The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 22, 1992
Filed:
Sep. 16, 1991
David J Crosby, San Jose, CA (US);
Bindicator Company, Port Huron, MI (US);
Abstract
A system for monitoring level of material in a vessel that includes a transducer for transmitting an ultrasonic signal toward and receiving an echo signal from a surface of the material, and a power switch coupled to the transducer for energizing the transducer to transmit the ultrasonic signal. A microprocessor-based controller has an output coupled to the power switch for controlling operation thereof. The output of the microprocessor provides a pulsed periodic signal to the power switch at controllably variable frequency, duty cycle and/or total burst duration to operate the transducer at an ultrasonic frequency that corresponds to the periodic signal frequency, duty cycle and burst duration. The echo signals are compared to successive thresholds between the transmission bursts, and echo signal data is sampled and stored in the microprocessor over a measurement cycle that includes multiple transmission bursts. The true echo signal from the material surface is distinguished from pulse echo signals as a combined function of amplitude and time duration data so stored.