The invention generally provides a system and method for detecting, measuring, and/or classifying particulate and/or water contaminants in a fluid supply line, storage tank, or sump. Embodiments of the invention provide a contaminant detection apparatus with a detection chamber and a detection module. The detection chamber includes a housing with an internal fluid conduit and one or more acoustic transducers disposed in the housing. Alarms and/or automatic signaling may be included to shut off valves or pumps when contaminants are detected.

A continuous wave ultrasound analysis device for analysing a surface of a component includes an input to receive ultrasound data relating to continuous wave, swept frequency ultrasound propagated through the component; a processing section to derive a standing wave amplitude spectrum from the received ultrasound data, and determine a property of an unconstrained layer on the surface based on the standing wave amplitude spectrum; and an output to output the determined property of the layer. A method of continuous wave ultrasound for analysing a surface is also provided.

A gas analyzer uses continuous sonic signals through a conduit to determine the composition of a gas in the conduit. A transmitting transducer drives sonic signals at a fixed frequency and a second transducer receives the sonic signals. The phase shift between two signals corresponds to the speed of sound through the gas and is related to the composition of the gas. The electronic versions of these signals are processed by lowering, or dividing, the fixed frequency which expands the range of phase shift measurement and allows the determination of an expanded range for the gas composition. In an ozone generation system, the gas analyzer is highly suitable for determining the composition of gases derived from air as a gas of known composition and a calibration point.

It is provided a method for determining characteristics of a mechanical apparatus, comprising the steps of exciting a continuous acoustic wave in the apparatus; receiving the acoustic wave by means of a receiver; and determining information on characteristics of the apparatus by evaluating a signal generated by the receiver on receipt of the acoustic wave. The evaluation of the signal generated by the receiver comprises a demodulation of the signal.

Structural health monitoring (SHM) methods, apparatus and techniques involve building deformation fields maps (amplitude and phase related to excitation) on the surface of the structural component under monitoring based on a network of strain measurements by fiber Bragg grating sensors.

A system for determining a material property is disclosed. In some embodiments, a method for determining a material property comprises receiving a set of material responses corresponding to a set of ultrasonic excitations. The set of material responses are determined using measurements to determine a peak response for each of the set of ultrasonic excitations. In some embodiments, a device for making non-destructive in-situ measurements of the elastic yield strength of a sample (e.g., a steel plate or pipeline wall) is disclosed. The device determines the yield strength of a specimen based on transducing ultrasonic waves within the medium and correlating quantifiable characteristics of the resulting frequency response to the intrinsic elastic nonlinearity of the material. In various embodiments, the device includes one or more electrodes, an acoustic termination, a horn, a flange, a collar, power electronics, signal processors, a memory, a user interface, or any other appropriate device component.

An imaging device can include a transducer that includes an array of piezoelectric elements formed on a substrate. Each piezoelectric element can include at least one membrane suspended from the substrate, at least one bottom electrode disposed on the membrane, at least one piezoelectric layer disposed on the bottom electrode, and at least one top electrode disposed on the at least one piezoelectric layer. Adjacent piezoelectric elements can be configured to be isolated acoustically from each other. The device is utilized to measure flow or flow along with imaging anatomy.

A transducer system. The system comprises a transducer and circuitry for applying an excitation waveform to excite the transducer during an excitation period. The circuitry for applying has: (i) circuitry for applying a first waveform at a first frequency; and (ii) circuitry for applying a second waveform at a second frequency differing from the first frequency.