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:
Aug. 02, 2016
Filed:
Dec. 17, 2013
Shyh-shiuh Lih, La Canada Flintridge, CA (US);
Hyeong Jae Lee, South Pasadena, CA (US);
Yoseph Bar-cohen, Seal Beach, CA (US);
Xiaoqi Bao, San Gabriel, CA (US);
Shyh-Shiuh Lih, La Canada Flintridge, CA (US);
Hyeong Jae Lee, South Pasadena, CA (US);
Yoseph Bar-Cohen, Seal Beach, CA (US);
Xiaoqi Bao, San Gabriel, CA (US);
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, Pasadena, CA (US);
Abstract
A system and method for monitoring the properties of a fluid, such as water, in a steam pipe without mechanically penetrating the wall of the pipe. The system uses a piezoelectric transducer to launch an ultrasonic probe signal into the pipe. Reflected ultrasonic signals are captured in a transducer, which can be the same transducer that launched the probe signal. The reflected signals are subjected to data processing, which can include filtering, amplification, analog-to-digital conversion and autocorrelation analysis. A result is extracted which is indicative of a property of the fluid, such as a height of the condensed fluid, a cavitation of the condensed fluid, and a surface perturbation of the condensed fluid. The result can be recorded, displayed, and/or transmitted to another location. One embodiment of the system has been constructed and tested based on a general purpose programmable computer using instructions recorded in machine-readable non-volatile memory.