Receiver Signal Quality of Ultrasonic Clamp-on Sensors in Dependency on the Transducer Positions

摘要

In applications with ultrasonic clamp-on sensors measurement, accuracy and repeatability are significantly worse when compared to ultrasonic inline sensors in spite of both sensor types using the same measurement principle. The positioning of the ultrasonic transducers of clamp-on sensors has a determining influence on the precision and accuracy of the measurement results. A study was made of sound propagation and receiver signal quality as they vary depending on the distance between the ultrasonic transmitter and the ultrasonic receiver. As a result of studying transducer sensitivity, it was possible to implement an automatic positioning system for ultrasonic clamp-on sensor applications. The positioning system automatically finds an optimal transducer position for a particular application. This allows the user to operate a clamp-on sensor without having any special knowledge of the application procedure or needing to set any parameters of the system in advance.