New Ultrasonic Range Sensor

Bob (Robot Wars Thumper 1997) wrote:

How stable is the return from a liquid surface?

Jerry
--
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

The sensor will provide a stable result from a stable liquid surface.

What's the beamwidth/polar pattern (in degrees) of your sensor? - most
industrial ultrasonics have quite a wide cone of "view". I too am interested
in liquid surface measuring - but I want to measure wave-height in moving
water and have come unstuck with ultrasonic before now.

Dave Slee
Engineering Specialist
The New and Renewable Energy Centre
www.narec.co.uk

Dave,
The beamwidth is somewhat dependent upon target size.  The sensor is
designed for indoor robotics use.  The datasheet shows the detection
zone for a 1/4 inch pole, a 1 inch pole, a 3.25 inch pole, and a board.
  The data sheet does not have water listed but I am sure that the
sensor would detect the water surface.

The data sheet is located here:
http://www.maxbotix.com/uploads/MaxSonar-EZ1-Datasheet.pdf

The larger more expensive 2-inch transducers have a natural beam width
of about 15 degrees.

The small transducers that I use, do not have a naturally narrow beam
but the beam width must be controlled with gain verses distance.  The
gain on the MaxSonar-EZ1 can have hundereds of steps.  In addition,
becasue of this,  the MaxSonar-EZ1 effectively does not have side lobes
that are typical with this type of sensor, and the beam width is very
narrow.  The beam width is the effective beam width, not the natural
beam width.  Some of this is explained in the FAQ section of the
website.

http://www.maxbotix.com/MaxSonar-EZ1__FAQ.php

Bob Gross
www.maxbotix.com