Abstract: Disclosed is a composite focusing wedge for ultrasonic non-destructive testing/inspection. The composite wedge comprises a base made of machined or cast material, and a lens made of a material which is cast in liquid form and subsequently solidifies. The acoustic velocity in the base material is less than that in the lens material. The castable lens material conforms exactly to a convex machined or cast surface of the base, thereby forming a concave lower surface of the lens. A flat ultrasonic probe is coupled to a planar upper surface of the lens. The minimum distance between the lower concave and upper planar surfaces of the lens is less than one acoustic wavelength in the lens material. The ringdown time of reverberations between the two surfaces is then sufficiently short that there is no interference between the reverberations and signals from sub-surface flaws in the object being tested.

Abstract: The method of validating a calibration of a phased-array inspection instrument uses a calibration block having two reflectors located below an inspection surface at two different depths.

Abstract: Disclosed is a portable non-destructive testing (NDT) instrument system that transmits spectrum data measured from a test material sample to a remotely located computer for computation of the sample's atomic element composition. The atomic element composition is subsequently transmitted back to the portable instrument for display to the operator in real time. The precision and accuracy of the compositional computation is improved by the greater processing power of the high performance remote computer. The operator of the NDT instrument may choose to use the remote computer to perform part or all of the compositional computation.

Abstract: Disclosed is a calibration system and method for a phased array ultrasound pipe inspection system, in which reliable calibration is obtained for notches at all angles using only a small number of notches for the calibration. The method comprises a one-time normalization step and a system calibration step which may be performed at regular intervals. Ultrasound transmission is in a single diverging beam for each aperture, while reception is selective for multiple well-defined reception angles. During the normalization step, plots of maximum response vs reception angle are plotted for each notch, and a normalization curve is constructed by fitting the maxima of these plots. The normalization curve is used to derive calibration targets at specific reception angles for specific calibration notches, which are then used for the system calibrations.

Abstract: Disclosed is a touchscreen display assembly for use in harsh environments. The touchscreen cable emerges from the touchscreen through a hole in a glass panel. The hole is inside the perimeter of a sealing strip which forms the seal for the touchscreen airgap. The touchscreen may be assembled and tested independently, and subsequently integrated with a display screen and protective front cover. The seal to the front cover is made without the need for a bezel overlapping the touchscreen top film, thereby avoiding possible damage to the touchscreen. Elimination of the bezel allows the touchscreen display assembly to have an attractive planar front surface, and also avoids accumulation of dirt between a bezel and the touchscreen top film.

Abstract: Disclosed is an ultrasonic inspection probe assembly comprising a water wedge and a flexible probe array assembly having a flexible acoustic module. The wedge is machined to match a test surface to be inspected and is configured to shape the acoustic module so that the active surface of the acoustic module is parallel to the test surface. Different wedges may be machined to match different test surfaces, but the same flexible probe array assembly may be used for all such surfaces.

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: Quantization noise in an oversampled eddy current digital drive circuit is reduced using a noise shaping filter.

Abstract: Disclosed is a phased array ultrasound total focusing method in which the ultrasound energy is transmitted as plane waves and the response signals are processed as plane waves. The processing is adaptively corrected to account for geometric variations in the probes and the part being inspected. Methods are disclosed for measuring the geometric variations of the probes and the part.

Abstract: Disclosed is an electronic system for resetting the voltage of a charge-sensitive pre-amplifier having input from an X-ray detector and output to an ADC. The pre-amplifier gain is increased so that the RMS ADC noise is less than 1% of a representative digitized X-ray signal. The reset logic is configured to avoid loss of X-ray counts and to prevent the pre-amplifier output being outside the allowable input range of the ADC. Reset is initiated when the pre-amplifier output rises above an upper level, which is below the maximum allowable ADC input. Reset is also initiated when a pile-up event is detected, provided that such reset will not cause the pre-amplifier output to fall below the minimum allowable ADC input. At each reset a known amount of charge is removed from the pre-amplifier, and the reset time is continuously adjusted to ensure that the charge amount does not drift.

Abstract: A phased array ultrasonic inspection system configured for weld inspection includes a data analysis process with automated and optimized gating to take into account the actual distance between a phased array probe and a weld line. The system embodies a weld tracking module and a dynamic gating module. The tracking module produces dynamically corrected overlays of the weld line based on the echo signals, the dynamically corrected overlays having a series of offsets from the corresponding initial overlays. The dynamic gating module purposefully positions a plurality of data analysis gates to filter out noise signals caused by sources unrelated to the weld, and to provide dynamic target gating adjusted by at least part of the offset.

Abstract: Disclosed is a flexible ultrasonic transducer in which a single layer serves dual function as both a matching layer and a flexible circuit for making electrical connections, and there is no separate matching layer. Also disclosed is a method of assembling the flexible transducer.

Abstract: Disclosed is an attachable spacer applied to the front base plate of a hand-held and self-contained XRF testing device that holds the face plate at a forwards tilt towards a test sample, and ensures that only the top rim of the face plate ever touches a test sample. The resulting triangular gap minimizes contact between the front plate window and the test surface, prevents the transfer of heat to the XRF testing device's circuitry, and locks in a fixed distance between the face plate of the XRF testing device and the sample being tested.

Abstract: Disclosed is a probe holder for in-line inspection of the surface of bars of high value alloys. To attain full coverage of the inspected surface, the bar is rotated while either the bar or the probe holder is translated. The probe holder of the invention ensures constant probe lift-off by allowing the probe to move freely under its own weight, while constraining the motion to be only in the radial direction of the bar. The lift-off distance is defined by a spacer which is made of soft material to avoid damaging the inspected surface. Although the spacer is soft, its wear due to friction with the rotating bar is minimized by minimizing the pressure between the spacer and the bar. This is achieved by resting most of the mechanism weight on two rollers, with only the much smaller weight of the probe resting on the spacer.

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 rotary bolt hole eddy current inspection scanner using a differential eddy current probe, the circuitry of the scanner is embodied with a filtering circuit with three filters: FIR (Finite Impulse Response), a low pass filter, and a phase control filter (by means of a Hilbert transform). The result from a scan of a bolt hole is an output signal on an impedance plane exhibiting a “backwards 6” shape of stable size when the scanner changes its rotating rate significantly.

Abstract: Disclosed is an ultrasonic IRIS inspection system and a method of providing automatically compensated concentric B-scans by means of curve-fitting the unadjusted tube boundaries from inspection data, and from the curve fitted theoretical circle, using non-linear regression analysis to determine an adjusted center. The off-center distance between the adjust center and the misaligned center is then used to produce concentric inspection result by compensating the unadjusted inspection result with the off-center distance.

Abstract: Disclosed is a touchscreen display assembly for use in harsh environments. The touchscreen cable emerges from the touchscreen through a hole in a glass panel. The hole is inside the perimeter of a sealing strip which forms the seal for the touchscreen airgap. The touchscreen may be assembled and tested independently, and subsequently integrated with a display screen and protective front cover. The seal to the front cover is made without the need for a bezel overlapping the touchscreen top film, thereby avoiding possible damage to the touchscreen. Elimination of the bezel allows the touchscreen display assembly to have an attractive planar front surface, and also avoids accumulation of dirt between a bezel and the touchscreen top film.