Description

The invention relates to a method for investigating the presence and/or properties of a liquid droplet according to claim 1 and to a sensor device according to claim 16. Further, the invention relates to an acoustic device according to claim 20.

It is known from the prior art to use optical methods for detecting liquid droplets on solid substrates. For example, optical devices are used to detect rain drops on a windshield of a vehicle or to monitor liquid filled conducts or pipes in order to detect leakages.

The objective of the invention is to provide a method and a sensor device for monitoring droplets on a substrate that can be applied in a simple manner. According to the invention, a method for investigating the presence and/or properties of a liquid droplet is provided, the method comprising the steps of:

a) providing a substrate for receiving a liquid droplet,

b) exciting acoustic waves in the substrate by means of at least one transmitter,

c) receiving acoustic waves evoked by the transmitter by at least one receiver,

d) evaluating a signal generated by the receiver upon receipt of acoustic waves evoked by the transmitter,

e) determining whether a droplet is present on the substrate and/or if a droplet is present determining the position and/or properties of the droplet using the result of step d).

The acoustic waves excited by the transmitter propagate towards the receiver in the substrate and are detected by the receiver. However, if a liquid droplet is present on the substrate at least a part of the acoustic waves propagating in the substrate will be converted into acoustic waves propagating in the droplet provided that the acoustic waves excited in the substrate comprise displacements at the surface of the substrate having a non-vanishing sagittal component (which is fulfilled e.g. by Lamb- or Rayleigh- Waves) and provided that the velocity of sound in the liquid of the droplet is smaller than the wave velocity in/on the substrate (which is true for common combinations of liquids and substrate materials such as water or oil on metal, glass, ceramics or many plastics).

Therefore, the presence of a droplet on the substrate will cause a change of the acoustic wave arriving at the receiver and thus the (electrical) signal generated by the receiver. For example, the amplitude of the receiver signal will decrease if a droplet is present on the surface of the substrate. Also, a variation of droplet properties (such as the contact angle between the droplet and the substrate surface) will result in a change of the receiver signal.

For example, the method of exciting the acoustic waves in the subtrate and the frequency of the acoustic waves are chosen in such a way that the excited waves are surface acoustic waves in the form of Lamb waves or Lamb-Rayleigh waves. For this, the frequency of the excited waves in the substrate is adapted to the substrate thickness such that concurrent surface acoustic waves are excited that propagate on both a first side and a second side of the substrate, wherein the first side is configured to receive the droplets and the second side faces away from the first side. In particular, the transmitter and the receiver are arranged in a row along the propagating direction of the acoustic wave excited in the substrate, wherein the transmitter and the receiver may be arranged on the same side or on different sides of the substrate.

In the case of Lamb waves or Lamb-Rayleigh-waves the displacement of opposite surfaces of the substrate (i.e. of the first and the second side of the substrate) excited by the transmitter is correlated such that, in particular, the amplitude and/or the phases of the displacement movement of the (e.g. inner and outer) surfaces of the structure are interrelated. For example, the acoustic waves excited in the structure will be mainly or only of the Lamb wave type if the thickness of the substrate is substantially smaller than the wavelength of the excited acoustic waves.

However, as set forth above, also a transition type of Lamb waves and Rayleigh waves can be used, i.e. the thickness of the substrate can be of the same order of magnitude as the wave length of the excited acoustic waves. In that case there can still be a correlation between the displacement movement of the opposite surfaces of the substrate (e.g. of the outer atomic layers of the surfaces of the structure). For example, the thickness of the substrate is in the range between 0.1 mm to 5 mm. The excitation frequency may be chosen to be in the range between 500 kHz and 2 MHz, in particular between 800 kHz and 1.5 MHz.

The method according to the invention may further comprise arranging the transmitter and the receiver on the substrate, wherein the transmitter and/or the receiver might be equipped with means for detachably fixing the transmitter and/or the receiver to the substrate. The transmitter and/or the receiver may be interdigital piezo-electric transducers. It is noted, however, that the term "transmitter" is not restricted to a piezoelectric transducer. Other embodiments of the invention comprise arranging a transmitter in the form of a (e.g. pulsed) laser that excites the acoustic waves in the substrate based on thermoelastic effects. Also, a wedge ("wedge converter") could be used ) to excite the acoustic waves or a comb-like vibrator ("comb converter"), wherein the wedge converter and/or the comb converter may be used in combination with a piezo-electric transducer. Of course different transmitter types could also be used in combination. Also, the receiver does not necessarily have to be an interdigital piezoelectric transducer. For example, a receiver in the form of an optical displacement detector such as an interferometer or a laser-doppler-vibrometer could be used. Further, the receiver may also contain detection means (e.g. at least one photoelectric detector) generating electrical signals.

