Ultrasonic sensor for the detection of gas bubbles

US4722224A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Shiley Incorporated · US

Inventors

• Thomas Scheller · Eden Prairie, US
• Werner Heinze · Frankfurt, DE
• Johann Schreyer · Birkenfeld, DE
• Roman Wysotzky · Bad Tölz, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Aug 27, 1986
• Grant date: Feb 2, 1988
• Expiry date: Aug 27, 2006

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01N2291/102
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

An ultrasonic sensor for non-invasive detection of air bubbles in a liquid flowing through a tube comprises two half-housings capable of being assembled together and two mutually opposed ultrasonic transducers, one installed in each of the half-housings. For acoustic coupling of the tube to the two mutually opposed ultrasonic transducers, each half-housing contains a chamber closed off by a flexible membrane and filled with a fluid highly transmissive of sound. The fluid displaced by the tube inserted between the two half-housings forces the membrane up in the form of a bulge on either side of the tube. In this way, an excellent contact is obtained between the chamber filled with sound-transmissive fluid and the tube. The membrane may be embedded into the side walls of the half-housings and cylindrically arched along the same.