The first-generation temperature sensor on Apple Watch was mainly used to track women’s ovulation cycles. According to PatentlyApple reports, the U.S. Patent Office published a patent application from Apple. This patent involves a new type of ultrasonic temperature sensor that can measure the temperature of the surrounding air or the temperature of other environmental media, such as water, other Materials on the outside of electronic devices such as liquids or glass.
Apple applies for patent for new ultrasonic temperature sensor
Apple pointed out in the patent document that electronic devices often accompany users in daily activities, such as walking, commuting, working, exercising, etc.
Apple’s new patent aims to directly measure ambient temperature through ultrasonic technology. Ultrasonic temperature sensors calculate temperature by measuring the speed of sound propagation in air or other media, resulting in more accurate real-time data.
The sensor can contain any number of transmitters and receivers (such as a PMUT array), it can use separate ultrasonic transmitters and receivers, or it can use a PMUT that has both transmit and receive functions.
The pictures attached to the patent document, the temperature sensor can be installed on devices such as Apple Watch and iPhone . The patent drawing also shows a schematic diagram of the working principle of the sensor, a diagram of the relationship between temperature and sound speed, a diagram of the relationship between air density/atmospheric pressure and altitude, and a schematic diagram of the piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer array.