Evaluating the signal generated by the receiver upon receipt of the acoustic waves, for example, comprises evaluating a first signal generated by the receiver at a first point in time and evaluating a second signal generated by the receiver at a second point in time. Of course, more than two signals generated at more than two points in time can be evaluated such that the presence of a droplet and/or properties of a droplet on the substrate can be monitored continuously (or at least quasi-continuously).

Also, evaluating the signal generated by the receiver can comprise evaluating the amplitude and the time response (transmission time) of the signal. As set forth above, the presence of a droplet on the substrate will cause some of the acoustic wave energy in the substrate to be converted into wave energy in the droplet such that the amplitude of the acoustic wave arriving at the receiver is smaller compared to a substrate without a droplet.

As to evaluating the time response of the receiver signal, the transmitter, for example, excites pulsed acoustic waves in the substrate which have a certain propagation time from the transmitter to the receiver (depending on the path they take between the transmitter and the receiver). Modifications of the interface between the substrate and its surroundings will influence the transmission time (i.e. the time a wave front or an acoustic pulse needs to run from the transmitter to the receiver) of the acoustic waves in the substrate. Thus, evaluating changes of the transmission time may contribute to the determination of properties of a droplet or to the verification whether or not a droplet is present on the substrate.

Further, for example, evaluating the signal generated by the receiver comprises comparing the results of the evaluation with pre-determined values. In particular, the amplitude and/or the time response of the receiver signal are compared to pre- determined amplitude and/or time response values. The pre-determined values may be generated using a substrate on which a droplet is arranged, wherein at least some of the properties of the droplet (e.g. its volume and contact angle) are known. Also, the pre-determined values could be determined using a substrate without a droplet to obtain reference values for a "droplet free" structure. In other words, the transmitter-receiver- substrate arrangement is calibrated. Variations from the calibration values indicate the presence of a droplet or permit to determine a change of the properties of the droplet.

It is also possible to derive properties of a droplet on the substrate by simulating the interfaces between the surface of the substrate and the droplet and between the droplet and its surrounding (e.g. air). The simulation may contain different unknown parameters related to droplet properties (e.g. its contact angle with respect to the substrate surface) which are to be determined by means of values extracted from the receiver signals (such as values related to the amplitude and the time response, i.e. the transmission time of the acoustic waves).

For example, a three phase model could be used to simulate the substrate, the droplet and the surroundings of the droplet and the substrate, wherein certain properties (for example, material parameters of the substrate and the droplet) are assumed to be known. Other parameters (such as the contact angle of the droplet) of the model are unknown and are to be determined using the evaluated receiver signals.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the substrate has a first side (first surface) for receiving the droplet, the method comprising arranging the transmitter and the receiver on a second side (second surface) of the substrate that faces away from the first side, thereby avoiding that the transmitter and the receiver will be in contact with the droplets to be detected. In another example, however, a pre-assembled substrate is used comprising a first side for receiving the droplets and a second side on which the transmitter and the receiver are arranged.

For example, the method comprises arranging the transmitter and the receiver on an inner surface of a window pane, for example on an inner side of a wind shield of a vehicle, the inner side facing towards the interior of the vehicle. In particular, the signal generated by the receiver can be used to control a wiper assigned to the wind shield. According to another example, the method according to the invention comprises arranging the transmitter and the receiver on the substrate and arranging the substrate in the proximity of a conduct filled with a liquid such that liquid escaping from a leakage of the conduct generates one or more droplets on a surface of the substrate, wherein the droplets will be detected according to step e). This embodiment can be used to monitor all kinds of liquid filled conducts such as pipes or channels used, for example, within a technical device or which are installed outdoor.

Further more, a contact angle of a droplet on the substrate may be determined using the results of step d). The contact angle is the angle at which a droplet on the substrate meets the substrate surface. As droplets of the same volume but with different contact angles wet different areas of the substrate surface, the amplitude and the transmission time of the receiver signal will be different for droplets with different contact angles.

