Guigne International, Ltd.

Cuigne International Ltd

Acoustic Zoom, Inc.

Jacques Y Guigne

Adam Gogacz

Martin B Barmatz

Nicholas G Pace

Henry W Jackson

John J Moore

Hu Chun Yi

J Kim Welford

Thomas J McKeever

Sergei V Koptenko

Clyde Clements

Apparatus for producing an objective assessment of the size of fish in an aquaculture setting. The apparatus includes a sonic transducer (,) with a transmitter that is driven to generate time-spaced pulses that move along a sonic beam path (,) of small spread angle, and a sonic detector that detects echos of the transmitted pulses which result whenever a fish enters the sonic beam. An analyzing circuit analysis the echos to provide an estimate of the size of the fish that produced the echoes. The analyzing circuit detects the time between the leading and trailing edges of an echo, which indicates the thickness of the fish. A measurement of the peak amplitude of the echo and of the integral of echo energy also indicates the size of the fish.

Fish sizing sonar system

A system for sonically probing a seabed comprises at least one row of transducers that each can produce a sonic beam, and a corresponding row of sonic detectors. Each transducer is independently energized to produce a narrow sonic beam, with resulting seabed or subsea echoes being detected to produce one pixel of a display formed by an X-Y array of pixels, before a next transducer is energized and its echoes are detected to produce another pixel of the display. When the system detects a large change in echo amplitude at adjacent seabed locations, then scanning at those locations is accentuated by analysis and by additional sonificiation at different frequencies. The transducers are closely spaced, at a center-to-center distance of typically about 3.5 cm, to provide good horizontal resolution. Each transducer is energized to produce a sonic pulse which, dependent on the application, has a carrier frequency of 0.25 MHz. This results in an optimized narrow sonic beam, with each pulse having a duration on the order of 10 to 100 microseconds to produce a modulation frequency on the order of 200 kHz to 5 Khz, and with each pulse having a high maximum energy to create a wide frequency bandwidth in the seabed.

Seabed sonar matrix system

In-situ formation of glass-ceramic composites by the Self-propagating High temperature Synthesis (SHS) technique. The reagents used are: TiO.sub.2, B.sub.2 O, Al, Ti, B and MO where MO represents BaO, MgO, CaO and other similar oxides. BaCO.sub.3 may be substituted for BaO. The composition of the reaction products can be adjusted by adjusting the ratios of the reagents. All reagents are in powder form and the reaction can be carried out either in inert atmosphere inside a reaction chamber or in air without a chamber. The materials produced have crystalline TiB.sub.2 particles in a glassy matrix (aluminoborate glass). The TiB.sub.2 particles have a size of about 0.5 .mu.m. Advantages include processing simplicity and cost savings. The glass-ceramic composites produced are electrically conductive and find application where high strength, hardness and electrical conductivity are required.

Method of manufacturing aluminoborate glass-ceramic composite

A system is described that uses acoustic energy to position an object, which simplifies the application of forces in defined directions to the object and which enables the application of large forces to the object. The system includes transducers (21-24, FIG. 1) that direct separate acoustic beams (31-34) at the object (12), with the system constructed so the beams do not create standing wave patterns. A plurality of beams whose phases at the object are not closely controlled, are directed at different surface areas of the object so the beams do not substantially overlap at the object and create possible canceling effects. A very large force is applied to the bottom (124 FIG. 8) of an object lying in a gravity environment, by directing a plurality of beams (141-145) at the same area at the bottom of the object, and with the beams being controlled so they are substantially in phase at the object area. This plurality of beams can also replace one or all of the transducers (21-24, FIG. 1) to provide much stronger forces to position and manipulate the object. The wavelength (B, FIG. 2) of the acoustic energy in each beam is preferably much less than one-tenth the diameter (C) of the object in order to obtain efficient momentum transfer of energy to the object.

Acoustic beam levitation

Growing community of inventors

Paradise, Canada

Jacques Y Guigne