US 12,710,398 B2Granted

Method and apparatus for determining the set of focal laws of a plurality of focal points located in a three-dimensional test object in the presence of a coupling medium

AssigneeConsejo Superior De Investigaciones CientíFicas (Csic) M

InventorsGuillermo Cosarinsky Markman, Jorge Fernández Cruza, Mario Muñoz Prieto, Jorge Camacho Sosa Dias

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Abstract

A method for determining the set of focal laws of a plurality of focal points located in a test object includes the steps of providing a bidimensional array of transducer elements in a coupling medium and defining at least a scan line by a set of focal points. For each scan line, the method comprises performing the sub-steps of choosing a two preliminary focal points, calculating a first auxiliary time-of-flight corresponding to the time-of-flight of a wave emitted from the corresponding transducer element and received in the first preliminary focal point, and a second auxiliary time-of-flight corresponding to the time-of-flight of a wave emitted from the same transducer and received in the second preliminary focal point.

A method for determining the set of focal laws of a plurality of focal points located in a test object, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a bidimensional or three-dimensional arrangement of transducer elements in a coupling medium, wherein each transducer element is configured to emit and/or receive an ultrasonic wave;
defining at least a scan line by a set of focal points, each scan line being comprised in the test object,
wherein, for each scan line, the method comprises performing the following sub-steps
choosing a first preliminary focal point and a second preliminary focal point belonging to the set of focal points;
for each transducer element, calculating a first auxiliary time-of-flight corresponding to the time-of-flight of a wave emitted from the corresponding transducer element and received in the first preliminary focal point, and a second auxiliary time-of-flight corresponding to the time-of-flight of a wave emitted from the same transducer and received in the second preliminary focal point, wherein each time-of-flight is calculated by solving the following equation
t
⁡
(
A
,
F
)
=
min
⁢
{
d
⁡
(
A
,
E
)
c
1
+
d
⁡
(
E
,
F
)
c
2
}
wherein t(A,F) is the time-of-flight of a wave travelling from the corresponding transducer element to the corresponding preliminary focal point, d(A, E) is the distance between the corresponding transducer element and a corresponding interface point according to Fermat's principle, d(E, F) is the distance between the corresponding interface point and the corresponding preliminary focal point, c1 is the sound speed in the coupling medium and c2 is the sound speed in the test object;
for each transducer element, determining a constant time value (tK) and an intermediate variable (γ) defined by
t
K
=
d
⁡
(
A
,
E
)
c
1
⁢
(
1
-
(
c
1
c
2
)
2
)
Wherein d(A, E) is either d(A, E1) or d(A, E2)
γ
=
c
2
2
(
(
t
⁡
(
A
,
F
1
)
-
t
K
)
2
-
(
t
⁡
(
A
,
F
2
)
-
t
K
)
2
)
+
(
r
2
-
r
1
)
2
2
⁢
(
r
2
-
r
1
)
wherein r1 is the coordinate of the first preliminary focal point measured along the scan line with coordinate origin at the test object surface and r2 is the coordinate of the second preliminary focal point measured along the scan line with coordinate origin at the test object surface;
calculating, for the rest of the set of focal points of the scan line (4), the focal laws to each transducer (A) by using the formula
t
~
(
A
,
P
)
=
t
K
+
1
c
2
⁢
(
r
-
r
1
-
γ
)
2
+
R
1
2
-
γ
2
wherein R1=c2·(t(A, F1)−tK), r is the coordinate of the corresponding focal point measured along the scan line (4) with coordinate origin at the test object surface.

148 more elements

Facts

Application

18/493,314Filed 24 Oct 2023

Priority

EP 2238302725 Oct 2022

Published

US 2024/0133846 A125 Apr 2024

Granted

18 Aug 2026

Term ends

Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification9 codes

G01N 29/221
Details , e.g. general constructional or apparatus details: arrangements for directing or focusing the acoustical waves
G01N 29/262
Arrangements for orientation or scanning by relative movement of the head and the sensor: by electronic orientation or focusing, e.g. with phased…
G01N 29/0654
Visualisation of the interior, e.g. acoustic microscopy: imaging
G01N 29/069
Imaging: defect imaging, localisation and sizing using, e.g. time of flight diffraction [TOFD], synthetic aperture focusing technique [SAFT],…

Abstract

Claims8