Ultrasonic measurement apparatus and method
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsRoman Heinrich Koch, Gerhard Finger, Heiko Martin, Franz Sackenreuther
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for determining a thickness of an object using ultrasonic signals are disclosed. The method includes the steps of transmitting ultrasonic signals toward the object, digitizing a reflected echo sequence of the ultrasonic signals, including interpolating the echo sequence, and processing the echo sequence by detecting maximum amplitude peaks in the echo sequence and determining the object thickness based on a time duration between the maximum amplitude peaks.
Claims20
A method for determining a thickness of an object, comprising:
- emitting ultrasonic signals toward the object;
- receiving an echo sequence of the ultrasonic signals that are reflected by first and second surfaces of the object;
- digitizing and storing the received echo sequence of the ultrasonic signals;
- detecting at least one pair of maximum amplitude peaks in the digitized received echo sequence of the ultrasonic signals;
- applying a signal identification algorithm to the at least one pair of maximum amplitude peaks in the digitized received echo sequence of the ultrasonic signals;
- interpolating at least one of the maximum amplitude peaks in the digitized received echo sequence;
- measuring a time duration between at least one pair of maximum amplitude peaks;
- and
- determining the thickness of the object based on the time duration.
A method for determining a thickness of an object, comprising:
- emitting ultrasonic signals toward the object;
- receiving an echo sequence of the ultrasonic signals that are reflected by the object;
- digitizing and storing the received echo sequence of the ultrasonic signals;
- detecting at least one pair of maximum amplitude peaks in the digitized received echo sequence of the ultrasonic signals;
- measuring a time duration between the at least one pair of maximum amplitude peaks;
- and
- determining the thickness of the object based on the time duration.
An apparatus comprising:
- an ultrasonic transducer for emitting ultrasonic signals;
- a receiver circuit including a plurality of amplifiers connected in parallel for receiving a reflected echo sequence of the emitted ultrasonic signals;
- a plurality of overlapping analog/digital converters each connected to one of the amplifiers for digitizing the reflected echo sequence;
- and
- a processor programmed to execute an amplitude time locus curves algorithm for detecting at least one pair of maximum amplitude peaks in the digitized reflected echo sequence, to interpolate the at least one pair of maximum amplitude peaks in the digitized reflected echo sequence, to measure a time delay between the interpolated at least one pair of maximum amplitude peaks, and to determine a thickness of the object based on the time delay.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.