Abstract: An ultrasound scanner assembly for inspection of pipes and pipe elbows comprises a frame and a wedge. Four wheels are attached to the frame, there being a front wheel pair and a rear wheel pair. In order to maintain stable positioning of the probe assembly while scanning, the wheels are magnetic, thereby establishing a magnetic stabilizing force between the wheels and the pipe or pipe elbow. The magnetic stabilizing force is larger for pipes of small diameter than for pipes of large diameter.

Abstract: A dual probe assembly comprises dual transducers which are free to rotate over a desired range of roof angles required for different inspection applications. The roof angle for a particular application is defined by attaching the dual probe assembly to a wedge assembly having an upper contact surface which defines the roof angle of the transducers.

Abstract: An ultrasound probe assembly comprises a housing and a wedge, wherein wedges configured for pipes of different diameter may be easily interchanged in the assembly. Four wheels are attached to the housing, there being a front wheel pair and a rear wheel pair. Wheels of each pair are positioned on either side of a linear probe array, wherein the distance between wheels in each pair in a direction perpendicular to the array length is as small as possible. A position encoder monitors the position of the assembly during scanning, and a push lock switch is used to disable the encoder and the data acquisition while indexing to a new scan position on the pipe.

Abstract: Disclosed is an NDT/NDI probe array and manufacturing method. The probe array includes a sheet of flexible circuit 10 with a plurality of lower pins 102 and corresponding, electrically connected, upper pins 104. The probe further comprises a backing block 12, a layer of piezoelectric ceramic 16 having a plurality of conductive elements 162, a matching layer 18 and a frame 14. An adhesive material such as epoxy is applied to the circuit, the backing, the ceramic and the matching layer, and all are aligned and stack pressed at least partially into the frame and permanently bonded in such a fashion that each of the lower pins of the flexible circuit is firmly and permanently in contact with a corresponding one of the conductive elements of the ceramic.

Abstract: Disclosed are circuits for automatic calibration of the gain of electronic amplification and digitization systems for use with X-ray detectors. The calibration is based on injecting predetermined pulses into the electronic system and deriving a calibration ratio based the digital value of their amplitude with the digital value of the same pulses, unamplified and digitized with a high accuracy reference ADC. All ADCs, as well as the DACs used to control the pulser amplitude are referenced to a single common reference voltage. Calibration for non-linearity of the gain is disclosed with an alternative embodiment for the same circuits.

Abstract: A combination of pulse-amplitude modulation and time division multiplexing is used to increase the scan speed when performing non-destructive inspection, such as with an eddy current array.

Abstract: Disclosed is a circuit for controlling the temperature and the bias voltage of a detector used by an X-ray analytical instrument. The circuit uses a single common reference voltage for the temperature measurement and for all the ADCs and DACs in the circuit, resulting in reduced drift and improved reproducibility of detector temperature and bias voltage. ADCs with a larger number of bits are used to produce precision values of the temperature, the bias voltage, and their respective setpoints. The setpoints are digitally varied until the precision setpoint values correspond to desired values of temperature and bias setpoints.

Abstract: Disclosed is an ultrasonic transducer and a manufacturing method thereof. The transducer comprises a piezoelectric composite array having an array of rigid posts made of a piezoelectric material, with kerf spaces between the posts filled with a low density aerogel material.

Abstract: Disclosed is a circuit for controlling the temperature and the bias voltage of a detector used by an X-ray analytical instrument. The circuit uses a single common reference voltage for the temperature measurement and for all the ADCs and DACs in the circuit, resulting in reduced drift and improved reproducibility of detector temperature and bias voltage. ADCs with a larger number of bits are used to produce precision values of the temperature, the bias voltage, and their respective setpoints. The setpoints are digitally varied until the precision setpoint values correspond to desired values of temperature and bias setpoints.

Abstract: Inventive features of a portable ultrasonic phased array test instrument are disclosed. The instrument has a battery rack that can be repurposed to host a re-programming module for testing and re-programming electronic components.

Abstract: Disclosed is a system and method of determining the test surface profile and compensating the gain amplitude when using time reversal focal laws in ultrasound non-destructive testing. Computer simulations are used to compute the diffraction field at time of incidence of the transmitted parallel wave front on the test surface. Knowledge of the surface profile and the diffraction field allows determination of coverage at the test surface and improved accuracy of flaw sizing.

