title: A Novel Ultrasonic Method for Liquid Level Measurement Based on the Balance of Echo Energy.
abstract: This study presents a novel method for determining the liquid level from the outside of a sealed container, which is based on the balance of echo energy received by two receiving sensors. The proposed method uses one transmitting transducer and two receiving sensors that are encapsulated in a coupling plane and arranged by certain rules. The calculation and comparison of echo energy are grounded on the difference ultrasonic impedance between gas and liquid media. First, by analyzing the propagation and attenuation characteristics of ultrasonic waves in a solid, an acoustic model for calculating the echo energy is established and simulated in MATLAB. Second, the proposed method is evaluated through a series of experiments. The difference and ratio of echo energy received by two receiving sensors are calculated and compared under two different coupling conditions. Two kinds of the sensors that are arranged by different rules are selected for measuring the liquid level, and the measurement are analyzed and discussed in detail. Finally, the experimental results indicate that the proposed method can meet the proposed accuracy requirements and can effectively solve the problems caused by some poor coupling conditions.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Instrumentation Science & Dynamic Measurement, Ministry of Education, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China. zb0003@126.com.|Science and Technology on Electronic Test & Measurement Laboratory, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China. zb0003@126.com.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Software School of North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China. weiyuejuan@nuc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yue-Juan
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Instrumentation Science & Dynamic Measurement, Ministry of Education, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China. liuwenyi_nuc@126.com.|Science and Technology on Electronic Test & Measurement Laboratory, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China. liuwenyi_nuc@126.com.
authors.forename: Wen-Yi
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Instrumentation Science & Dynamic Measurement, Ministry of Education, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China. zhangyjnuc@hotmail.com.|Science and Technology on Electronic Test & Measurement Laboratory, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China. zhangyjnuc@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Yan-Jun
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Instrumentation Science & Dynamic Measurement, Ministry of Education, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China. yaozong126@sina.com.|Science and Technology on Electronic Test & Measurement Laboratory, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China. yaozong126@sina.com.
authors.forename: Zong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Instrumentation Science & Dynamic Measurement, Ministry of Education, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China. zhangliang_ty@163.com.|Science and Technology on Electronic Test & Measurement Laboratory, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China. zhangliang_ty@163.com.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Instrumentation Science & Dynamic Measurement, Ministry of Education, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China. xiongjijunnuc@126.com.|Science and Technology on Electronic Test & Measurement Laboratory, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China. xiongjijunnuc@126.com.
authors.forename: Ji-Jun
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Xiong
keywords: balance; coupling; echo energy; matching layer; ultrasonic impedance