US 12,215,997 B2
Ultrasonic distance sensor and a method for protecting an ultrasonic transducer in an ultrasonic distance sensor
Martin Robert Lintzgy, Scarriff (IE); Martin Joseph Callanan, Feakle (IE); and Peter Anthony McCarthy, Ardnacrusha (IE)
Assigned to Rochester Sensors, LLC
Filed by Rochester Sensors, LLC, Coppell, TX (US)
Filed on Apr. 29, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/733,208.
Claims priority of application No. 2021/0097 (IE), filed on Apr. 30, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2022/0349742 A1, Nov. 3, 2022
Int. Cl. G01F 23/296 (2022.01); G01F 23/2962 (2022.01)
CPC G01F 23/2968 (2013.01) [G01F 23/2962 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An ultrasonic distance sensor comprising:
a main housing for housing an ultrasonic transducer therein, the main housing having a communicating aperture for accommodating a transmitted signal from the ultrasonic transducer therethrough, and
a protective element protecting the ultrasonic transducer from a corrosive or hazardous environment into which the signal from the ultrasonic transducer is to be transmitted, the protective element comprising:
a central working portion having a first major surface and a second major surface opposite the first major surface, the first major surface being adapted to abut an output face of the ultrasonic transducer,
an outer peripheral portion extending around the central working portion and having a first major surface and a second major surface opposite the first major surface thereof, the second major surface of the outer peripheral portion being engageable with the main housing adjacent the communicating aperture thereof with the protective element sealably closing the communicating aperture, wherein
the first major surface of the central working portion in a relaxed state thereof is convex, and the central working portion is of a deformable resilient material, and is deformable from the relaxed state in response to pressure applied to the first major surface for reducing the convexity thereof to a substantially planar first major surface with the substantially planar first major surface of the central working portion being resiliently urged into tight abutting engagement with the output face of the ultrasonic transducer,
the central working portion being of thickness between the first and second major surfaces thereof less than the thickness of the outer peripheral portion between the first and second major surfaces thereof, and transitioning into the outer peripheral portion through a flexion zone extending around the central working portion between the central working portion and the outer peripheral portion to permit flexing of the central working portion relative to the outer peripheral portion during transmission of the signal from the ultrasonic transducer so that the central working portion vibrates with the output face of the ultrasonic transducer to minimize the attenuating effect of the protective element on the transmitted signal from the ultrasonic transducer.