Abstract: A compact, low cost device for laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) makes use of a silicon photomultiplier detector and a photon counting method.

Abstract: The invention relates to an industrial testing device communicating with a data center located in a remote computer network, such as the cloud. Disclosed is a method of registering the device to the cloud and specifying the geographical location of the data center.

Abstract: Disclosed is a circuit for controlling the temperature and the bias voltage of a detector used by an X-ray analytical instrument. The circuit uses a single common reference voltage for the temperature measurement and for all the ADCs and DACs in the circuit, resulting in reduced drift and improved reproducibility of detector temperature and bias voltage. ADCs with a larger number of bits are used to produce precision values of the temperature, the bias voltage, and their respective setpoints. The setpoints are digitally varied until the precision setpoint values correspond to desired values of temperature and bias setpoints.

Abstract: Disclosed is an ultrasonic non-destructive testing and inspection system and method for determining acoustic velocities in a test object. Beams of acoustic energy from firing an element of an emitting probe propagate in a first wedge, and a beam incident at the critical angle generates a surface wave in the test object. The surface wave propagates to a second wedge and signals are received at receiving elements of a receiving probe array. When a set of appropriate delays is applied to the receiving elements, the acoustic time-of-flight is the same to all receiving elements. Determination of the appropriate delays and the times-of-flight for P-type surface waves and Rayleigh surface waves enables computation of the P- and S-wave acoustic velocities in the test object. The time-of-flight measurement also enables computation of the separation between the first and second wedges.

Abstract: Disclosed is a beam overlap verification system and method for phased array ultrasonic inspection. A scan plan for the ultrasonic inspection defines a suitable probe, wedge and calibration block having machined defects for the geometry to be inspected, and makes a beam definition which defines a set of ultrasonic beams emitted by the phased array. An intersection amplitude unit records the response amplitudes from each defect at predetermined intersection points of adjacent beam pairs as the probe and wedge are manually scanned across the calibration block. An overlap verification module determines the ?6 dB overlap of all adjacent beam pairs which are relevant to the geometry to be inspected, and verifies that the beam overlap conforms to the required coverage according to the ASME or other relevant codes. In this way, coverage is experimentally verified during calibration prior to inspection of a known geometry, such as a weld.

Abstract: Disclosed is an apparatus and method for generating virtual inspection channels mid-way between the physical inspection channels of an eddy current array probe, thereby reducing the coverage loss and improving defect sizing and imaging. The method is based upon a calibration to determine the mid-channel coverage loss for parallel defects having their long axis parallel to the scanning direction. Based on the coverage loss measurement, a vector analysis system is constructed enabling generation of virtual channel signals which are available for processing in the same way as physical channels, with impedance plane representation including real and/or imaginary signal components. The system differentiates between parallel and perpendicular defects and employs different algorithms to generate virtual channel signals for parallel and perpendicular defect orientations.

Abstract: Herein disclosed is an x-ray florescence (XRF) test system which comprises an XRF test instrument used for testing a test target's responses to X-rays, the instrument including a test window allowing the X-ray and its responsive energy to pass through, and a window protecting film assembly allowing X-rays to pass through and providing protection to the window, the film assembly being configured to be coupled with the window in a fashion to be removed from or applied or reapplied over the window. The corresponding calibration mode can be manually or automatically applied according to the specific film assembly presently in use. An embodiment of the film assembly comprises a thin film fixed with an adhesive layer to a supporting frame having a closely spaced array of apertures.

Abstract: The phased-array probe to be received on a probe receiving area of a wedge generally has a probe housing, a plurality of acoustic transducer elements disposed in the probe housing and distributed along a length of a working surface of the probe housing, and a matching layer covering the plurality of acoustic transducer elements and extending to cover an extended region of the working surface of the probe housing such that the matching layer forms a closed contact with an upper end of an acoustic damping junction of the wedge when the working surface of the probe housing of the phased-array probe is received on the probe receiving area of the wedge, wherein the closed contact prevents acoustic energy from being reflected from the extended region of the working surface of the probe housing.

Abstract: Disclosed is an assisted analysis unit for facilitating phased array defect inspection. The analysis unit comprises an identification & merging module, and a sizing module. The modules are capable of displaying defect contours from multiple groups of indications, and of recommending defect merging candidates and defect sizing methods. However both modules also accept user input so that the final decisions rest with the operator.