Thus, the amplitude and the transmission time could be used - in particular after calibration of the transmitter-receiver-arrangement - to determine the contact angle of a droplet (and thus the surface tension between the droplet and its surroundings).

According to another embodiment of the invention, the method comprises arranging the transmitter and the receiver on a substrate that consists of at least one material selected from the group comprising glass, ceramics, plastic and metal. In other words, the transmitter-receiver arrangement has not to be disposed on a piezoelectric material. Rather, the transmitter and/or the receiver may be an interdigital transducer arranged on any suitable kind of a non-piezoelectric solid substrate.

It is noted that the transmitter and the receiver do not necessarily have to be separate units. It is also possible that the transmitter and the receiver are realized by a single transmitter/receiver device which can be operated (e.g. alternately) as transmitter and receiver. For example, only one interdigital transducer is provided which is switched to operate as a transmitter for a first period of time and as a receiver for a second period of time.

Further, reflecting means can be provided for reflecting acoustic waves generated by the transmitter. In particular, the transmitter and the receiver are arranged with respect to the reflecting means in such a way that acoustic waves excited in the substrate by the transmitter are reflected by the reflecting means such that the acoustic waves pass the region of the liquid droplet at least twice before arriving at the receiver. This arrangement could be used to enhance the sensibility of the droplet detection.

Further, if a combined transmitter/receiver device, i.e. a single device which is used as transmitter as well as receiver, is employed the transmitter/receiver device may be operated for a first period of time as a transmitter generating an acoustic wave pulse, and, for a second period of time, as a receiver receiving the acoustic wave pulse generated by the transmitter/receiver device during the first period of time and reflected by the reflecting means.

The invention also relates to a sensor device, comprising

- a substrate for receiving a liquid droplet,

- at least one transmitter for exciting acoustic waves in the substrate,

- at least one receiver for receiving acoustic waves evoked by the transmitter, - evaluation means for evaluating a signal generated by the receiver upon receipt of acoustic waves evoked by the transmitter, and

- determination means for determining whether a droplet is present on the substrate and/or if a droplet is present determining the position and/or properties of the droplet using information of the evaluation means.

The evaluation and/or the determination means might for example be implemented as an electrical circuit, e.g. in the form of a microchip. The microchip may also be arranged on the substrate. However, it is also conceivable that the evaluation means and/or the determination means are not realized in form of an integrated circuit but comprise a measurement device arranged separately to the transmitter-receiver arrangement and/or the substrate. In particular, the measurement device (such as an oscilloscope or a computer) is connected to the receiver in order to register the electrical receiver signals.

Further, the evaluation and/or the determination means may be realized by a programmable unit running a computer program that evaluates the receiver signals registered by the measurement device and determines whether a droplet is present on the substrate and/or if a droplet is present determines the position and/or properties of the droplet. According to an embodiment, the sensor device comprises reflecting means and the transmitter and the receiver are arranged with respect to the reflecting means in such a way that acoustic waves excited in the substrate by the transmitter are reflected at the reflecting means such that the acoustic waves pass the region of the liquid droplet at least twice before arriving at the receiver as already set forth above.

For example, the reflecting means comprise an edge of the substrate. However, the reflecting means may also comprise or consist of structures that were added to the substrate such as, for example, at least one groove (generated e.g. by etching or mechanical processing of the substrate) or at least one elevation (generating e.g. by adding a material layer to the substrate and processing of the material layer).

The sensor device according to the invention may be installed, for example, in the vicinity of potential leakage areas of a liquid filled conduct.

According to another aspect, the invention relates to an acoustic device, comprising

- a substrate;

- a liquid droplet arranged on a surface of the substrate;

- at least one transmitter for exciting acoustic waves in the substrate, wherein - the droplet is positioned relative to the transmitter in such a way that an acoustic wave excited in the substrate by the transmitter is focussed or defocussed by the droplet.

In the region of the droplet the properties of the interface between the substrate surface and its surroundings are different from the interface properties of a surface region outside the droplet. This has the effect that the velocity of the surface acoustic waves excited in the substrate is different in the region of the droplet from the velocity outside the droplet region. Subsequently, the wave front of the acoustic wave is distorted when passing the droplet region. In particular, a first (edge) portion of the wave front may not pass the droplet region while a second (center) portion of the wave front may cross the droplet region. Thus, the velocity of the first wave front portion is unaltered while the velocity of the second wave front portion decreases or increases resulting in a bending (focussing or defocussing) of the wave front. Further, the thickness of the droplet varies continuously from its edges to its centre. Accordingly, the velocity of the acoustic wave passing the droplet region varies continuously such that the focussing (or defocussing) effect is enhanced.

