Drift tracking for acoustic scan
AssigneeEvident Canada, Inc.
InventorNicolas Badeau
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In acoustic inspection, if a probe assembly fails to maintain a controlled lateral position relative to a structure such as a weld being inspected, as the probe assembly is translated along a scan axis, a nearby flaw could be missed or mistaken for an earlier-observed feature. Apparatus and techniques described herein can assist in tracking the lateral displacement of a probe assembly relative to a region of interest such as an edge or centerline of a weld. Such a technique can, for example, be used to gate the received ultrasonic data or to update a presentation to a user, such as for updating an overlay (e.g., a weld template) and ruler position in an S-scan or other image representation.
Claims22
A machine-implemented method to aid ultrasonic inspection, the method comprising:
- obtaining first B-scan echo data from a specified first range of depths at a specified scan angle, the first range of depths encompassing at least a portion of a structure being inspected;
- generating respective first sums of echo magnitudes across scan axis locations from the first B-scan echo data, the first sums corresponding to different respective depths;
- identifying an extremum amongst the respective first sums;
- determining an index value corresponding to a first depth indicated by the first extremum;
- for respective scan axis locations, identifying a second extremum in a specified second range of depths relative to the determined first depth, the second range of depths defining a window around the determined first depth;
- determining an offset value relative to the index value using the identified second extremum;
- and
- updating a presentation for display to a user indicative of the determined offset value.
A system, comprising:
- an acoustic inspection probe;
- a front-end circuit coupled to the acoustic inspection probe;
- a display;
- a processor circuit coupled to the front-end circuit and the display;
- and
- a memory circuit coupled to the processor circuit, the memory circuit comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor circuit, cause the system to:
- obtain first B-scan echo data from a specified first range of depths at a specified scan angle, the first range of depths encompassing at least a portion of a structure being inspected;
- generate respective first sums of echo magnitudes across scan axis locations from the first B-scan echo data, the first sums corresponding to different respective depths;
- identify an extremum amongst the respective first sums;
- determine an index value corresponding to a first depth indicated by the first extremum;
- for respective scan axis locations, identify a second extremum in a specified second range of depths relative to the determined first depth, the second range of depths defining a window around the determined first depth;
- determine an offset value relative to the index value using the identified second extremum;
- and
- update a presentation for display to a user indicative of the determined offset value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.