Transducer configuration having a multiple viewing position feature

Abstract

A transducer configuration of an acoustic sensing tool for determining the consistency of a first medium disposed between a layer having a greater acoustic reflectivity than the first medium and a second medium, the sensing tool including a rotating head, wherein the tool comprises first, second and third transducer pairs in a spaced apart configuration, each pair comprising a transmitting transducer for transmitting an acoustic radiation signal in an insonified zone, and receiving transducer having a receiving radiation pattern in a insonified zone, wherein the space between the transmitting and receiving transducers in each pair is constructed and arranged to allow the transmitting and receiving insonified zones to intersect behind but not in the acoustically reflective layer to null reverberation energy therefrom. The tool also includes a centerline of radiation from each transmitting transducer that propagates and refracts through the reflective layer such that all transmitting centerlines intersect in an intersection near voxel, wherein the intersection voxel is interrogated by all three transducer pairs substantially simultaneously at nearly a single azimuthal head position, such that any occlusion is interrogated from three different directions, thereby facilitating determination of occlusion surface orientation.