12.
9 Echo Sounder
a n y accidents have occurred due to ships being unaware of the depth of water or rather
nder-keel clearance as it is known today. Some areas have more depth and some have less;
Owadays, shallow waterwavs and channels into ports are constantly dredged in order to allow
O1gger ships to come alongside and discharge their cargoes.
n the past, navigators relied on charts and some were outdated too. Ships are now
mandatorily fitted with echo sounders to indicate the sea depth below the keel in metres/ feet.
he echo sounder uses acoustic waves and their subsequent echoes to find out the depth of sea
water. It is also very important in river navigation, when ships travel inland to discharge their
cargo. As per IMO resolution A.224(VII), a ship has to be installed one echo sounder in working
order and with a printing facility, to locate and record the depth on paper.
12.9.1 Working Principle
Figure 12.24- Echo Sounder Operation
The echo sounder radiates an ultrasonic beam wave that has a certain width, spread from the
toward the sea bottom. The travels in the water
ncdicer
tran
wave at a velocity of about 1500
setres per second (depending on the density and temperature) and it is reflected at the sea
m towards the transducer. By measuring the time until the reflected wave is received after
of the utrasonic wave, the sea depth can be measured.
diation
Chapter 12
The formula for measuring sea depth is as follows:
C
Depth ofsea-
Where:
C= Velocity of the ultrasonic beam
T The Total time required by the beam to reflect back to the transducer after transmitting.
Example
Let us consider 150 m as the sea depth. The ultrasonic wave will arrive at the sea bottom
with a lapse of 1/10 sec after its emission (we know 150 sec) and the associated reflected
1500
wave will arrive at the surface after a further lapse of /io sec. According to this theory, a time
of 10 sec. If the echo wave taken time to return from sea bottom to ultrasonic transducer is 10
sec then the depth is about 150 meters.
12.9.2 Block Diagram
As already mentioned, the echo sounder uses ultrasonic pulses to detect the seabed and other
underwater objects.
Display Unit Recorder Unit
Distribution Box Navigational Equipment
and Alarm Units
Junction Box/
Power Supply Unit
Matching Box
Transducer
Figure 12.25- Block Diagram of an Echo Sounder System's Onboard Installation
432 Basic Control Engineering
splay unit is capable of displaving images in colour as per the depth of the sea.
Cal pulses are converted into acoustical energy in the transducer fitted the
on ship's hul.
Sane transducer acts as a transceiver. which means it converts electrical energy into
aousurc
energy and sends it to the sea bed., receives acoustic energy from the Seaded ald
COnverts it back into
electrical enerov. after which it sends it to the receiver section for further
processing.
nc
aistribution box contains all the
processing units, the power supply unit and the I/O
aistribution unit. The
processing unit decides the sampling time for sending and receiving
acoustic signals from
and to the transducer. This time interval
tne changes as per the seIccuon o
system's frequency. The processor
measuresthe time of pulses travelling between the
Seabed and the transducer and displays the water depths in the graphical form or other forms.
The power
supply unit used 110/220 V AC which is converted into 24 V DC power supply
for operation.
The I/O distribution unit is used feed the echo sounder's data to other
to
navigational
equipment for safe navigation purposes and also takes the feedback for the warning alarm in
low depth values as compared to the
pre-set values by the operator
The Recorder unit is used for recording all data and also used for further reference
or
investigation purposes.
The composition block diagram depicts the operation of the echo sounder. The
signal control
section provides a start signal for transmission.
The transmitter starts to emit ultrasonic wave from the transducer in response to this
an
signal where a part of the wave enters the receiver section and records the zero line,
Upon receipt of the associated return wave incoming into the transducer, the receiver section
and signal control section amplify a very low voltage of the return wave up to a level
enough
to record on the recording
paper.
The amplitied signal is then fed into the recorder section.
thd
Miscellaneous Equipment Onboard Ships
The
frequency converter converts the frequency into an intermediate
casy processing. The intermediate frequency range tor
frequency amplifier amplifies the signal and feeds it to the
output power amplifier for amplifying the overall
power of signal and sending it to the signal
control section that will be
displayed on the LCD and printed on the recorder.
Gain Control Intermediate
High Frequency Frequency
Circuit Frequency Output To Signal
Amplifier Converter Amplifier Control Section
Amplifier
High
Frequency Local
Amplifier Oscillator
Figure 12.28 -
Receiver Section Block Diagram
12.9.5 Transducer Unit
The transducer is a device that converts one form of
energy into other forms of energy.
Here, it converts electrical energy into acoustic energy and vice versa.
Generally, it is made up
of barium titanate-type oscillator elements. It is a two-terminal device that is
connected directly
with a supply cable. It is installed in one or two positions
depending on the length of the ship.
Ifthe transducer installation requires a cable length of> 20 metres then a
matching box is used
for impedance matching purpose for the transfer of maximum
power because the long cable has
its own impedance and this impedance causes power loses.
