High resolution in situ ultrasonic corrosion monitor
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy
InventorRobert J. Grossman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An ultrasonic corrosion monitor is provided which produces an in situ measurement of the amount of corrosion of a monitoring zone or zones of an elongate probe placed in the corrosive environment. A monitoring zone is preferably formed between the end of the probe and the junction of the zone with a lead-in portion of the probe. Ultrasonic pulses are applied to the probe and a determination made of the time interval between pulses reflected from the end of the probe and the junction referred to, both when the probe is uncorroded and while it is corroding. Corresponding electrical signals are produced and a value for the normalized transit time delay derived from these time interval measurements is used to calculate the amount of corrosion.
Claims15
An in situ ultrasonic corrosion monitoring system comprising:
- an elongate corrodible probe including at least one monitoring zone defined between first and second discontinuities, and being adapted to be exposed to a corrosive environment;
- means for applying ultrasonic pulses to said monitoring zone of said probe while the probe is exposed to the corrosive environment, for receiving the corresponding pulses reflected from said first and second discontinuities, and for converting the received pulses into corresponding electrical signals;
- and
- signal processing means for determining the time delay intervals between the electrical signals corresponding to the pulses reflected from the first discontinuity and the electrical signals corresponding to pulses reflected from the second discontinuity while the probe is exposed to the corrosive environment, and for providing an indication of the corrosion thickness on the monitoring zone of said probe based on said determination of the time delay intervals.
An in situ corrosion monitoring method comprising:
- locating, in a corrosive environment, a corrodible monitoring probe having at least one monitoring zone defined between first and second discontinuities;
- applying ultrasonic pulses to the monitoring zone of the said probe;
- detecting the ultrasonic pulses reflected from said first and second discontinuities;
- determining the time interval between the reflected pulses;
- and
- using the time interval determination to determine the amount of corrosion of said probe.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.