The droplet may be arranged on a first side of the substrate while the transmitter is arranged on a second side of the substrate, the second side facing away from the first side (and, thus, from the droplet).

The acoustic device may also comprise reflecting means for reflecting acoustic waves generated by the transmitter as described above. Further, the transmitter may be realized by a device which can be also operated as a receiver. For example, focussed acoustic waves reflected by the reflecting means can thus be detected by the device.

The embodiments of the invention will be described in more detail hereinafter with reference to the drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 illustrates a sensor device according to an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2A, 2B illustrate the principle of operation of the method according to the invention;

Fig. 3 and 4 illustrate the use of the method according to the invention for determining the number of droplets on a substrate;

Fig. 5A-D illustrate the determination of the contact angle of a droplet according to an embodiment of the method according to the invention;

Fig. 6A-D illustrate the determination of the volume of a droplet according to an embodiment of the method according to the invention; and

Fig. 7 illustrates an acoustic device according to an embodiment of the invention. Figure 1 depicts a sensor device 1 according to an embodiment of the invention, the sensor device comprising a substrate 2 which has a first surface (side) 21 configured for receiving a liquid droplet 5.

A transmitter 3 for exciting acoustic waves A in the substrate 1 is arranged on a second surface (side) 22 of the substrate 2, the second surface 22 facing away from the first substrate surface 21. Further, a receiver 4 for receiving acoustic waves evoked by the transmitter 3 is disposed on the second substrate surface 22 in a row with the transmitter 3 along the propagating direction of the acoustic waves A excited in the substrate.

The receiver 4 generates an (electrical) signal upon receipt of acoustic waves evoked by the transmitter 3. Further more, the sensor device comprises evaluation means (not shown) for evaluating a signal generated by the receiver upon receipt of acoustic waves evoked by the transmitter, and determination means (not shown) for determining whether a droplet is present on the substrate and/or if a droplet is present determining the position and/or properties of the droplet using information of the evaluation means. For example, the evaluation means and the determination means are implemented into a microchip.

The working principle of the sensor device according to the invention relies on the fact that a part of the acoustic waves A excited by the transmitter is converted into acoustic waves in the droplet 5 (indicated by arrow "B"). Thus some of the energy of the substrate wave emerges from the substrate in the region of the droplet such that the intensity (i.e. the amplitude) of the acoustic waves in the substrate 1 decreases during the passage of the droplet region such that the amplitude of the acoustic wave (arrow "C") behind the droplet region is smaller than in front of the droplet region, which is illustrated by the smaller size of arrow C.

Thus, the amplitude of the signal generated by the receiver 4 will depend on whether or not a droplet is present on the substrate surface. The receiver signal amplitude will also depend on certain properties of the droplet such as the volume and the surface area covered by the droplet, i.e. the contact angle. As already mentioned above, the transmission time of the excited acoustic waves will also be influenced by the droplet such that both the signal amplitude and the transmission time can be used for characterizing a droplet on the substrate surface.

The effect that an acoustic wave propagating in the substrate is weakened by the presence of a droplet on the substrate surface is further shown in Figures 2A and 2B.

The sensor device and the method according to the invention may also be used to determine the number of droplets present on the substrate surface as illustrated in Figures 3 and 4, wherein a plurality (four) of droplets 5a - d is present on the substrate surface 21. An acoustic wave excited by the transmitter 3 will successively cross the four droplet regions such that the amplitude of the acoustic waves will successively decrease.

Thus, the amplitude of the receiver signal will depend on the number of droplets present on the substrate such that the amplitude will be smaller if four droplets are present than if only three or two droplets were present. This is confirmed by a measurement, wherein the measurement results are reproduced in Figure 4. According to Figure 4, the amplitude of the receiver signal is highest if no droplet at all is present and decreases with increasing number of droplets.

