Development Trend of Ultrasonic Sensors_The Role of Ultrasonic Sensors
The development trend of ultrasonic sensors
Ultrasonic sensor, as the name implies, uses ultrasonic waves to measure distance. The probe of the sensor emits ultrasonic waves, and then receives the echo reflected from the target object to calculate the distance to the target by calculating the time difference between the transmitted wave and the reflected echo. Ultrasonic sensor is a kind of sensor with strong applicability and wide application range. They are essentially devices used to calculate and measure distances, and are commonly used in the healthcare, automotive and food industries, as well as other industries that use this technology.
The real value of ultrasonic sensors lies in their impressive detection capabilities. They can detect transparent objects, including echoes reflected from glass and liquid surfaces. Ultrasonic waves can also resist fog, dust and dirt particles, and can stably detect objects with complex shapes, such as grid trays, springs, etc.
According to the current market development trend, ultrasonic sensors have exploded with incredible potential for innovation in the four major areas of flow measurement, waste management, predictable maintenance and autonomous driving detection. The following will focus on the exploration and research of ultrasonic sensors in these four innovative applications.
One, smarter flow measurement
The improvement of ultrasonic sensor technology has made them more precise and cheaper, while reducing the size and improving the usability. With these improvements, they will become effective flow measurement technologies, especially for utility companies. The benefits of water meters, gas meters and heat meters are obvious.
For example, a manufacturer can replace the original mechanical flowmeter with an ultrasonic sensor. The compelling advantage of ultrasonic sensors is that they are highly accurate and do not have any mechanical moving parts. Even so, manufacturers must also understand the pipeline design and sensor installation location in order to fully enjoy the benefits of technology.
2. Improve waste management
One of the many applications of ultrasonic sensors is the ability to determine the amount of material remaining in the silo. These sensors achieve the measurement function by emitting sound beams to the surface of the material in the container, and then receiving the reflection of the sound beams. Even if there is dust, it does not affect the accuracy of the calculation. In this way, ultrasonic sensors can play an active role in waste management. For the management of the quantity of remaining materials in the silo, the mining network recommends the MaxBoTIx silo level ultrasonic sensor-MB1210, which is a low-cost ultrasonic sensor that can measure remotely (up to 7.65 meters). It not only has a real-time calibration function, but also continuously variable gain for targets at different distances to get more precise data. Wide power supply voltage: 3.3V~5.5V, low power consumption also makes it suitable for battery-powered systems. In the same series of products with the same performance as the MB1210, there is also an ultrasonic sensor MB1260 that can measure a longer distance of 10.68 meters. For silo level measurement in indoor environment, this series of products is an excellent solution.
On the other hand, for the management of municipal waste, by strategically placing sensors in the trash can, municipal companies can improve the process of waste collection and reduce inefficient operations. These sensors can also prevent leakage or other accidents and injuries. In order to recommend urbanization, the editor recommends the American MaxboTIx ultrasonic trash can sensor—MB7139. This sensor is an anti-weather sensor for level measurement of trash cans. It is designed for the simple integration of your project or product. It is the smallest light source on the market Weight module. MB7139 can provide a detection distance of 20cm to 3.5m, an accuracy of 1cm, an average current of 3.4mA required during operation, pulse width, analog voltage output, and RS232 serial output. And it also has IP67 protection, optional chemical resistance -F option. At the same time, it has the characteristics of high output sound power and continuously variable gain, real-time background automatic calibration, real-time waveform characteristic analysis, noise suppression algorithm, etc., and can effectively achieve noise-free distance readings.
According to the current development trajectory of ultrasonic sensor technology, they may be widely used in waste management in the next ten years. As the price of sensors continues to drop, their popularity will continue to increase. These sensors also make the functions of municipal services easier and more efficient.
Three, reliable predictive maintenance
Ultrasonic sensors have certain application value in condition monitoring and predictive maintenance. They can minimize production downtime, improve troubleshooting capabilities, and enhance quality control and safety. The US Department of Energy (DOE) even recommends ultrasonic technology as one of the primary solutions for leak detection.
A third-party evaluation team conducted a survey on the value potential of ultrasonic technology in more than 500 outlets in an organization. They found that there are more than 100 applications in each branch, including boilers, compressors, heat exchangers, steam traps, valves and other components. The economic benefits are considerable.
