Ultrasonic Power and Data Transfer through Multiple Curved Layers Applied to Pipe Instrumentation

TLDR

The study investigates ultrasonic power and data transfer through multilayered curved pipe walls to enable powering and monitoring of sensors installed behind the walls. Numerical and experimental analyses in the frequency and time domains were performed on a channel formed by two concentric water‑filled pipes to evaluate the acoustic transmission. Power and data were simultaneously transferred through all layers, with a remote temperature and pressure sensor powered and interrogated at 10.72 dB insertion loss and 1200 bps using Manchester coding, and the bit‑error rate improved with Manchester coding compared to non‑coded transmission.

Abstract

Ultrasonic power and data transfer through multilayered curved walls was investigated using numerical and experimental analysis. The acoustic channel used in this paper was formed by two concentric pipes filled with water, aiming for applications that involve powering and monitoring sensors installed behind the pipe walls. The analysis was carried out in the frequency and time domains using numerical and experimental models. Power and data were effectively simultaneously transferred through the channel. A remote temperature and pressure sensor was powered and interrogated throughout all the layers, and the power insertion loss was 10.72 dB with a data transmission rate of 1200 bps using an amplitude modulated scheme with Manchester coding. The efficiency of the channel was evaluated through an experimental analysis of the bit error rate (BER) with different values of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), showing a decrease in the number of errors compared with detection without Manchester coding.