US 8,418,563 B2Granted

Apparatus for detecting defects

AssigneeHerzog Services, Inc.

InventorsJeffrey B. Wigh, Richard L. Ebersold, Troy L. Elbert, Timothy J. Coolman

Life of this patent

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Abstract

An apparatus for detecting defects in a railway rail includes a search unit and preferably a roller search unit (“RSU”) mounted on a test vehicle and in rolling contact with the running surface of the rails to inspect each rail. The RSU includes a tire filled with a liquid and a transducer assembly mounted within the tire. The transducer assembly includes one or more arrays of ultrasonic transducers directed toward the running surface of the rail. A laser profiler mounted on the test vehicle in combination with a linear encoder provide profile data which is communicated to a system controller to dynamically adjust the focal laws for the one or more arrays of transducers to dynamically steer the transmitted beams to produce the ideal inspection beam sets while the test vehicle is in motion.

Claims19

Dependent claims

An inspection apparatus for inspecting a railway rail comprising:

a carriage for supporting a transducer assembly,
a profiler system adapted to output profile data corresponding to a profile of the rail,
an encoder in rolling contact with the rail and adapted to output an encoder signal corresponding to rotation of said encoder,
said transducer assembly having a first ultrasonic phased array transducer directed toward a running surface of the rail,
a system controller coupled to said profiler system to receive profile data therefrom, coupled to said encoder to receive said encoder signal therefrom, and coupled to said first ultrasonic phased array transducer,
said system controller responsive to said profile data, and energizing one or more of said first ultrasonic phased array transducer elements to emit an ultrasonic beam from said first ultrasonic phased array transducer into the rail at a desired angle,
wherein said first ultrasonic phased array transducer includes a roof angle of between 10 and 55 degrees and a wedge angle of between 0 and 30 degrees.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 13/590,941Filed 21 Aug 2012 · us provisional application
Priority: 22 Aug 2011
Published: US 2013/0047730 A128 Feb 2013
Granted: 16 Apr 2013
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification9 codes

G01N 29/265
Arrangements for orientation or scanning by relative movement of the head and the sensor: by moving the sensor relative to a stationary material
B61K 9/10
Measuring installations for surveying permanent way: for detecting cracks in rails or welds thereof
G01N 29/043
Analysing solids: in the interior, e.g. by shear waves
G01N 29/069
Imaging: defect imaging, localisation and sizing using, e.g. time of flight diffraction [TOFD], synthetic aperture focusing technique [SAFT],…