85results about "Through mechanical resonance" patented technology

A triboelectric power system includes a triboelectric generator, a rechargeable energy storage unit and a power management circuit. The rechargeable energy storage unit is associated to the triboelectric generator. The power management circuit is configured to receive an input current from the triboelectric generator and to deliver an output current corresponding to the input current to the rechargeable battery so that the output current has a current direction and a voltage that will recharge the rechargeable battery.

An integrated MEMS system in which CMOS and MEMS devices are provided to form an integrated CMOS-MEMS system. The system can include a silicon substrate layer, a CMOS layer, MEMS and CMOS devices, and a wafer level packaging (WLP) layer. The CMOS layer can form an interface region, one which any number of CMOS MEMS devices can be configured.

A vibration assembly includes a container, a vibration member containing a hollow portion with a bottom, at least two support members, a magnetic body, a coil having a spool axis, and a diaphragm that is attached to the container. Each of the support members has a flat and corrugated configuration. An end of the one of the support members is bonded to a portion of an edge portion of the hollow portion of the vibration member. The other end of the one of the support members is fixed to a portion of an upper edge of the container. An end of the other support member is bonded to the other portion of the edge portion of the hollow portion of the vibration member. The other end of the other support member is fixed to the other portion of the upper edge of the container.

An appendable system includes a plurality of appendable devices that are adapted to interoperate with each other and / or a workstation via a communication network to monitor and / or control a process. Each of the appendable devices can communicate with one or more sensors and / or control outputs and includes a housing that facilitates mounting of the appendable device to a surface.

The present invention provides a multi-level model-based intelligent agent diagnosis system and method for computer-controlled machinery operative to reduce the complexity typically associated with conventional model based diagnostic systems. The system utilizes a plurality of intelligent agents arranged in a plurality of physically hierarchical layers such that the tasks associated with accomplishing model based diagnosis are distributed amongst the intelligent agents if each layer wherein information gathered from a first lower level intelligent agents is processed by at least one other higher level to realize system fault diagnosis. The system provides increased processing speed of modeling and / or model identification such that faster and more accurate failure isolation and identification is accomplished.

The present invention provides a multi-level model-based intelligent agent diagnosis system and method for computer-controlled machinery operative to reduce the complexity typically associated with conventional model based diagnostic systems. The system utilizes a plurality of intelligent agents arranged in a plurality of physically hierarchical layers such that the tasks associated with accomplishing model based diagnosis are distributed amongst the intelligent agents if each layer wherein information gathered from a first lower level intelligent agents is processed by at least one other higher level to realize system fault diagnosis. The system provides increased processing speed of modeling and / or model identification such that faster and more accurate failure isolation and identification is accomplished.

The present invention discloses a pneumatic sensor, having an air intake and an air outlet. The pneumatic sensor includes a first triboelectric component, a shell, a second triboelectric component and a third triboelectric component, wherein the shell has a hollow structure in a preset shape to form an airflow channel, and the airflow channel is communicated with the air intake and the air outlet, thus allowing the airflow to enter the airflow channel from the air intake and flow out from the air outlet; the first triboelectric component is arranged in the airflow channel, and the second and the third triboelectric components are arranged at positions capable of contacting with the first triboelectric component; and the second and the third triboelectric components include electric signal output terminals of the pneumatic sensor.

An electrical circuit and method for measuring small variations in a high frequency signal is disclosed. The circuit generates a coarse measurement of the input signal frequency and a reference signal having the same frequency as the frequency represented by the coarse measurement. The circuit measures the difference in frequency between the input signal and the reference signal, and adds the coarse measurement and the difference measurement to determine the frequency of the input signal. The circuit may be used in conjunction with a piezoelectric acoustic wave device and oscillator to provide an apparatus for accurately measuring low concentrations of a gas.

A cartridge (2) with a fill level detection system (10, 10′, 10″), the cartridge comprising a substantially rigid containing wall (4) having a tubular wall portion (12) surrounding a chamber (18) for receiving liquid therein, a plunger or piston (8) mounted inside the chamber and configured to seal one side of the chamber, the plunger or piston being displaceable in the chamber towards an outlet end (14) of the cartridge, characterised in that the fill level detection system comprises a plurality of discrete fixed electrodes (24, 24′) positioned along the tubular wall portion in a juxtaposed manner in a direction of displacement D of the plunger or piston (8), and a mobile electrode member (28) fixed to the plunger or piston and displaceable therewith.

