Method of making self-calibrated displacement measurements

Patent · 31 December 1976

OSTI ID:862768

Pedersen, Herbert N.

A method for monitoring the displacement of an object having an acoustically reflective surface at least partially submerged in an acoustically conductive medium. The reflective surface is designed to have a stepped interface responsive to an incident acoustic pulse to provide separate discrete reflected pulses to a receiving transducer. The difference in the time of flight of the reflected acoustic signals corresponds to the known step height and the time of travel of the signals to the receiving transducer provides a measure of the displacement of the object. Accordingly, the reference step length enables simultaneous calibration of each displacement measurement.

• Research Organization: Hanford Engineering Development Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
• DOE Contract Number: AT(45-1)-2170
• Assignee: Westinghouse Electric Corporation (Pittsburgh, PA)
• Patent Number(s): 4,008,455
• Application Number: 05/552582
• OSTI ID: 862768
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

/376/73/367/
acoustic
acoustic signal
acoustic signals
acoustically conductive
conductive
conductive medium
corresponds
designed
difference
discrete
displacement
flight
incident
interface
measure
measurement
measurements
medium
method
monitoring
partially
partially submerged
provide
provide separate
provides
pulse
pulses
receiving
receiving transducer
reflected
reflected pulse
reflected pulses
reflective
reflective surface
responsive
self-calibrated
separate
signals
stepped
submerged
surface
time
transducer