Patent · US Expired

Ultrasonic inspection

US6105431A · kind A · utility

35Cited by
7References
7Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateNov 7, 1997
Grant dateAug 22, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 7, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01N2291/2632
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A plate (12) or pipe wall is inspected by coupling an ultrasonic transducer (14, 16) to its surface so as to generate a compression wave or lateral wave (26) along the surface and a shear wave or head wave (28) along the surface and a shear wave or head wave (28) at the shear-compression critical angle (.theta..sub.c) The same transducer (14, 16), or an additional transducer (15, 16) also coupled to the surface, detects a series of ultrasonic peaks corresponding to each generated ultrasonic pulse. Each such detected peak corresponds to ultrasonic energy traveling, partly as lateral waves (26, 32) on one surface or the other, and partly as head waves (28, 30) crossing a certain number of times between the surfaces. The transducers (14, 15) may be over 0.5 m apart, and substantially all the intervening parts of the plate (12) are inspected.

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