By installing ultrasonic technology, the agency will save approximately US$3.7 million per year. Taking into account market trends, more manufacturers will use ultrasonic sensors for predictive maintenance, assessing and solving smaller problems before upgrading.
4. Enhance the safety of autonomous vehicles
With the improvement of self-driving vehicles year by year, various sensors are used to assist the navigation and basic operations of self-driving vehicles. Ultrasonic sensors are also used in traditional vehicles to help blind spot monitoring and automatic parking. Among these sensors, ultrasonic technology has been integrated with autonomous driving systems. For example, Tesla's self-driving vehicle is one of the main cases of ultrasonic sensor application. Their ultrasonic sensors can sense a range of nearly 500 meters around to ensure the safety of passengers on the way. With this degree of awareness, Tesla cars can effectively reduce risks and avoid accidents.
A MaxBoTIx ultrasonic sensor human body detection sensor is available online-MB1004 is a proximity sensor with high and low level alarm signal output. The measurable range can reach 213cm. It is suitable for pedestrian detection, parking detection, etc. When a pedestrian enters the detection range, MB1004 will output an alarm signal from low level to high level. At the same time, it also has the function of outputting the specific distance of the target, and outputting distance data through RS232. MB1004 is a very low-cost ultrasonic sensor for human detection. They will help make the transition to self-driving cars easier and alleviate concerns about potential detection problems. As the effectiveness of ultrasonic sensors continues to play, this technology will prove indispensable in the future.
The role of ultrasonic sensors
Since its invention, ultrasonic sensors have been widely used in the fields of national defense, medicine, industry and automobiles. Generally speaking, ultrasonic sensors mainly use the characteristics of ultrasonic transmission, reflection, and refraction. Its application range can be said to be diverse.
Depending on its application, ultrasonic sensors are sometimes called distance sensors, liquid level sensors, flow sensors, single and double sheet detection sensors, deflection execution sensors, ultrasonic counting sensors, concentration sensors, turbidity sensors, oxygen content sensors, and temperature sensors. Wait for different names.
Using the reflection characteristics of ultrasonic waves, ultrasonic sensors can detect the internal state of the container.
Ultrasonic sensors can be used to detect transparent objects, liquids, any dense materials with rough, smooth, and light surfaces, and irregular objects. But it is not suitable for outdoor, hot environment or pressure tank and foam objects.
Ultrasonic sensors can be used in food processing plants to realize a closed-loop control system for plastic packaging inspection. With the new technology, it can detect in the humid ring, such as the bottle washing machine, the noise environment, and the environment with extreme temperature changes.
Ultrasonic sensors can be used to detect liquid level, detect transparent objects and materials, control tension and measure distances, mainly for packaging, bottle making, material handling, coal inspection equipment, plastic processing, and the automotive industry. Ultrasonic sensors can be used for process monitoring to improve product quality, detect defects, determine presence and other aspects.
The most famous application in medicine is B-ultrasound. In clinical application, B-ultrasound can clearly display various cross-sectional images of various organs and surrounding organs. Because the images are rich in solidity and close to the real structure of anatomy, the application of ultrasound can make early diagnosis.
In terms of liquid level detection, ultrasonic sensors can detect liquid level. There are many applications in water supply and drainage systems.
Ultrasonic flaw detector is mainly used in the internal quality inspection of metal workpieces, such as detecting whether there are bubbles in the metal, whether the welding part has defects such as incomplete penetration, etc. It can detect, locate, evaluate and diagnose various defects (cracks, inclusions, folds, pores, blisters, etc.) in the workpiece quickly, conveniently, without damage, and accurately. It is not only widely used in manufacturing, iron and steel metallurgy, metal processing, chemical industry and other fields that require defect detection and quality control, but also widely used in aerospace, railway transportation, boilers and pressure vessels and other fields.
Ultrasonic sensors also have many applications in the field of automotive electronics. There are ultrasonic sensors in reversing radar, anti-collision systems, automatic parking assistance systems, and ADAS systems. In the reversing radar, the ultrasonic sensor is unique, while in other systems, the ultrasonic sensor is used as an option to complete some specific functions together with millimeter wave radar, lidar, etc.
