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Ultrasonic characterization of single drops of liquids. The present invention includes the use of two closely spaced transducers, or one transducer and a closely spaced reflector plate, to form an interferometer suitable for ultrasonic characterization of droplet-size and smaller samples without the need for a container. The droplet is held between the interferometer elements, whose distance apart may be adjusted, by surface tension. The surfaces of the interferometer elements may be readily cleansed by a stream of solvent followed by purified air when it is desired to change samples. A single drop of liquid is sufficient for high-quality measurement. Examples of samples which may be investigated using the apparatus and method of the present invention include biological specimens (tear drops; blood and other body fluid samples; samples from tumors, tissues, and organs; secretions from tissues and organs; snake and bee venom, etc.) for diagnostic evaluation, samples in forensic investigations, and detection of drugs in small quantities.

Apparatus and method for comparing corresponding acoustic resonances in liquids. The present invention permits the measurement of certain characteristics of liquids which affect the speed of sound therein. For example, a direct correlation between the octane rating of gasoline and the speed of sound in a gasoline sample has been experimentally observed. Therefore, changes in the speed of sound therein can be utilized as a sensitive parameter for determining changes in composition of a liquid sample. The present apparatus establishes interference patterns inside of a liquid without requiring the use of very thin, rigorously parallel ceramic discs, but rather uses readily available piezoelectric transducers attached to the outside surface of the usual container for the liquid and located on the same side thereof in the vicinity of one another. That is, various receptacle geometries may be employed, and the driving and receiving transducers may be located on the same side of the receptacle. The cell may also be constructed of any material that is inert to the liquid under investigation. A single-transducer embodiment, where the same transducer provides the excitation to the sample container and receives signals impressed therein, is also described.

An ultrasonic-based method for continuous, noninvasive intracranial pressure (ICP) measurement and monitoring is described. The stress level in the skull bone is affected by pressure. This also changes the interfacial conditions between the dura matter and the skull bone. Standing waves may be set up in the skull bone and the layers in contact with the bone. At specific frequencies, there are resonance peaks in the response of the skull which can be readily detected by sweeping the excitation frequency on an excitation transducer in contact with a subject's head, while monitoring the standing wave characteristics from the signal received on a second, receiving transducer similarly in contact with the subject's head. At a chosen frequency, the phase difference between the excitation signal and the received signal can be determined. This difference can be related to the intracranial pressure and changes therein.

An apparatus for noninvasively monitoring the flow and/or the composition of a flowing liquid using ultrasound is described. The position of the resonance peaks for a fluid excited by a swept-frequency ultrasonic signal have been found to change frequency both in response to a change in composition and in response to a change in the flow velocity thereof. Additionally, the distance between successive resonance peaks does not change as a function of flow, but rather in response to a change in composition. Thus, a measurement of both parameters (resonance position and resonance spacing), once calibrated, permits the simultaneous determination of flow rate and composition using the apparatus and method of the present invention.

Apparatus and method are described for measuring the location and speed of an object, such as instrumentation on a movable platform, disposed within a pipe, using continuous-wave, amplitude-modulated microwave radiation.

Apparatus and method for non-contact (stand-off) ultrasonic determination of certain characteristics of fluids in containers or pipes are described. A combination of swept frequency acoustic interferometry (SFAI), wide-bandwidth, air-coupled acoustic transducers, narrowband frequency data acquisition, and data conversion from the frequency domain to the time domain, if required, permits meaningful information to be extracted from such fluids.

An apparatus and method for separating a chosen gas from a mixture of gases having no moving parts and utilizing no chemical processing is described. The separation of particulates from fluid carriers thereof has been observed using ultrasound. In a similar manner, molecular species may be separated from carrier species. It is also known that light-induced drift may separate light-absorbing species from carrier species. Therefore, the combination of temporally pulsed absorption of light with ultrasonic concentration is expected to significantly increase the efficiency of separation by ultrasonic concentration alone. Additionally, breaking the spatial symmetry of a cylindrical acoustic concentrator decreases the spatial distribution of the concentrated particles, and increases the concentration efficiency.

Measurement of the acoustical resonances in eggs is shown to provide a rapid, noninvasive technique for establishing the presence of Salmonella bacteria. The technique is also sensitive to yolk puncture, shell cracks, and may be sensitive to other yolk properties and to egg freshness. Remote characterization, potentially useful for characterizing large numbers of eggs, has been demonstrated.

A low-power, inexpensive acoustic apparatus for levitation and/or concentration of aerosols and small liquid/solid samples having particulates up to several millimeters in diameter in air or other fluids is described. It is constructed from a commercially available, hollow cylindrical piezoelectric crystal which has been modified to tune the resonance frequency of the breathing mode resonance of the crystal to that of the interior cavity of the cylinder. When the resonance frequency of the interior cylindrical cavity is matched to the breathing mode resonance of the cylindrical piezoelectric transducer, the acoustic efficiency for establishing a standing wave pattern in the cavity is high. The cylinder does not require accurate alignment of a resonant cavity. Water droplets having diameters greater than 1 mm have been levitated against the force of gravity using; less than 1 W of input electrical power. Concentration of aerosol particles in air is also demonstrated.

A strain gage comprising a strained-layer superlattice crystal exhibiting piezoelectric properties is described. A substrate upon which such a strained-layer superlattice crystal has been deposited is attached to an element to be monitored for strain. A light source is focused on the superlattice crystal and the light reflected from, passed through, or emitted from the crystal is gathered and compared with previously obtained optical property data to determine the strain in the element.

In some aspects of the invention, a device, positioned within a well bore, configured to generate and direct an acoustic beam into a rock formation around a borehole is disclosed. The device comprises a source configured to generate a first signal at a first frequency and a second signal at a second frequency; a transducer configured to receive the generated first and the second signals and produce acoustic waves at the first frequency and the second frequency; and a non-linear material, coupled to the transducer, configured to generate a collimated beam with a frequency equal to the difference between the first frequency and the second frequency by a non-linear mixing process, wherein the non-linear material includes one or more of a mixture of liquids, a solid, a granular material, embedded microspheres, or an emulsion.