Ultimate Sonic Distance

Short

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···· Does anyone know the maximin ultra sonic echo in distance, that has
been obtained.

· Short

LoopyByteloose

I heard St. Helens blow up and I was 250 miles away. There must have been an echo, maybe ultra-sound too.

All kidding aside, I must assume you mean an off-the-shelf ultrasonic measuring device.· The usual documents are at about 30 inches.·

I think you can get generalized 'shotgun' measurements of motion easily at six feet.
For far reaches, much depends on what you are using for a transducer in terms of power output and how you focus it [noparse][[/noparse]parabollic reflector or resonant tube], but beware that·I have heard tales [noparse][[/noparse]many years ago] of ultrasonic in the form of high power can actually resonante a woman's earnings and make her quite fidgity. I imagine anything that can resonanate to that particulary frequency will respond - maybe your dog, maybe your dental work.

If you are going for high power, you must be aware that there are always potential physical hazards.
Medical ultrasonics supposedly is harmless, but when they looked at my gall stones I felt sore afterwards [noparse][[/noparse]they also use ultrasound to shatter such stones].

Sound responds to the density of the atmosphere and air movements.· So humidity and wind both play havoc with distances, light is so much easier. In medical imagining they take advantage of this, but it requires quite a bit of computerized number crunching and I suspect that it is a multiple phased system.


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"When all think alike, no one is thinking very much.' - Walter Lippmann (1889-1974)

······································································ Warm regards,····· G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse]·黃鶴 ]·in Taiwan

Post Edited (Kramer) : 11/21/2005 11:04:39 AM GMT

Short

Hi Kramer


I actualy thought by pulsing a transducer with a high voltage pulse, 20 or 30 feet
might be abtained. On with experimenting.


Thanks Short

Jon Williams

I think size of the sensor is a big factor -- the old Polaroid sonar sensors had quite a bit of signal and distance.

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Jon Williams
Applications Engineer, Parallax

Short

Hi Jon


That is a great idea, I saw one in a picture on a Jameco add the whole unit was
very expensive 150 dollars. The senser was a bout 2 inches in diameter compared
to one half inch. Mabey I will find just a element on the web?

Thank you

Short

Jon Williams

I've seen big sensors like that for as little as $10-$15 at surplus places -- have a look at www.bgmicro.com.

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Jon Williams
Applications Engineer, Parallax

Short

Thanks

Beau Schwabe

Another factor that play a big part in determining your distance, is how well "tuned" your transmitter and receiver are
for the proper frequency. Simply increasing drive voltage does not necessarily equate to using a bulldozer to get the
job done.

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Beau Schwabe

IC Layout Engineer
Parallax, Inc.

Tom Walker

Beau,
I suppose that that's one way to get the 100,000th post [noparse]:)[/noparse]
Didn't think you were elegible, though..... 8^)

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Truly Understand the Fundamentals and the Path will be so much easier...

Beau Schwabe

Hmmm sorry about that double post.....I'll blame it on my father-in-law's computer. (28.8 dialup) I guess
I have been spoiled and impatient with the speed.·

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Beau Schwabe

IC Layout Engineer
Parallax, Inc.

Post Edited (Beau Schwabe (Parallax)) : 11/22/2005 8:44:03 PM GMT

Short

YA thats it something always makes you fell you tryed to hard.

Thanks for the insight

Short

Orion

I have used some for sensing chlorine tank levels on commercial pools. It claims to read up to 30ft in 1/8th" increments. It's probably not in your price range though, around $700. It's completely sealed in plastic with a NPT thread to mount it. Output was 4-20ma scalable with an rs232 interface also. It was about 1" dia and about 12" long. You can hear the clicks of the pulse which I though was cool. It can dig up a link if you want.

Short

Sure that would be great !

Orion

All right, after some digging I found the part. I was a little off on the specs forgive my memory, although I think they do make longer-range units.

I used the IRU-5180, which can sense 1-10ft. The same manual covers the IRU-5280, which can go out to 20ft. It gives you 1024 divisions over the span, which can be defined through the software that comes with it. I had it setup in our shop for testing before it went to the site and was very impressed with the sensitivity and repeatability. Anyway enough talk here is a link to the manual.

http://www.stevenswater.com/catalog/products/water_level_sensors/manual/90841%20Ultrasonic%20iru-5000.pdf

Looks like the IRU-5180 is $795(ouch!) from stevenswater

http://www.stevenswater.com/catalog/product1.aspx?Product_ID=133


We purchased them through:

INC Sales
Vince - Salesman
734-283-6599

It was about the only thing we could find that they would warranty for use with chlorine.