Ultrasonic transducer wear cap
AssigneeAscent Ventures, LLC
InventorTodd Jackson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A wear cap including a flexible barrel and a rigid disc enables a high-frequency ultrasonic transducer to properly align to the surface of a material to be tested. The wear cap may be employed for any type of contact sensor that requires a protective wear cap and that needs to align to the surface of a material to be tested. An ultrasonic transducer assembly includes a wear cap and an ultrasonic transducer. The ultrasonic transducer is mounted in the wear cap and includes a transducer body with a cylindrical shape. A method of producing a wear cap for an ultrasonic transducer includes selecting a flexible material, forming a flexible barrel from the flexible material, selecting a rigid material, forming a rigid disc from the rigid material, and affixing the rigid disc to an end of the flexible barrel.
Claims20
An ultrasonic transducer assembly comprising:
- a wear cap comprising:
- a flexible barrel having a cylindrical shape;
- and
- a rigid disc affixed to an end of the flexible barrel;
- and
- an ultrasonic transducer mounted in the wear cap and comprising a transducer body having a cylindrical shape;
- wherein the flexible barrel has an inner diameter equal to or smaller than an outer diameter of the transducer body such that the flexible barrel stretches to receive the ultrasonic transducer.
A wear cap for an ultrasonic transducer comprising:
- a flexible barrel having a cylindrical shape;
- and
- a rigid disc affixed to an end of the flexible barrel.
A method of producing a wear cap for an ultrasonic transducer, the wear cap comprising a flexible barrel having a cylindrical shape and a rigid disc affixed to an end of the flexible barrel, the method comprising the steps of:
- a) selecting a flexible material;
- b) forming a flexible barrel from the flexible material having a cylindrical shape with an inner diameter equal to or smaller than an outer diameter of the ultrasonic transducer such that the flexible barrel stretches to receive the ultrasonic transducer;
- c) selecting a rigid material allowing passage of an ultrasonic beam from the ultrasonic transducer;
- d) forming a rigid disc from the rigid material;
- and
- e) affixing the rigid disc to an end of the flexible barrel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.