A railway axle hub unit of the type including an axle box housing (1) for supporting a bearing, is provided with a sensor body (3, 9) containing sensors (4, 5) for detecting vibration in the vertical direction and the horizontal axial direction. The sensor body is mounted onto a stationary support element (2, 1, 15) rigidly secured to the bearing, preferably an annular sealing insert. The sensors perform monitoring of the operation condition of the hub unit by generating and transmitting signals indicative of the detected level of vibration to an electronic processing unit mounted on board of the railway vehicle or the train. The processing unit is capable of signalling in real time an impending failure and / or a damaged condition associated with the monitored hub unit.

An apparatus and method for detecting the oscillation amplitude of a bonding tool includes a sensing unit disposed adjacent to and at a distance from the bonding tool. The sensing unit includes a pair of electrodes, a piezoelectric sensing layer located between the pair of electrodes, and a membrane associated with the piezoelectric sensing layer. The piezoelectric sensing layer becomes sensitive to ultrasonic vibrations and generates electrical voltage signals after being activated by a poling process. An optional pre-amplifier is used to amplify the signals generated from the sensing unit, and an oscilloscope is used to further process the signals.

An apparatus (10) for detecting the occurrence of partial discharge in electrical equipment, such as high voltage transformers. The apparatus comprises a detecting means including an ultrasonic transducer (11) mounted at one end of an electrically insulating elongate rod (13). The ultrasonic transducer (11) is adapted to detect ultrasonic pulses or waves generated by the occurrence of a partial discharge in the electrical equipment. A radio frequency (RF) transducer (17) is also utilized to detect radio frequency (RF) pulses or waves also generated by the partial discharge. The rod (13) can be mounted in the wall of the electrical equipment and so provide a mechanism for adjusting the position of the detecting means within the electrical equipment. The apparatus is also removable from the electrical equipment and re-locatable to other equipment.

Provided is a capacitive transducer having broadband frequency characteristics. The capacitive transducer includes an element which has multiple kinds of cells, each cell including: a first electrode; a vibrating film including a second electrode, the second electrode being opposed to the first electrode with a gap; and a support portion that supports the vibrating film so as to form the gap. The multiple kinds of cells have different ratios of an area of one of the first electrode and the second electrode to an area of the gap when viewed from a normal direction of the vibrating film. The first electrodes or the second electrodes in the multiple kinds of cells are electrically connected together.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a device which may be permanently attached or removably attached to a material such as a vehicular glass window or airplane wing. This device may comprise of a converter sub-unit or vibrator and a coupler. These elements may be arranged to propagate mechanical motion generated by the converter sub-unit through the coupler and optionally into the edge of the attached material. The resulting vibration motion in the material, which could take the form of a longitudinal compression / rarefaction wave, transverse wave, or a combination of the two waveforms, may be of a sufficient magnitude so as to cause the adhesive bond between the material's surface and other solid debris, such as ice, to be broken. This allows the debris to fall away while not damaging the material. The vibration motion in the material may be also of sufficient magnitude to remove a liquid such as water from the material surface. In other embodiments, the device is connected to a pulser / receiver and / or a frequency spectrum electronic unit to function as a debris detector.

An ultrasonic measurement device includes an ultrasonic transducer device, a flexible substrate and an integrated circuit device. The ultrasonic transducer device has a substrate, an ultrasonic element array, a plurality of signal electrode lines formed on the substrate and electrically connected to the ultrasonic element array, and a plurality of signal terminals arranged on the substrate. In the flexible substrate, a plurality of signal lines are formed along a first direction. Each of the signal electrode lines has an electrode layer in which at least one signal electrode among some of the ultrasonic elements extends on the substrate. A long side direction of the integrated circuit device extends along a second direction which intersects with the first direction, and each of terminals of the integrated circuit device is connected to a corresponding one of the signal lines of the flexible substrate.

A multi-axis vibration sensor with integral magnet optimizes sensor response in a non-permanently attachable package. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the apparatus includes a housing having a magnet, a multi-axis vibration sensor for sensing vibration along multiple machine axes, and conditioning circuitry disposed within the housing. The magnet enables the apparatus to be placed in sensory contact with the machine. The vibration sensor senses machine vibration along multiple machine axes when the apparatus is in sensory contact with the machine, and the conditioning circuitry optimizes the frequency response of the vibration sensor by reducing the gain of the sensor output at resonance. The vibration sensor may be mounted directly to existing machine structure, such as the machine's outer casing. Two parallel feet facilitate stable mounting of the sensor curved surface. A keyed mounting pad may be employed to facilitate proper orientation of the sensor.

Some embodiments of the present invention provide a system that controls a device that generates vibrations in a computer system. During operation, a critical vibration frequency is determined for the computer system. Next, a keep-out zone is generated based on the critical vibration frequency, wherein the keep-out zone specifies a range of frequencies to be avoided. Then, the device is controlled based on the keep-out zone to reduce vibrations generated by the device in the keep-out zone.

