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:
Oct. 03, 2006
Filed:
Feb. 17, 2004
David C. Lizon, Rio Rancho, NM (US);
Gregory Kaduchak, Los Alamos, NM (US);
Dipen N. Sinha, Los Alamos, NM (US);
David C. Lizon, Rio Rancho, NM (US);
Gregory Kaduchak, Los Alamos, NM (US);
Dipen N. Sinha, Los Alamos, NM (US);
Adept Science & Technologies, LLC, Los Alamos, NM (US);
Abstract
The present invention includes an apparatus and method for continuous and point level liquid level detection in a closed container or pipe having an inaccessible interior volume such that it is difficult to retrofit these tanks with a level gauge that operates within the storage volume. The invention is based on a frequency domain analysis of the combined storage tank/fluid or pipe/fluid response to localized ultrasonic energy, and can be implemented using several excitation and signal analysis procedures, taking advantage of the transmission properties of the vessel wall in the vicinity of one of its longitudinal thickness resonances. Thus, significantly lower peak excitation voltages are required than with pulse-echo ultrasonic techniques.