An ultrasound transmitting and receiving device that can determine whether a contact state between a probe and a bolt is normal without relying on the skill of an operator is provided. The ultrasound transmitting and receiving device includes a probe control unit, an auxiliary storage device, and a contact state determination unit. The probe control unit causes a probe to transmit ultrasound to a bolt, and causes the probe to receive an echo of the transmitted ultrasound. The auxiliary storage device stores one or more pieces of comparison data to be compared with echo data indicating the echo received by the probe. The contact state determination unit compares the echo data with the comparison data, and determines a contact state between the probe and the bolt based on a comparison result.

Methods of detecting pipeline weakening are described herein. The methods include creating a pressure wave in a fluid flowing in a pipeline using an input transducer located at a first position along the pipeline; measuring the pressure wave using an output transducer positioned at a second position along the pipeline that is spaced from the first position, and generating an output signal based on the pressure wave; analyzing the output signal to determine a stiffness of a sidewall of the pipeline positioned between the input transducer and output transducer; and determining if the sidewall includes a defect based on the stiffness of the sidewall, including analyzing a frequency response of the output signal to detect the defect.

According to one embodiment, an ultrasonic probe includes a first member and a first vibrating element. The first member includes at least one selected from the group consisting of metal and ceramic. The first vibrating element includes a first electrode, a piezoelectric layer provided between the first electrode and the first member, and a second electrode provided between the piezoelectric layer and the first member and being in contact with the first member.

A method and system of predicting a muscle characteristic using ultrasound. The characteristic may include a tenderness characteristic and/or a strength characteristic. An analysis of muscle structure is performed for a sample using ultrasound data of the sample. The analysis may include determining a relative number of bundles, fascicles, sarcomeres, fibers, and/or sheath thickness from the ultrasound data. Thereafter, the muscle characteristic is predicted for the sample based on the analysis.

A signal processing method for ultrasonic inspection includes: a step of generating ultrasonic waves by driving an ultrasonic probe by using a plurality of burst wave signals with different frequencies, respectively, and causing the ultrasonic waves to inject an inspection target; a receiving step of receiving a plurality of multiple reflected waves corresponding to the plurality of burst wave signals having injected the inspection target, respectively; a step of obtaining a plurality of detection signals by executing detection processing of receiving signals of the plurality of multiple reflected waves corresponding to the plurality of burst wave signals, respectively; and a generating step of generating an inspection signal for obtaining an inspection result related to the inspection target by using the plurality of detection signals.

Inspection robots with configurable interface plates are described. An example inspection robot may have a housing with at least three removable interface plates, each removable interface plate having a coupling interface for an electronic component on a first side, and coupled to at least one of a plurality of electronic boards on a second side. The example inspection robot may further include a drive module configured to couple to at least one of the removable interface plates, and a payload configured to couple to at least one of the removable interface plates. The example inspection robot may further include a means for operating the inspection robot in response to the drive module coupled to one of the removable interface plates, and the payload coupled to any other one of the removable interface plates.

Disclosed is a method of determining a characteristic of a measurement intermediate layer (220) in a multilayer structure (200) using an ultrasonic transducer (100), wherein the multilayer structure (200) includes a first layer (210), a measurement intermediate layer (220) and a third layer (230) in series abutment. The method comprises transmitting a measurement ultrasonic signal into the first layer (210) towards the measurement intermediate layer (22)0, measuring a measurement reflection of the measurement ultrasonic signal from the multilayer structure (200), determining, using the measurement reflection, a measured frequency response of the measurement intermediate layer (220), determining a plurality of modelled frequency responses of the measurement intermediate layer (220), comparing the measured frequency response to the plurality of modelled frequency responses, and determining the characteristic of the measurement intermediate layer (220) based on the comparison of the measured frequency response and the plurality of modelled frequency responses.

Systems, methods, and apparatus for tracking location of an inspection robot are disclosed. An example apparatus for tracking inspection data may include an inspection chassis having a plurality of inspection sensors configured to interrogate an inspection surface, a first drive module and a second drive module, both coupled to the inspection chassis. The first and second drive module may each include a passive encoder wheel and a non-contact sensor positioned in proximity to the passive encoder wheel, wherein the non-contact sensor provides a movement value corresponding to the first passive encoder wheel. An inspection position circuit may determine a relative position of the inspection chassis in response to the movement values from the first and second drive modules.

In one aspect, a method of determining a parameter of a fastener includes providing an input to an ultrasonic transducer of a transducer arrangement, wherein the transducer is attached to a fastener and the input results in the transmission of an ultrasonic wave into the fastener. A transducer output is received, which is indicative of a reflected ultrasonic wave received by the transducer. The transducer output is compared to known data for the parameter to determine whether the parameter of the fastener is within a predetermined range.

A method and device for inspecting marine risers is described. The marine riser is deployed from a floating unit and connected to a lower marine riser package (LMRP) and a blow-out prevention (BOP) stack, and the method comprises: performing a first riser inspection with an inspection tool where the marine riser is in an unconnected well configuration, wherein the inspection tool includes an ultrasonic transducer device, and the first riser inspection comprises: conveying the inspection tool in an internal diameter of the marine riser, detecting information on the marine riser with the inspection tool while conveying the inspection tool through the marine riser, and collecting data with the inspection tool corresponding to the information detected by the inspection tool.