Ultrasonic device for assessing the quality of a wire crimp

A system for determining the quality of an electrical wire crimp between a wire and a ferrule, the system comprising:

• an ultrasonically equipped crimp tool (UECT) configured to transmit an ultrasonic acoustic wave through a wire and ferrule, the UECT including:
• a first ultrasonic transducer configured to generate an ultrasonic acoustic wave in response to a first analog electrical signal;
• and
• a second ultrasonic transducer configured to oppose the first ultrasonic transducer and configured to generate a second analog electrical signal in response to a sensed ultrasonic acoustic wave;
• a third ultrasonic transducer in communication with the wire and configured to generate a third analog electrical signal in response to a sensed shear ultrasonic acoustic wave;
• a signal processor in communication with the UECT and with each of the respective first and second ultrasonic transducers, the signal processor including:
• a signal transmitting module configured to transmit the first analog electrical signal to the first ultrasonic transducer, the first analog electrical signal having a frequency within the ultrasonic frequency range;
• a first signal receiving module configured to receive the second analog electrical signal from the second ultrasonic transducer;
• a second signal receiving module configured to receive the third analog electrical signal from the third ultrasonic transducer;
• and
• a signal analysis module configured to identify signal differences between the first and second analog electrical signals and between the first and third analog electrical signals that are attributable to the wire crimp, to compare the signal differences attributable to the wire crimp to a baseline, and to provide an output signal if the signal differences deviate from the baseline.