Patent · US Expired

System for determining the angle of impact of an object on a structure

US5191558A · kind A · utility

7Cited by
0References
1Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 17, 1992
Grant dateMar 2, 1993
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 17, 2012

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01S3/803
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A method for determining the angle of impact of an object on a thin-walled structure which determines the angle of impact through analysis of the acoustic waves which result when an object impacts a structure. Transducers are placed on and in the surface of the structure which sense the wave caused in the structure by impact. The waves are recorded and saved for analysis. For source motion normal to the surface, the antisymmetric mode has a large amplitude while that of the symmetric mode is very small. As the source angle 22 increases with respect to the surface normal, the symmetric mode amplitude increases while the antisymmetric mode amplitude decreases. Thus, the angle of impact is determined by measuring the relative amplitudes of these two lowest order modes.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.