The Lubrizol Corporation

Oliver Smith

Michael R Sutton

Mitchell Peplow

Ultrasonic measurement apparatusincludes a transmitterto transmit an ultrasonic signalinto an item. A receiverreceives echoesfrom the item. The apparatusmeasures the frequency spectrum of the echoand makes a comparison with another frequency spectrum to extract information relating to a change in the item. For example, the itemmay wear during use. A comparison of the frequency spectrum, with previous frequency spectra, allows changes of dimension of the itemto be identified. Changes in amplitudes of the frequency spectrum allow changes in roughness to be detected.

Ultrasonic measurement

A fluidis contained within a chamber. The chamber wallhas an inner surfaceexposed to the fluidand an outer surfaceseparated from the inner surfaceby the materialof the wall. Ultrasoundis introduced into the material. Measurement of the time of flight of the ultrasoundthrough the bodyallows a measurement to be made of the pressure of the fluid

Ultrasound generating apparatus () comprises an arbitrary waveform generator () to provide a waveform output at (), representing a waveform. A power amplifier (), which may be an operational amplifier, is operable to amplify the waveform output () in power and amplitude to provide a power output () for applying to an ultrasonic transducer ().

Ultrasound generating apparatus, and methods for generating ultrasound

Methods and apparatus relate to ultrasound measurement of a dimension such as the thickness () of an item () which may be worn over time by contact with an item (). An ultrasonic transceiver () couples ultrasound into the item (). Outgoing ultrasound i results in echos r returning to the transceiver (). This allows calculation of time of flight to yield a value for the thickness (). In the examples prescribed, the measurement is repeated a plurality of times in a specified period to extract a dimension from each received signal. Information extracted from the plurality of received signal is used to produce a single value indicative of the dimension of the item () over the specified period.

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University Heights, OH, United States of America

Oliver Smith