An ultrasound transducer is configured to be driven at multiple frequencies including a main frequency for efficient production of ultrasound waves and at least one alternative frequency, at which little or no ultrasound is generated and rather heat is generated in the ultrasound transducer for heating a sample.

An environmental parameter sensor for a mobile device is described comprising a first acoustic transducer; a second acoustic transducer arranged at a predetermined distance from the first acoustic transducer; a controller coupled to the first acoustic transducer and the second acoustic transducer; wherein the controller is configured to determine at least one of a time-of-flight value and an attenuation value of an acoustic signal between the first acoustic transducer and the second acoustic transducer and to determine at least one environmental parameter from the at least one of the time-of-flight value and the attenuation value The environmental parameter sensor may determine environmental parameters such as temperature, wind speed, and humidity from acoustic measurements.

Disclosed is a fiber optic interrogation system unit with one or more controllable laser sources that are electrically tuned to fit the laser source requirements for different sensing principles. Such an interrogation unit would employ a designed optical configuration at the distal end of the optical fiber to enable DAS, DTS and stimulated Brillouin DSS to operate on the same optical fiber. It would provide a single fiber optic interrogation system with integrated DTS, DAS and DSS systems that is cost effective and simple in design.

One or more embodiments relates a single port surface acoustic wave sensor (SAW) device adapted for use in a wide range of operational temperatures and gas phase chemical species. The device includes a piezoelectric crystal substrate; at least one interdigitated electrode/transducer (IDT) positioned on the piezoelectric crystal substrate; and at least one conducting metal oxide film positioned on the piezoelectric crystal substrate and in communication with at least the IDT.

The invention discloses methods for simultaneously measuring various properties of a fluid using a waveguide. The method includes transmitting a plurality of wave modes into the fluid using an ultrasonic shear wave transducer from one end of a waveguide. Further, the wave modes are reflected from the other end of the waveguide. The reflected wave modes are processed simultaneously. The time of flight and the amplitude of the received wave modes are determined. Further, one or more properties of the fluid are measured using determined time of flight and amplitude of the received wave modes. The disclosed method is used to accurately measure the properties of fluid such as level, density, viscosity or flow rate in a short period of time.

Systems and methods for sensing internal states of vehicle batteries are described. From this internal state information, various physical characteristics of the battery can be measured, calculated or inferred. A vehicle can include an electric motor, a battery to store electrical energy for the electric motor, and a sensor connected to the battery to sense a battery state, to receive an input signal, and to wirelessly transmit an output signal indicating the battery state. The vehicle can also include control circuitry to receive the output signal and to control the electric motor and the battery. In examples, the battery may have a physical property that changes based on a state of the battery. This physical property may be measured by the sensor. The sensor may be passive and built into the structure of the battery. The sensor can be a magnetic field sensor or a surface wave acoustic sensor.

A method of calibrating transceiver positions inside an acoustic pyrometry measuring vessel that contains a plurality of transceivers, includes determining (40) a speed of sound in the acoustic pyrometry measuring vessel from a temperature and gas composition of a gas inside the acoustic pyrometry measuring vessel, acquiring (41) time-of-flight (TOFs) ti.sub.,j measurements from a plurality of pairs i,j of transceivers inside the acoustic pyrometry measuring vessel, estimating (42) a radius of the acoustic pyrometry measuring vessel from an average of the acquired TOF measurements, and using (43) an estimated radius of the acoustic pyrometry measuring vessel to estimate errors j of displacement angles of the transceivers.

A method for the ultrasonic double-wave measurement includes: obtaining a first mode wave time-of-flight and a second mode wave time-of-flight of an ultrasonic double-wave of a solid material at a first temperature and stress state; measuring a first mode wave time and a second mode wave time of the ultrasonic double-wave of the solid material in an unknown state; obtaining a first mode wave temperature influence coefficient and a second mode wave temperature influence coefficient of the solid material, and a first mode wave pre-tightening force influence coefficient and a second mode wave pre-tightening force influence coefficient in the solid material to be measured having the same specification and geometric shape; and obtaining a relative change relationship of ultrasonic double-wave time-of-flight according to the first-order or second-order Taylor approximation, and jointly solving to obtain a measured pre-tightening force and a measured temperature.

An improved ultrasonic waveguide for an ultrasonic thermometry system is provided. The waveguide includes a series of sensing zones, each of which is tuned to a specific narrow frequency band. The waveguide is acoustically coupled to a transducer, which launches a longitudinal elastic wave of desired waveform and frequency. The wave propagates down the waveguide, and is reflected from the sensing zone that is tuned to that frequency. Each sensing zone is designed to be highly reflective to a narrow frequency band while being transparent to other frequencies.

A non-destructive method for the condition assessment of a turbine component is provided. A pulsed laser is used to excite a desired surface of the turbine component by directing the pulsed laser at the desired surface to couple ultrasonic energy into the surface of the turbine component. A thermographic image of the desired surface under the influence of the ultrasonic is captured by an image receiver. A system for the non-destructive detection of defects in a material utilizing acoustic thermography is also provided. The system includes a pulsed laser to couple ultrasonic energy into the material, an infrared camera to capture the thermographic image, and a processor communicatively coupled to the infrared camera to receive, store, and analyze the thermographic image.