Ultrasonic inspection system for welds

Claim 2

An ultrasonic inspection system for detecting the presence, magnitude and position of flaws in materials, said system comprising;: a plurality of acoustic transducers in constant relative position with respect to each other; said plurality of transducers including at least one transducer disposed for transmitting and receiving shear waves at an angle with respect to a surface of said material; automatic traversing means for moving said transducers rectilinearly in longitudinal steps along the length of said material and rectilinearly across said material along a transverse path at the end of each longitudinal step to define a scanning pattern along which ultrasonic pulses are transmitted into said material and reflected pulses are received by said acoustic transducers; gating means operatively connected to said transducers for gating said received pulses with respect to time; recording means operatively connected to said gating means for recording said received pulses after gating to give an indication of position in magnitude of any flaws in said material, and wherein said automatic traversing means includes; a plurality of pneumatic valves operatively connected to said transducers for producing said longitudinal and transverse movements; and at least one time delay valve operatively connected to at least some of said pneumatic valves for at least partially controlling the sequence of pneumatic valve operations thereby producing transducer movements along said scanning pattern.

Claim 3

An ultrasonic inspection system as in claim 1 wherein said plurality of acoustic transducers includes a transducer disposed to transmit and receive shear waves at a selected angle with respect to a surface of said material along the length thereof to detect flaws extending transversely across the said material.

Claim 4

An ultrasonic inspection system for detecting the presence, magnitude and position of flaws in materials, said system comprising: a plurality of acoustic transducers in constant relative position with respect to each other; said plurality of transducers including at least one transducer disposed for transmitting and receiving shear waves at an angle with respect to a surface of said material; said plurality of acoustic transducers including a pair of transducers, each disposed to transmit and receive shear waves at a selected angle with respect to a surface of said material and directed inwardly towards each other to detect flaws extending normal and nearly normal to the surface of said material; automatic tranversing means for moving said transducers rectilinearly in longitudinal steps Along the length of said material and rectilinearly across said material along a transverse path at the end of each longitudinal step to define a scanning pattern along which ultrasonic pulses are transmitted into said material and reflected pulses are received by said acoustic transducers; gating means operatively connected to said transducers for gating said received pulses with respect to time; recording means operatively connected to said gating means for recording said received pulses after gating to give an indication of position in magnitude of any flaws in said material; and wherein; said automatic tranversing means includes; a plurality of pneumatic valves operatively connected to said transducers for producing said longitudinal and transverse movements; at least one trip valve operatively connected to at least some of said pneumatic valves for detecting the end of one of said transverse movements; and at least one time delay valve operatively connected to at least some of said pneumatic valves for at least partially controlling the sequence of pneumatic valve operations thereby producing transducer movements along said scanning pattern.

Claim 5

An ultrasonic inspection system for detecting the presence, magnitude and position of flaws in materials, said system comprising: a plurality of acoustic transducers in constant relative position with respect to each other; said plurality of transducers including at least one transducer disposed for transmitting and receiving shear waves at an angle with respect to a surface of said material; said plurality of acoustic transducers including a pair of transducers, each disposed to transmit and receive shear waves at a selected angle with respect to a surface of said material and directed inwardly towards each other to detect flaws extending normal and nearly normal to the surface of said material; automatic tranversing means for moving said transducers rectilinearly in longitudinal steps Along the length of said material and rectilinearly across said material along a transverse path at the end of each longitudinal step to define a scanning pattern along which ultrasonic pulses are transmitted into said material and reflected pulses are received by said acoustic transducers; gating means operatively connected to said transducers for gating said received pulses with respect to time; recording means operatively connected to said gating means for recording said received pulses after gating to give an indication of position in magnitude of any flaws in said material; and wherein; said automatic tranversing means includes; a plurality of pneumatic valves operatively connected to said transducers for producing said longitudinal and transverse movements; at least one trip valve operatively connected to at least some of said pneumatic valves for detecting the end of one of said transverse movements; and at least one time delay valve operatively connected to at least some of said pneumatic valves for at least partially controlling the sequence of pneumatic valve operations thereby producing transducer movements along said scanning pattern.

Claim 6

An ultrasonic inspection system for detecting the presence, magnitude and position of flaws in materials, said system comprising; a plurality of acoustic transducers in constant relative position with respect to each other; said plurality of transducers including at least one transducer disposed for transmitting and receiving shear waves at an angle with respect to a surface of said material; said plurality of acoustic transducers, including a pair of transducers, each disposed to transmit and receive shear waves at a selected angle with respect to a surface of said material and directed inwardly towards each other to detect flaws extending normal and nearly normal to the surface of said material; automatic traversing means for moving said transducers rectilinearly in longitudinal steps along the length of said material and rectilinearly across said material along a transverse path at the end of each longitudinal step to define a scanning pattern along which ultrasonic pulses are transmitted into said material and reflected pulses are recieved by said acoustic transducers; gating means operatively connected to said transducers for gating said received pulses with respect to time; recording means operatively connected to said gating means for recording said received pulses after gating to give an indication of position in magnitude of any flaws in said material; and means for applying transmitted pulses to each of said pair of transducers alternately to minimize cross talk between said transducers.

