter and/or receiver, and an accelerometer and/or an acoustic sensor for sensing a vibration on the pipe section and for providing an output signal coupled to the controller. The electronics are communicatively coupled to the meter body and the housing is mechanically coupled to the meter body. The controller analyzes the output signal to identify &#x2265;1 vibration frequency and compares the vibration frequency to a predetermined sensitive frequency range for the USM. When the vibration frequency is determined to be within the predetermined frequency range, the controller implements an anti-vibration operating mode by increasing a measurement time when measuring the fluid flow and/or adding additional data processing task(s).

Ultrasonic flowmeter with vibration-resistant operating mode

An ultrasonic flow meter includes a housing for attaching to a fluid pipe. A first piezoelectric element coupled to a transmitter and receiver is configured to emit ultrasonic waves in an axial direction perpendicular to a horizontal plane defined by the piezoelectric element. A lens combination is in a lower housing portion positioned radially outside the first piezoelectric element including a refocusing lens that is ring-shaped configured for redirecting received radial ultrasonic waves to travel in an axial direction perpendicular to the horizontal plane and has a thickness profile configured to act as a matching layer for reducing multiple reflections within the lower housing portion. A second lens that is disc-shaped below the refocusing lens is configured for redirecting the radial ultrasonic waves to travel in the axial direction.

Ultrasonic flow meter with lens combination

An ultrasonic flow meter (UFM) includes a first and second ultrasonic transducer for attaching to a pipe, and a transceiver coupled to the transducers by a multiplexer. A controller having an associated memory runs an adaptive multi-frequency hopping and coding algorithm that selects &#x2265;1 frequency to be hopped within the measured transducer impedance spectrum using a threshold level that selects at least a peak for the phase or a valley for the magnitude, and selects a coding scheme for the chosen frequency to provide a coded frequency sequence. A received signal generated responsive to an ultrasonic signal with the coded frequency sequence into the fluid is decoded, and peak detection is performed on the decoded received signal. The travel time is calculated from the decoded signal, and a speed of the fluid is then determined from the travel time.

Ultrasonic transducers using adaptive multi-frequency hopping and coding

A system, method, and apparatus for attenuating acoustic back-coupling in a ultrasonic meter transducer that includes a gasket band comprising a loop of a material, a first gasket ring integrated in the gasket band configured to match a diameter of a first bracket hole, and a second gasket ring integrated in the gasket band configured to match a diameter of a second bracket hole wherein the loop of material comprises a material that provides both environmental sealing and acoustic attenuation.

Ultrasonic meter transducer

A process control system for controlling an industrial process includes a cloud-computing dependent (CD) radar level gauge or ultrasonic flow meter (CD sensor device) including a sensor, transducer, communications unit, with limited hardware/software incapable of calculating an accurate level calculation or high accuracy gas flow rate. A bus couples the sensed data from the CD sensor device to an IP communications unit that outputs IP protocol data. The cloud computing system is coupled by an IP network to receive the IP protocol data and includes a processor executing advanced data processing algorithms which provides a second part of the CD sensor device including processing the IP data to generate a remote computational result including the accurate level calculation/high accuracy gas flow rate. The cloud computing system feeds back the remote computational result to a process controller coupled to an actuator that controls processing equipment for automatically tuning the industrial process.

Distributed computing with cloud computed feedback to process sensors

A system for calibrating a thermal camera with a calibration target. The calibration target may have a pattern which can be seen on an infrared image captured by the camera. The pattern may be of various kinds. For example, the pattern may be a checkerboard with some, such as every other square, having one emissitivity and the remaining squares having a different emissitivity, or having infrared light sources placed at corners of the squares. A difference between the emmissitivities may be sufficient so that the checkerboard pattern appears in an infrared image captured by the camera for calibration. The calibration may aid in determining intrinsic and extrinsic parameters of the camera. The parameters may provide a basis for transforming camera pixel coordinates to a world coordinate system which allows measurement of real world entities by the thermal camera. Measurements may incorporate distances between objects, heights of objects, and so forth.

Thermal camera calibration

A pulsed radar method of sensing or measuring a product material in a storage tank. A plurality of waveform types are automatically selected based on a power limitation. The pulsed radar signal is transmitted by a programmable transmitter to the product material, wherein the pulsed radar signal is reflected or scattered by the product material to provide a radar signal during an interval of time including a target signal. An initial gain or attenuation is automatically set for a programmable receiver. The programmable receiver receives the radar signal including the target signal during the interval of time, and the target signal is signal processed using a lower attenuation setting as compared to the initial gain or attenuation to determine at least one parameter associated with the product material. The transmitted and received radar signal can also be adjusted according to the measured SNR.

Adaptive radar system with mutliple waveforms

A multi-mode pulsed radar method for sensing or measuring a product material in a storage tank includes providing a measure of radar signal attenuation for pulsed radar signals transmitted to the product material. Automatic adjustment of one or more transmitted radar pulse parameters is implemented by selecting a pulse width and a pulse amplitude based on the measure of radar signal attenuation. In signal mode 2 higher amplitude and/or wider pulses are selected when the measure of radar signal attenuation is relatively high and in signal mode 1 lower amplitude and/or narrower pulses are selected when the measure of radar signal attenuation is relatively low. The radar pulse is transmitted to the product material using the selected pulse width and the pulse amplitude. The target signal reflected or scattered from the product material is processed to determine at least one parameter, such as product level.

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Zuid Holland, Netherlands

Bin Sai