Ultrasonic Transducer Arrangement
AssigneeJ. Ray McDermott, S.A.
InventorsDinesh Damodar Putsherry, Abraham Kurian, Jayadev Muraleedhara Panicker
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An ultrasonic transducer arrangement for inspecting a pipe to fitting weld with restricted scanning access. A TOFD ultrasonic send transducer is mounted adjacent one end of a frame. A TOFD ultrasonic receive transducer is mounted on the frame and spaced linearly apart from and aligned with the TOFD send transducer. The TOFD send and receive transducers are each positioned at an angle that matches the external radius of curvature of the pipe. A phased array curved, wedge, send/receive transducer is mounted on the frame and spaced radially apart from the TOFD transducers.
Claims9
An ultrasonic transducer arrangement for inspecting a pipe weld, comprising:
- a. a frame;
- b. a phased array curved wedge ultrasonic, send/receive transducer mounted on the frame;
- c. an ultrasonic, send transducer mounted adjacent one end of the frame and spaced linearly and radially apart from the phased array wedge transducer;
- d. an ultrasonic, receive transducer mounted on the frame spaced linearly apart from and aligned with the send transducer;
- and
- e. the send and receive transducers each being positioned at an angle that matches the external radius of curvature of the pipe.
An ultrasonic transducer arrangement for inspecting a pipe weld, comprising:
- a. a frame;
- b. a phased array curved wedge ultrasonic, send/receive transducer mounted on the frame, the transducer having a curved face that matches the external curvature of the pipe;
- c. a narrow wedge ultrasonic, time of flight diffraction, send transducer mounted on the frame spaced linearly and radially apart from the phased array transducer;
- d. a narrow wedge ultrasonic, time of flight diffraction, receive transducer mounted on the frame spaced linearly apart from and aligned with the narrow wedge ultrasonic, time of flight diffraction send transducer;
- and
- e. the send and receive transducers each being positioned at an angle that matches the external radius of curvature of the pipe.
A method for inspecting the fitting side of a pipe-to-fitting weld, comprising the steps:
- a. positioning a phased array curved wedge ultrasonic, send/receive transducer adjacent the weld on the pipe side of the weld;
- b. positioning a narrow wedge ultrasonic, send transducer on the fitting side of the weld and radially spaced apart from the phased array transducer;
- c. positioning a narrow wedge ultrasonic, receive transducer on the pipe side of the weld and aligned with the send transducer;
- d. activating the phased array transducer and send transducer to send an ultrasonic pulse into the pipe and weld material;
- e. receiving the reflected ultrasonic signal sent by the phased array transducer with the phased array transducer and the reflected ultrasonic signal sent by the narrow wedge send transducer with the narrow wedge receive transducer;
- and
- f. storing and processing the reflected ultrasonic signals to determine the presence and location of defects in the weld.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.