A MEMS hydrophone and its integration with an accelerometer for leak detection in metal pipelines

IF 4.1 3区工程技术 Q2 ENGINEERING, ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONIC

Sensors and Actuators A-physical Pub Date : 2025-04-22 DOI:10.1016/j.sna.2025.116613

Jianwei Zong , Baoyu Zhi , Long Zhang , Lei Yang , Liang Lou

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

This paper designs, fabricates, and characterizes a MEMS hydrophone based on AlScN piezoelectric material, which is integrated with a commercial MEMS accelerometer to form an acoustic/vibration sensor module for metal pipeline leak detection. The proposed MEMS hydrophone, utilizing a piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (PMUT), features a 3 × 4 array, with each element having a radius of 500 μm. The hydrophone operates at a first-order resonant frequency of 66.3 kHz and exhibits an electromechanical coupling coefficient of 3.8 %. The fabricated PMUT device is encapsulated in a Φ1.6 cm × 0.55 cm housing with an acoustic matching adhesive and a pre-amplifier circuit. Its sensitivity reaches −169 ± 1 dB (re: 1 V/µPa). The MEMS hydrophone and an accelerometer are integrated into a single module and installed invasively within a stainless steel pipeline to assess their performance in monitoring pipeline leakage. The signals corresponding to different leak sizes and distances are collected, and their time-domain signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) are analyzed. At small leaks, the MEMS hydrophone exhibits a lower signal-to-noise ratio, and at greater distances, the signal attenuation of the MEMS accelerometer results in an even lower SNR. By integrating the signals from both sensor types, the limitations inherent to each are effectively addressed, leading to improved signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) and enhanced pipeline leakage detection quality.

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用于金属管道泄漏检测的MEMS水听器及其与加速度计的集成

本文设计、制作并表征了一种基于AlScN压电材料的MEMS水听器，该水听器与商用MEMS加速度计集成，形成用于金属管道泄漏检测的声学/振动传感器模块。所提出的MEMS水听器采用压电微机械超声换能器（PMUT），具有3 × 4阵列，每个元件的半径为500 μm。水听器工作在一阶谐振频率为66.3 kHz，机电耦合系数为3.8 %。制作的PMUT器件封装在一个Φ1.6 cm × 0.55 cm的外壳中，带有声学匹配粘合剂和前置放大器电路。灵敏度达到−169 ± 1 dB （re: 1 V/µPa）。MEMS水听器和加速度计集成到一个模块中，并安装在不锈钢管道中，以评估其监测管道泄漏的性能。采集不同泄漏尺寸和距离对应的信号，分析其时域信噪比。在小泄漏时，MEMS水听器表现出较低的信噪比，而在更远的距离时，MEMS加速度计的信号衰减导致更低的信噪比。通过整合两种传感器的信号，有效地解决了每种传感器固有的局限性，从而提高了信噪比（SNRs），提高了管道泄漏检测质量。

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来源期刊

Sensors and Actuators A-physical 工程技术-工程：电子与电气

CiteScore

8.10

自引率

6.50%

发文量

630

审稿时长

49 days

期刊介绍： Sensors and Actuators A: Physical brings together multidisciplinary interests in one journal entirely devoted to disseminating information on all aspects of research and development of solid-state devices for transducing physical signals. Sensors and Actuators A: Physical regularly publishes original papers, letters to the Editors and from time to time invited review articles within the following device areas: • Fundamentals and Physics, such as: classification of effects, physical effects, measurement theory, modelling of sensors, measurement standards, measurement errors, units and constants, time and frequency measurement. Modeling papers should bring new modeling techniques to the field and be supported by experimental results. • Materials and their Processing, such as: piezoelectric materials, polymers, metal oxides, III-V and II-VI semiconductors, thick and thin films, optical glass fibres, amorphous, polycrystalline and monocrystalline silicon. • Optoelectronic sensors, such as: photovoltaic diodes, photoconductors, photodiodes, phototransistors, positron-sensitive photodetectors, optoisolators, photodiode arrays, charge-coupled devices, light-emitting diodes, injection lasers and liquid-crystal displays. • Mechanical sensors, such as: metallic, thin-film and semiconductor strain gauges, diffused silicon pressure sensors, silicon accelerometers, solid-state displacement transducers, piezo junction devices, piezoelectric field-effect transducers (PiFETs), tunnel-diode strain sensors, surface acoustic wave devices, silicon micromechanical switches, solid-state flow meters and electronic flow controllers. Etc...