C2.4 - Transducer misalignment - an insuperable obstacle for acoustic clamp-on liquid level measurement?

Abstract

The misalignment of acoustic sensors is one of the most crucial reasons for malfunction in case of level detection. Further some applications do not grant a sensor position perpendicular to the surface. By simple improvement of the transducer and applying a linear propagation model the current contribution proposes a solution to compensate the misalignment in case of non-invasive (clamp-on) fluid level detection applications. In the range of the acoustic divergence spread, the tilt angle can be identified and the sound propagation path and corresponding roundtrip time -used for level estimation corrected. The bases are a simple linear triangulation with at least a three-element transducer and an automatic adaption of the acoustic excitation.