Claim 7

An ultrasonic inspection system for detecting the presence, magnitude and position of flaws in materials, said system comprising; a plurality of acoustic transducers in constant relative position with respect to each other; said plurality of transducers including at least one transducer disposed for transmitting and receiving shear waves at an angle with respect to a surface of said material; said plurality of acoustic transducers, including a pair of transducers, each disposed to transmit and receive shear waves at a selected angle with respect to a surface of said material and directed inwardly towards each other to detect flaws extending normal and nearly normal to the surface of said material; automatic traversing means for moving said transducers rectilinearly in longitudinal steps along the length of said material and rectilinearly across said material along a transverse path at the end of each longitudinal step to define a scanning pattern along which ultrasonic pulses are transmitted into said material and reflected pulses are recieved by said acoustic transducers; gating means operatively connected to said transducers for gating said received pulses with respect to time; recording means operatively connected to said gating means for recording said received pulses after gating to give an indication of position in magnitude of any flaws in said material; and means for applying transmitted pulses to each of said pair of transducers alternately to minimize cross talk between said transducers.

Claim 8

An ultrasonic inspection system as in claim 4 wherein said automatic traversing means includes: a plurality of pneumatic valves operatively connected to said transducers for producing said longitudinal and transverse movements; at least one trip valve operatively connected to at least some of said pneumatic valves for detecting the end of one of said transverse movement; and at least one time delay valve operatively connected to at least some of said pneumatic valves for at least partially controlling the sequence of pneumatic valve operations thereby producing transducer movements along said scanning pattern.

Claim 9

An ultrasonic inspection system as in claim 4 wherein said plurality of acoustic transducers includes a transducer disposed to transmit and receive shear waves at a selected angle with the surface of said material along the length thereof to detect flaws extending transversely across said material.

Claim 10

An ultransonic inspection system as in claim 6 wherein said automatic traversing means includes: a plurality of pneumatic valves operatively connected to said transducers for producing said longitudinal and transverse movement; at least one trip valve operatively connected to at least some of said pneumatic for detecting the enD of one of said transverse movements; and at least one time delay valve operatively connected to at least some of said pneumatic valves for at least partially controlling the sequence of pneumatic valve operations thereby producing transducer movements along said scanning pattern.

Claim 11

An ultrasonic inspection system for detecting the presence, magnitude and position of flaws in materials, said system comprising: a plurality of acoustic transducers in constant relative position with respect to each other; said plurality of transducers including at least one transducer disposed for transmitting and receiving shear waves at an angle with respect to a surface of said material; said plurality of acoustic transducers, including a pair of transducers, each disposed to transmit and receive shear waves at a selected angle with respect to a surface of said material and directed inwardly towards each other to detect flaws extending normal and nearly normal to the surface of said material; said plurality of acoustic transducers including a transducer disposed to transmit and receive shear waves at a selected angle with the surface of said material along the length thereof to detect flaws extending transversely across said material; automatic traversing means for moving said transducers rectilinearly in longitudinal steps along the length of said material and rectilinearly across said material along a transverse path at the end of each longitudinal step to define a scanning pattern along which ultrasonic pulses are transmitted into said material and reflected pulses are received by said acoustic transducers; gating means operatively connected to said transducers for gating said received pulses with respect to time; recording means operatively connected to said gating means for recording said received pulses after gating to give an indication of position in magnitude of any flaws in said material.

Claim 12

An ultrasonic inspection system for detecting the presence, magnitude and position of flaws in materials, said system comprising: a plurality of acoustic transducers in constant relative position with respect to each other; said plurality of transducers including at least one transducer disposed for transmitting and receiving shear waves at an angle with respect to a surface of said material; said plurality of acoustic transducers, including a pair of transducers, each disposed to transmit and receive shear waves at a selected angle with respect to a surface of said material and directed inwardly towards each other to detect flaws extending normal and nearly normal to the surface of said material; said plurality of acoustic transducers including a transducer disposed to transmit and receive shear waves at a selected angle with the surface of said material along the length thereof to detect flaws extending transversely across said material; automatic traversing means for moving said transducers rectilinearly in longitudinal steps along the length of said material and rectilinearly across said material along a transverse path at the end of each longitudinal step to define a scanning pattern along which ultrasonic pulses are transmitted into said material and reflected pulses are received by said acoustic transducers; gating means operatively connected to said transducers for gating said received pulses with respect to time; recording means operatively connected to said gating means for recording said received pulses after gating to give an indication of position in magnitude of any flaws in said material.