A system for detecting the presence of an anomaly within a component includes a motorized apparatus configured to move around the component. The system also includes an excitation device and a camera mounted to the motorized apparatus. The excitation device is configured to emit an excitation signal toward the component to cause the anomaly within the component to generate a detectable reactionary thermal signal in response to the excitation signal. The camera is configured to capture thermal images of the component. The thermal images include the detectable reactionary thermal signal and indicate the presence of the anomaly within the component. The system further includes a controller communicatively coupled to the excitation device and the camera. The controller is configured to receive and analyze the thermal images to detect the presence of the anomaly within the component. The controller is configured to adjust one or more operating parameters of the system to affect a characteristic of the detectable reactionary signal based on the thermal images.

The present invention pertains to a method and experimental apparatus for studying properties of cement slurry to be used in an oil or gas well under varied pressure and temperature conditions. This apparatus can be used to predict the likelihood of gas migration, compressive strength and static gel strength of cement slurry. It comprises a servo motor and coupling magnets to drive a paddle at a very slow speed through the cement in a pressure vessel, a pair of acoustic transducers to generate an acoustic signal and measure the transit time of the acoustic signal after it transits the cement, and a gas injection system to predict the severity of gas migration in cement.

A device and method to automatically switch referral matrices in a meter (120) to identify an unknown material circulating in a process application (900) and determine the material concentration, whether it may be a cleaning material or a process material. The present invention utilizes a measured line density and line temperature of the material along with a reference temperature to calculate a reference density. Using the reference temperature and reference density, a concentration percentage of the material may be determined.

A heat flux sensor comprising: an array of nanofilaments suspended with respect to a support, each nanofilament comprising an electrically conducting material, the array being able to be biased by an electric power source to circulate an electric current in each of the nanofilaments, at least one resonator of the nanoelectro-mechanical system (NEMS) type comprising: a beam consisting of a nanofilament forming a side of the array, an actuation device able to generate a vibration of the beam under the effect of an excitation signal, a detection device configured to measure a displacement of the beam during the vibration and emit an output signal having a resonance at the resonant frequency of the resonator, the resonant frequency depending on the intensity of the electric current flowing through the beam, a temperature variation of the array of heating nanofilaments induced by a variation in a characteristic of a fluid surrounding the array causing an intensity variation of the current flowing through the beam resulting in a variation in the resonant frequency of the resonator.

The invention relates to a heat flux sensor including:

a heating wire (1) including a material capable of being taken to a determined temperature by Joule effect, suited to being connected to an electrical source,

a resonator (2) of nano electro mechanical system (NEMS) type including: a beam (20) suspended with respect to a support (21), an actuating device (22) capable of generating a vibration of said beam under the effect of an excitation signal, a detection device configured to measure a displacement of said beam in the course of said vibration and to emit an output signal having a resonance at the resonance frequency of the resonator, said resonance frequency depending on the temperature of the beam,
wherein one end (20a) of the beam (20) is integral with the heating wire (1) so as to enable a conduction of heat from the heating wire to the beam, a variation in temperature of the heating wire induced by a variation in a characteristic of a fluid surrounding said wire causing a variation in the resonance frequency of the resonator.

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed to measure a resonant sensor based on detection of group delay. An example apparatus includes a modulation manager configured to query the resonant sensor with a modulated signal including a frequency; and a resonance determiner configured to determine a resonance frequency of the resonant sensor based on a group delay associated with the resonant sensor and the frequency.

A method for determining the prestress force of a connection component (10) is proposed. In the method, ultrasonic signals (22) are introduced into the connection component (10) and ultrasonic echoes (24) of the ultrasonic signals (22) are received again. The method comprises the following steps: a) introducing a longitudinal ultrasonic signal and determining a first signal time of flight FTOF.sub.L of the longitudinal ultrasonic signal until the reception of an echo of the longitudinal ultrasonic signal, b) introducing a transverse ultrasonic signal and determining a second signal time of flight FTOF.sub.T of the transverse ultrasonic signal until the reception of an echo of the transverse ultrasonic signal, and c) determining an effective temperature T.sub.eff and the prestress force of the connection component (10) on the basis of the first signal time of flight FTOF.sub.L, the second signal time of flight FTOF.sub.T, previously determined reference data and calibration factors using the assumption that a prestress force F.sub.L ascertained using the first signal time of flight FTOF.sub.L and a prestress force F.sub.T ascertained using the second signal time of flight FTOF.sub.T are equal in magnitude,
wherein steps a) and b) are carried out successively in any desired order or in parallel.

A further aspect of the invention relates to a device for carrying out the method.

This invention provides an insertion type ultrasonic flow meter, flow measuring system and method, which related to the field of flow measuring and metering. The insertion type ultrasonic flow meter includes a first insertion type sensor and a second insertion type sensor. The first insertion type sensor is equipped with a first ultrasonic transducer; the second insertion type sensor is equipped with a second ultrasonic transducer. The first insertion type sensor and the second insertion type sensor are installed at upstream and downstream of the pipeline respectively. The first ultrasonic transducer and the second ultrasonic transducer are equipped face-to-face. Compared to current technology, the insertion type ultrasonic flow meter provided by this invention has better signal receiving capability and smaller channel noise, therefore lower power consumption that can be powered with battery. It can also conduct accurate measurement to low velocity and flow rate of water in pipeline.

An acoustic sensor for sensing environmental attributes within an enclosure is disclosed. The acoustic sensor may include a bulk acoustic wave (BAW) transducer configured to be installed outside the enclosure. The BAW transducer may generate an acoustic wave pulse and receive a reflected acoustic wave pulse. The acoustic sensor may further a waveguide assembly configured to be installed inside the enclosure. The waveguide assembly configured to receive the acoustic wave pulse from the BAW transducer. The acoustic sensor may further include a sensing device, wherein the sensing device may determine a change in one or more acoustic wave propagation parameters, based on the generated acoustic wave pulse and the reflected acoustic wave pulse. The sensing device may further determine one or more environmental attributes within the enclosure, based on the change in the one or more acoustic wave propagation parameters.

A sensor system that combines the sensing application of surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor and sensor signal transfer though the enclosure wall via acoustic means. The sensor system includes SAW sensor placed inside the enclosure and at least one pair of bulk acoustic wave (BAW) transducers, one mounted inside and second outside the enclosure wall, allowing the interrogation of SAW sensor from outside the enclosure. The external BAW transducer converts interrogation electrical pulse into acoustic pulse which travels though the enclosure wall to the internal BAW transducer. The internal BAW transducer converts the interrogation electrical pulse to electrical pulse and transfers it to SAW sensor. The response of the SAW transducer containing series of electric pulses is converted to the series of acoustic pulses by internal BAW transducer which propagates though enclosure wall. The external BAW transducer converts the series of acoustic pulses into series of electrical pulses and is received by the interrogation circuit for processing.