US 11,808,850 B2
1D ultrasonic transducer unit for hazard identification for a vehicle
Regine Augenstein, Mannheim (DE); and Thomas Kaindl, Dossenheim (DE)
Assigned to Pepperl + Fuchs SE, Mannheim (DE)
Filed by Pepperl + Fuchs SE, Mannheim (DE)
Filed on Feb. 3, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/167,071.
Application 17/167,071 is a continuation of application No. PCT/EP2019/000165, filed on May 23, 2019.
Claims priority of application No. 10 2018 006 130.3 (DE), filed on Aug. 3, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2021/0156996 A1, May 27, 2021
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G01S 15/931 (2020.01); G01S 7/521 (2006.01); G01S 7/54 (2006.01); G01S 5/02 (2010.01)
CPC G01S 15/931 (2013.01) [G01S 5/02 (2013.01); G01S 7/521 (2013.01); G01S 7/54 (2013.01)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A 1D ultrasonic transducer unit for detecting danger for a vehicle, the transducer unit comprising:
a housing;
at least three ultrasonic transducers; and
a control unit designed to control each ultrasonic transducer individually,
wherein each ultrasonic transducer has a transducer housing, a piezoelectric body arranged in the transducer housing and a sound decoupling layer arranged on an open end of the transducer housing for decoupling into a gaseous medium and being arranged in a fixed position in the housing,
wherein each ultrasonic transducer is designed to emit and/or to receive a sound wave at a working frequency,
wherein the working frequency of the sound waves being in a range from 20 kHz to 400 kHz,
wherein two ultrasonic transducers directly adjacent to each other in each case in the housing have a distance of no more than 10 cm from a middle of the sound decoupling layer of one of the two ultrasonic transducers to a middle of the sound decoupling layer of other one of the two ultrasonic transducers,
wherein the 1D ultrasonic transducer unit has one sound channel for each ultrasonic transducer,
wherein each sound channel has one inlet opening and one outlet opening,
wherein each sound decoupling layer is assigned to exactly one of the inlet openings,
wherein the outlet openings each are arranged in a wall of the housing not abutting the vehicle or the sound channels penetrating the wall of the housing,
wherein a distance from a middle of one outlet opening to a middle of a directly adjacent outlet opening corresponds to no more than a predetermined wavelength based on the working frequency in the gaseous medium or no more than half the predetermined wavelength,
wherein the distance between two directly adjacent outlet openings each being smaller than the distance of the ultrasonic transducers assigned to the corresponding inlet openings,
wherein a ratio of a surface area of the outlet opening to a surface area of the corresponding inlet opening having a value between 0.9 and 1.1,
wherein the outlet openings of the sound channels are arranged along a first direction,
wherein each of the outlet openings has an outlet width along the first direction and an outlet height along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction,
wherein a ratio of the outlet height to the outlet width is 1.5,
wherein the housing is mounted on the vehicle,
wherein the housing includes a movable cover device configured to close the outlet openings of all sound channels when the 1D ultrasonic transducer unit is not in use, and
wherein the outlet openings of all sound channels are situated in a curved surface or in a shared flat plane.