A surface acoustic wave (SAW) based thin film deposition monitor device and system for monitoring the deposition of ultra-thin films and nanomaterials and the analysis thereof is characterized by acoustic wave device embodiments that include differential delay line device designs, and which can optionally have integral reference devices fabricated on the same substrate as the sensing device, or on a separate device in thermal contact with the film monitoring / analysis device, in order to provide inherently temperature compensated measurements. These deposition monitor and analysis devices can include inherent temperature compensation, higher sensitivity to surface interactions than quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) devices, and the ability to operate at extreme temperatures.

An electric potential measuring apparatus includes a detecting electrode, a modulator for changing an electrostatic capacitance between a measurement object and the detecting electrode by mechanical vibration, a charge detector for detecting the amount of charges electrostatically induced in the detecting electrode by the modulator, and a vibration generating-detecting unit for selectively performing either a vibration generating function of exciting the mechanical vibration, or a detecting function of detecting the condition of the mechanical vibration.

A detection circuit detects a signal output from an element that receives an acoustic wave. The detection circuit is configured so as not to conduct a detection operation during a period in which the element does not receive the acoustic wave.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a device which may be permanently attached or removably attached to a material such as a vehicular glass window or airplane wing. This device may comprise of a converter sub-unit or vibrator and a coupler. These elements may be arranged to propagate mechanical motion generated by the converter sub-unit through the coupler and optionally into the edge of the attached material. The resulting vibration motion in the material, which could take the form of a longitudinal compression / rarefaction wave, transverse wave, or a combination of the two waveforms, may be of a sufficient magnitude so as to cause the adhesive bond between the material's surface and other solid debris, such as ice, to be broken. This allows the debris to fall away while not damaging the material. The vibration motion in the material may be also of sufficient magnitude to remove a liquid such as water from the material surface. In other embodiments, the device is connected to a pulser / receiver and / or a frequency spectrum electronic unit to function as a debris detector.

A windscreen is configured for measuring outdoor infrasonic sound. The windscreen includes a container and a microphone. The container defines a chamber. The microphone is disposed in the chamber and can be operatively supported by the floor. The microphone is configured for detecting infrasonic sound. The container is advantageously formed from material that exhibits an acoustic impedance of between 0 and approximately 3150 times the acoustic impedance of air. A reflector plate may be disposed in the container. The reflector plate operatively can support the microphone and provides a doubling effect of infrasonic pressure at the microphone.

A power-generating vibration sensor according to the present disclosure includes a power generation device that converts vibration into power and outputs vibration information, a first power system that extracts the output vibration information, and a second power system that is connected to the power generation device and supplies the power to a transmitter for transmitting the vibration information extracted by the first power system.

A marker detection apparatus detects a marker attached to a target sample from samples flowing in a sample flow, including: an electric field formation section that forms a quasi-electrostatic field in a path of the sample flow; and a detection section that detects, when the target sample labeled by the marker that is a particle made from a piezoelectric or electrostrictive substance of a unique vibration frequency gets into the quasi-electrostatic field, the vibration of the particle.

A sensor element includes a base part 21, drive vibration arms 221 and 222, adjustment vibration arms 241-244 that vibrate in response to drive vibration of the drive vibration arms 221 and 222, detection electrodes that output a charge according to a physical quantity applied to the drive vibration arms 221 and 222, first adjustment electrodes provided on the adjustment vibration arms 241 and 242 and electrically connected to the detection electrodes for outputting a charge in response to vibration of the adjustment vibration arms 241 and 242, and second adjustment electrodes provided on the adjustment vibration arms 243 and 244 and electrically connected to the detection electrodes for outputting a charge in a reverse polarity with respect to the first adjustment electrodes in response to vibration of the adjustment vibration arms 243 and 244.

A lubrication dispensing apparatus for lubricating a device with moving parts includes a lubricant reservoir, a lubricant dispenser for dispensing lubricant from the lubricant reservoir, an ultrasonic detection module which detects the amplitude of ultrasonic energy emitted by said device when its parts are moving and produces an signal related thereto, and a control module which analyzes the amplitude of the signal from the ultrasonic detection module and, in response to a lubricate signal, causes the lubricant dispenser to automatically dispense lubricant onto the moving parts of the device until the signal from the ultrasonic detector indicates that the ultrasonic energy produced by the device has decreased to a particular level. The control module includes a programmed processor and a storage memory. The memory stores as a base value the value of the detected amplitude of ultrasonic energy when the device is operating properly. After receiving a signal to lubricate the device, the processor causes the dispenser to start the flow of lubricant to the device, compares the signal from the ultrasonic detection module when the parts are moving to the base value, and causes the dispenser to cease the flow of lubricant when the signal substantially decreases.