An electro-magnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) having an electromagnet array is provided. The electromagnet array includes electromagnets. Each electromagnet includes a magnetic core and a wound coil wrapped around the magnetic core. The electromagnet array generates bias magnetic fields having different patterns when the wound coils are energized differently. For instance, the electromagnet array generates a bias magnetic field having a given pattern, for the EMAT to transmit a first type of ultrasonic wave such as shear-horizontal wave, when the wound coils are energized in a given manner; and generates a bias magnetic field having a different pattern, for the EMAT to transmit a second type of ultrasonic wave such as a Lamb wave, when the wound coils are energized in a different manner.

A manual system for non-destructive testing of a part to be tested includes a sub-system for acquiring non-destructive test data comprising a probe, a sub-system for tracking the position of the probe, and a sub-system for acquiring surface characterisation data of a test zone defined on the surface of the part. The system also includes a central sub-system for controlling the test data acquisition, surface characterisation data acquisition and position tracking subsystems as a function of the test zone covered by the probe manipulated by an operator, the central subsystem being able to synchronise the operation of the test data acquisition, surface characterisation data acquisition and position tracking subsystems and to pair the data produced by the test data acquisition, surface characterisation data acquisition and position tracking subsystems during their operation.

A staggered magnet array (SMA) based electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) system and method for controlling the direction of the ultrasonic waves in the electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) using staggered magnet array (SMA) configurations, is disclosed herein. The EMAT device proposed herein comprises at least one conductive racetrack coil and at least two magnet arrays wherein the magnet array comprises of permanent magnets, where each magnet is oriented according to a specific configuration to produce ultrasonic waves in order to form an ultrasonic beam by shifting the position of the magnet arrays up or down creating a SMA configuration.

According to one embodiment, a processing system sets a detector to a prescribed position. The detector includes a plurality of detection elements arranged along a first direction and a second direction. The second direction crosses the first direction. The processing system causes the detector to perform a probe of a weld portion of a joined body. The probe includes a transmission of an ultrasonic wave and a detection of a reflected wave. The processing system calculates a center position of the weld portion in a first plane along the first and second directions based on intensity data. The intensity data is of an intensity of the reflected wave obtained by the probe. The processing system performs a position adjustment of moving the detector along the first plane to reduce a distance between the center position and a position of the detector in the first plane.

A method of fabricating and controlling a thick-film transducer array for steering and focusing ultrasonic waves within a substrate volume is provided. A ceramic film composition can be coated on a substrate volume in one or more layers. The ceramic film can be masked with a plastic sheet out of which an electrode pattern is cut. Conductive electrode material can be applied to the pattern to create a transducer array that can be polarized with an applied electric field. A method of controlling a thick-film transducer array comprises exciting one or more array elements to generate a wavefield in a substrate volume, the wavefield can be reflected by features within the substrate volume, one or more array elements can receive reflected wavefield signals, and images of the insonified substrate volume can be generated.

Systems and techniques for measuring process characteristics including electrolyte distribution in a battery cell. A non-destructive method for analyzing a battery cell includes determining acoustic features at two or more locations of the battery cell, the acoustic features based on one or more of acoustic signals travelling through at least one or more portions of the battery cell during one or more points in time or responses to the acoustic signals obtained during one or more points in time, wherein the one or more points in time correspond to one or more stages of electrolyte distribution in the battery cell. One or more characteristics of the battery cell are determined based on the acoustic features at the two or more locations of the battery cell.

Apparatus, systems, and methods for pipeline condition assessment using phased array ultrasonic transducers are disclosed. A sensing module for assessing pipeline condition comprises a body; and one or more phased array ultrasonic transducers (PAUTs) assembled on the surface of the body, each PAUT configured to emit multi-channel ultrasonic waves for scanning a pipe wall.

The present invention relates to an ultrasonic testing apparatus with a variable frequency, which can automatically change the frequency according to thickness and thereby detect internal defects in objects having various thicknesses. The ultrasonic testing apparatus may comprise: a nozzle jetting a medium toward an object so as to form a medium column; and a plurality of probes disposed in the nozzle so as to generate ultrasonic waves.

An additive manufacturing system includes an ultrasonic inspection system integrated in such a way as to minimize time needed for an inspection process. The inspection system may have an ultrasonic phased array integrated into a build table for detecting defects in each successive slice of a workpiece and such that each slice may be re-melted if and when defects are detected.

An ultrasound probe assembly comprises a housing and a wedge, wherein wedges configured for pipes of different diameter may be easily interchanged in the assembly. Four wheels are attached to the housing, there being a front wheel pair and a rear wheel pair. Wheels of each pair are positioned on either side of a linear probe array, wherein the distance between wheels in each pair in a direction perpendicular to the array length is as small as possible. A position encoder monitors the position of the assembly during scanning, and a push lock switch is used to disable the encoder and the data acquisition while indexing to a new scan position on the pipe.