Patent · US Expired

Acoustic emission leak source location

US4858462A · kind A · utility

58Cited by
1References
5Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJan 20, 1989
Grant dateAug 22, 1989
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 20, 2009

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01M3/243
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A method and apparatus for locating a leak which produces a continuous acoustic emission having background noise and spikes, comprises continuously monitoring the acoustic emissions using spaced apart detectors which produce signals having background noise and spikes corresponding to those of the continuous acoustic emissions. The spikes of one signal are offset in time with respect to the spikes of the other signal, which corresponds to the difference in travel time of the acoustic signals to each of the detectors. By measuring the offset between the spikes, the relative position of the acoustic emission, and thus the relative position of the leak, can be determined with respect to the position of the detectors. To facilitate separating the spikes from the background noise, a floating detection threshold value is applied to the signals for eliminating the background noise.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.