An acoustic force assisted painting system has a housing, at least one nozzle and at least one acoustic emitter. The housing has a conduit for receiving paint from an external source into the housing. The at least one nozzle is disposed in the housing. The at least one nozzle has an inlet that is fluidly connected to the conduit to receive paint from the conduit. The at least one nozzle has an outlet that dispenses paint. The least one acoustic emitter is disposed in the housing at a location downstream of the inlet with respect to the conduit.

The invention relates to a continuous monitoring system which will monitor the pipes without the need of shutting down of the plants. The major issues in designing such a system using magnetostriction as per prior art is the loss of magnetization of the permanent magnets used to provide the magnetic bias and also the disbonding of interfaced adhesives with which the magnetostrictive ribbons are bonded at high temperatures. The invention identifies a novel sensor which can be taken up to high temperatures without any loss of signal strength, this is achieved by generating guided waves using a special amorphous magnetostrictive ribbons. L(0, 2) mode waves are generated using these ribbons to monitor pipes working at high temperatures as per the invention.

The invention relates to a continuous monitoring system which will monitor the pipes without the need of shutting down of the plants. The major issues in designing such a system using magnetostriction as per prior art is the loss of magnetization of the permanent magnets used to provide the magnetic bias and also the disbonding of interfaced adhesives with which the magnetostrictive ribbons are bonded at high temperatures. The invention identifies a novel sensor which can be taken up to high temperatures without any loss of signal strength, this is achieved by generating guided waves using a special amorphous magnetostrictive ribbons. L(0, 2) mode waves are generated using these ribbons to monitor pipes working at high temperatures as per the invention.

A crack detecting system operable to detect cracks along a conduit or structure includes a tool movable along a conduit or structure and having at least one sensing device for sensing cracks in a wall of the conduit or structure, and a processor operable to process an output of the at least one sensing device. Responsive to processing of the output by the processor, the processor is operable to determine cracks at the wall of the conduit or structure. The at least one sensing device employs excitation in the form of a high current continuous or pulse wave that is applied to a magneto-mechanical impedance transducer/sensor coil to generate a mechanical wave in the conduit or structure.

A magnetostrictive alternator configured to convert pressure waves into electrical energy is provided. It should be appreciated that the magnetostrictive alternator may be combined in some embodiments with a Stirling engine to produce electrical power. The Stirling engine creates the oscillating pressure wave and the magnetostrictive alternator converts the pressure wave into electricity. In some embodiments, the magnetostrictive alternator may include aerogel material and magnetostrictive material. The aerogel material may be configured to convert a higher amplitude pressure wave into a lower amplitude pressure wave. The magnetostrictive material may be configured to generate an oscillating magnetic field when the magnetostrictive material is compressed by the lower amplitude pressure wave.

There is provided a method for manufacturing, or for use in manufacturing a flexible ultrasonic transducer array and the resultant ultrasonic transducer array. The method includes providing a layer of piezoelectric material onto a foil substrate and using additive techniques to apply a plurality of electrodes to a surface of the piezoelectric material such that the electrodes are arranged in an electrode array and to apply a plurality of electrical conduction tracks and a plurality of electrical connectors to the surface of the piezoelectric material or to a layer of dielectric material provided on the surface of the piezoelectric material, such that respective electrical conduction tracks electrically connect a respective electrode to a respective electrical connector. The additive techniques comprise at least one of: masking, deposition, photo patterning, printing or patterned coating.

Disclosed is a flexible tactile actuator including a tactile transmitter configured to be flexible and including magnetic particles capable of being polarized in response to an external magnetic field and a matrix layer including the magnetic particles, a magnetic field generator disposed below the tactile transmitter and configured to generate a magnetic field in the tactile transmitter, and an elastic member provided in a shape of a film, having at least a portion in surface contact with the magnetic field generator, and attached to be in surface contact with one of a top surface and a bottom surface of the tactile transmitter.

Disclosed is a flexible tactile actuator including a tactile transmitter configured to be flexible and including magnetic particles capable of being polarized in response to an external magnetic field and a matrix layer including the magnetic particles, a magnetic field generator disposed below the tactile transmitter and configured to generate a magnetic field in the tactile transmitter, and an elastic member provided in a shape of a film, having at least a portion in surface contact with the magnetic field generator, and attached to be in surface contact with one of a top surface and a bottom surface of the tactile transmitter.

A magnetostrictive position measuring system includes a waveguide, an excitation generator configured to generate an excitation signal, a target magnet configured to generate a magnetostrictive response in response to the excitation signal, one or more sensing elements and a controller. The sensing elements are configured to generate at least one electrical response signal based on the magnetostrictive response that includes a longitudinal wave indicator and a torsional wave indicator. The controller is configured to identify the longitudinal wave and torsional wave indicators, calculate a first candidate position of the target magnet along the longitudinal axis based on the longitudinal wave indicator, calculate a second candidate position of the target magnet along the longitudinal axis based on the torsional wave indicator and generate an output based on the first and second candidate positions.

Ultrasonic dental instruments, inserts, and insert assemblies are provided which include an acoustic transformer and a tip that, in combination, are configured to operate at an operational frequency different from the frequency of resonance of the transducer that drives the combination. As a result, the ultrasonic dental instruments, inserts, and insert assemblies provide improved performance durability by providing improved output stroke ranges over nominal wear lengths between, for example, 2 mm and 3 mm, which results in more durable performance over a longer service life.