Figures 5A and 5B relate to another embodiment of the method according to the invention. Again, a transmitter 3 and a receiver 4 are arranged on a substrate 2. A liquid droplet 5a, 5b is present on a first side 21 of the substrate 2, the first side facing away from the substrate side carrying the transmitter 3 and the receiver 4. The droplet 5a of Figure 5A has a nearly spherical shape whereas the droplet 5b of Figure 5b is flattened such that it covers a larger area of the substrate surface 21 although its volume compares to the volume of droplet 5a. The shape of the droplet is governed by the contact angle Θi, Θ ₂ at which the outer surface of the droplet meets the substrate surface. In the case of Figure 5A, the contact angle Θi between droplet 5a and the substrate surface 21 is much larger than the contact angle Θ ₂ of droplet 5b.

The corresponding bar charts of Fig. 5C and 5D illustrate that the signal generated by the receiver 4 upon receiving acoustic waves evoked by the transmitter 3 depends on the size of the surface that is covered by the droplet, i.e. the receiver signal depends on the contact angle. In particular, Figures 5C and 5D show the amplitude (left bars) and the transmission time (right bars) related to Figure 5A and Figure 5B, respectively. The hatched bars relate to the situation that the droplet 5a and 5b, respectively, is present on the surface, whereas the non-hatched bars relate to case that no droplet is arranged on the substrate surface. As can be seen, both the amplitude and the transmission times change if droplet the 5a, 5b is present on the substrate. Further, the receiver signals related to droplet 5a and the receiver signals related to droplet 5b differ in that the amplitude of the receiver signal related to droplet 5b, which covers a larger surface area than droplet 5a, is lower than the amplitude of the receiver signal related to droplet 5a.

Further more, the transmission time (propagating time) of the acoustic waves increases with larger contact area between the droplet and the substrate such that the transmission time related to droplet 5b (shown in Fig. 5D) is larger than the transmission time related to droplet 5a (shown in Fig. 5C). Thus, evaluating the receiver signal permits to characterize a change of the contact angle and also if the transmitter- receiver-setup is calibrated to determine absolute values of the contact angle.

Figures 6A - 6D are related to another embodiment of the invention, wherein the evaporation of a droplet is monitored. Figure 6A relates to the state of a droplet 5 at a first point in time t-i where the droplet 5 has a first volume. The droplet 5 evaporates such that at a second point in time t ₂ the volume of the droplet is smaller than at ti as illustrated in Figure 6B.

As the substrate surface area that is covered by the droplet depends on the volume of the droplet the receiver signal changes if the droplet volume changes. This is depicted in

Figures 6C and 6D showing the variation in time of the signal amplitude (Fig. 6C) and of the transmission time (Fig. 6D). As can be extracted from Figure 6C, the signal amplitude sharply decreases when the droplet is arranged on the substrate surface since acoustic waves excited in the substrate escape into the droplet as explained above. However, the droplet's volume decreases due to evaporation such that the surface area covered by the droplet is reduced and a smaller fraction of the acoustic waves in the substrate will be coupled into the droplet. Therefore, the amplitude of the receiver signal increases again and approaches the non-droplet value (indicated by a dashed line). The time behaviour of the transmission time (shown in Figure 6D) qualitatively corresponds to the time behaviour of the signal amplitude. After a sharp increase due to the fact that the droplet is arranged on the substrate the transmission time decreases again as a smaller amount of acoustic wave energy is transferred to the droplet as the contact area between the droplet and the substrate surface becomes smaller. The transmission time similarly to the amplitude approaches the non-droplet value.

Figure 7 depicts an acoustic device according to another aspect of the invention. The acoustic device comprises a substrate 2 having a first surface 21 on which a droplet 5 is arranged. Further, a transmitter 3 is arranged on a second surface 22 of the substrate 2, the second surface 22 being opposite to the first surface 21. The transmitter 3 is configured for exciting acoustic waves A in the substrate.

Further, the droplet 5 is arranged in the substrate 2 in such a way that the acoustic waves A cross the surface area covered by the droplet 5. As the velocity of the acoustic wave depends on the kind of medium interfacing the substrate, the wave velocity in the region of the droplet, i.e. in the region of a solid - liquid interface, differs from the wave velocity in the region outside the droplet region, i.e. from the region of a solid - gas (air) interface.

Thus, in front of the droplet 5 (i.e. between the transmitter 3 and the droplet) the acoustic wave excited in the substrate possesses nearly plane wave fronts. However, the part of the wave fronts crossing the droplet region, i.e. the solid-liquid interface region, will be slowed down causing a bending of the wave fronts such that waves B comprising bent wave fronts develop. The bending of the wave fronts corresponds to focussing the originally plane acoustic waves.