A method and an apparatus for detecting a modification of a compound, the modification occurring during a transient period. The method may include: coupling at least one substance portion comprising ferro elastic material to a compound, the substance portion being configured to change a polarization level thereof continuously in response to a strain gradient applied thereto over the a transient period which results in said modification; sensing a physical property of said substance portion affected by the polarization level of the substance portion, due to the modification; and determining, using a computer processor, the modification, based on the sensed physical property of the substance portion.

A measurement system for measuring an inhomogeneity of a medium in a vessel includes: a first ultrasound emitter for sending a first ultrasound signal along a first path; a second ultrasound emitter for sending a second ultrasound signal along a second path different from the first path; a first ultrasound receiver for receiving the first ultrasound signal and measuring a first measurement parameter p1 of the received first ultrasound signal; a second ultrasound receiver for receiving the second ultrasound signal and measuring a second measurement parameter p2 of the received second ultrasound signal; and a control unit: receives the first measurement parameter p1 from the first ultrasound receiver, receives the second measurement parameter p2 from the second ultrasound receiver, and determines a ratio p1/p2 of the first measurement parameter p1 to the second measurement parameter p2.

Method and systems for of evaluating a mechanical property of a material by applying force to the material sufficient to physically displace a portion of the material, measuring displacement of the material, adaptively adjusting the force when the displacement measured is not within a predetermined range of displacement values, wherein the force is increased or decreased depending upon whether the measured displacement is below or above the predetermined range, respectively, and computing a mechanical property value resultant from the displacement of the material.

A method of determining a mixing state of a medium in a container includes: transmitting a plurality of acoustic signals at least partly through the medium and receiving the plurality of acoustic signals after at least partly traversing the medium; determining at least one propagation value of at least one propagation quantity for each of the plurality of received acoustic signals to provide determined propagation values, each at least one propagation quantity being indicative of an interaction of the acoustic signals with the medium; determining at least one fluctuation value of at least one fluctuation quantity based on the determined propagation values to provide a determined at least one fluctuation value, each at least one fluctuation quantity being indicative of and/or correlating with a variance of the determined propagation values and/or with a state of a mixture; and determining the mixing state of the medium.

A measurement system for measuring an inhomogeneity of a medium in a vessel includes: a first ultrasound emitter for sending a first ultrasound signal along a first path; a second ultrasound emitter for sending a second ultrasound signal along a second path different from the first path; a first ultrasound receiver for receiving the first ultrasound signal and measuring a first measurement parameter p1 of the received first ultrasound signal; a second ultrasound receiver for receiving the second ultrasound signal and measuring a second measurement parameter p2 of the received second ultrasound signal; and a control unit: receives the first measurement parameter p1 from the first ultrasound receiver, receives the second measurement parameter p2 from the second ultrasound receiver, and determines a ratio p1/p2 of the first measurement parameter p1 to the second measurement parameter p2.

The present disclosure is drawn to a photoacoustic explosives detector, including a sample chamber, an aerosolizing ejector, a light source, and a pressure differential sensor. The sample chamber can include a photoreaction region, and the aerosolizing ejector can be positioned to eject 3 pL to 10 nL droplets of a liquid sample into the photoreaction region. A light source can be directed to emit focused light through the photoreaction region, and a pressure differential sensor can be positioned with respect to the photoreaction region to sense degradation of the droplets exposed to the focused light.

Systems and methods of determining physical conditions of a battery, such as state of charge (SOC), state of health (SOH), quality of construction, defect, or failure state include driving two or more acoustic signals of two or more amplitudes, each acoustic signal having two or more frequencies, into the battery and detecting vibrations generated in the battery based on the two or more acoustic signals. Nonlinear response characteristics of the battery for the two or more acoustic signals are determined from the detected vibrations. The physical conditions of the battery are determined based at least in part on the nonlinear response characteristics, using nonlinear acoustic resonance spectroscopy (NARS) or nonlinear resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (NRUS).

Systems and methods of determining physical conditions of a battery, such as state of charge (SOC), state of health (SOH), quality of construction, defect, or failure state include driving two or more acoustic signals of two or more amplitudes, each acoustic signal having two or more frequencies, into the battery and detecting vibrations generated in the battery based on the two or more acoustic signals. Nonlinear response characteristics of the battery for the two or more acoustic signals are determined from the detected vibrations. The physical conditions of the battery are determined based at least in part on the nonlinear response characteristics, using nonlinear acoustic resonance spectroscopy (NARS) or nonlinear resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (NRUS).

The present invention discloses a method and device for monitoring state of charge and state of health of a battery, and relates to the technical field of battery. The method comprises: firstly, passing ultrasonic waves through a lithium-ion battery in different SOCs at different charging and discharging currents to obtain acoustic parameters, and then establishing respective corresponding relationships between the acoustic parameters and the lithium-ion battery SOC and SOH; and secondly, monitoring the acoustic parameters of a lithium-ion battery, and then estimating SOC and SOH of the lithium-ion battery by combining the monitored acoustic parameters with the respective corresponding relationships between the acoustic parameters and the lithium-ion battery SOC and SOH. The invention further provides a device implementing the above method. The method and device can monitor the battery SOC and SOH in a brand new way different from the electricity parameter measurement. The method can effectively monitor SOC and SOH of lithium-ion batteries of various types and shapes and thus has a good application prospect.

A device for estimating a mechanical property of a sample is disclosed herein. The device may include a chamber configured to hold the sample; a transmitter configured to transmit a plurality of waveforms, including at least one forcing waveform; and a transducer assembly operatively connected to the transmitter and configured to transform the transmit waveforms into ultrasound waveforms. The transducer assembly can also transmit and receive ultrasound waveforms into and out of the chamber, as well as transform at least two received ultrasound waveforms into received electrical waveforms. The device also includes a data processor that can receive the received electrical waveforms; estimate a difference in the received electrical waveforms that results at least partially from movement of the sample; and estimate a mechanical property of the sample by comparing at least one feature of the estimated difference to at least one predicted feature, wherein the at least one predicted feature is based on a model of an effect of the chamber wall. Finally, the device can also include a controller configured to control the timing of the ultrasound transmitter and data processor.