The invention relates to an acoustic sensor system (1) for detecting the wall thickness (WT1, WT2) of a material layer (2) of a pipeline wall (3), having at least one transmitter unit (4), which is configured to emit ultrasound in the direction of a material layer (2) and detect an ultrasound echo reflected by the material layer (2), and a control unit (5), which is connected to the at least one transmitter unit (4) for signaling purposes and is configured to detect the wall thickness (WT1, WT2) of the material layer (2) using the ultrasound echo. The invention additionally relates to an in-line inspection device comprising the sensor system (1), to a method for detecting the wall thickness (WT1, WT2) of a material layer (2) of a pipeline wall (3), to a computer program, to a data carrier signal, and to a data storage unit.

A method of determining wear/degradation levels of a consumable assembly of a welding/plasma torch may utilize a controlled sound signal in order to determine an acoustic profile or full spectral audio analysis dataset of the consumable assembly that facilitate the identification of patterns that correlate to certain wear/degradation levels of the consumable assembly. The full spectral audio analysis dataset may be obtained by subjecting a given consumable assembly to a controlled sound signal between operations and as the consumable assembly degrades over time. The full spectral audio analysis may serve as a wear/degradation profile over the life of the given consumable assembly. With a full dataset known for a particular consumable assembly model, an acoustic profile of another consumable assembly of the same model may be obtained and compared to the full dataset in order to identify the wear/degradation level of the tested consumable assembly.

Methods, systems, devices, and products for ultrasonic borehole logging using an ultrasonic borehole imaging tool in a borehole intersecting the earth formation. Methods may include adjusting a focus for an ultrasonic beam generated from a single-transducer ultrasonic assembly of the ultrasonic imaging tool; using a receiver to generate measurement information responsive to an ultrasonic signal caused by the ultrasonic beam; and estimating a parameter of interest from the measurement information. Methods may include adjusting the focus in dependence upon environmental conditions, the environmental conditions comprising at least one of: i) standoff between the ultrasonic imaging tool and a wall of the borehole; and ii) borehole annulus conditions. Methods may include adjusting the focus in substantially real-time. The ultrasonic beam may be focused with a focal zone at the borehole wall configured to produce a beam spot size of a selected diameter.

A system and method directed to inspecting a high density polyethylene pipe. The system includes a pipe inspection tool that is positioned about a fused polyethylene pipe joint. The inspection tool may include search units, a pipe carriage, a pulser and a phased array testing instrument programmed to adjust an amplitude response signal from the search units based on a vertically established time corrected gain curve. The inspection tool is rotated around the high density polyethylene pipe joint while propagating acoustical waves at various patterns and angles through the polyethylene pipe joint. Prior to the joint inspection, the inspection tool is calibrated using a calibration tool which includes a block having an array of equal sized bores positioned along different axis' through the block's depth. The block is constructed of the same material type and grade as the pipes that were fused together to form the polyethylene pipe joint.

Methods and devices are provided for analyzing a tubular structure including at least two electromagnetic-acoustic transducers (EMAT) and, called sensors, attachable or attached in, on or in the vicinity of the tubular structure; and computation and/or memory resources, that are accessed locally and/or remotely and that are configured to determine, for the pair of sensors, a function representing the impulse response of the tubular structure on the basis of the diffuse acousto-elastic noise present in the structure. Developments describe the use of rings supporting the sensors; translation and/or rotation movements; permanent or temporary installations; hinged rings; various computation modes, e.g., intercorrelation, a passive inverse filter, or correlation of the coda of the correlation; the use of artificial noise sources, imaging (e.g., tomography) for determining the existence of one or more defects in the structure. Software aspects are described.

An ultrasonic dry coupled wheel probe with radial transducers emit ultrasound in substantially all radial directions relative to a longitudinal axis. The probe does not require normalization and is efficient in directing ultrasound to a surface being inspected. The probe has a wheel composed of rubber or other materials for acoustically dry coupling the transducer to the surface. A first transducer is composed of a piezoelectric material so that the transducer receives an electrical signal, vibrates, and generates and transmits sound, such as ultrasound. Similarly, a second transducer receives sound such as ultrasound, vibrates, and generates a corresponding electrical signal. The transducer arrangement both transmits ultrasound to the surface and receives the reflection of the ultrasound from the surface. An acoustic barrier separates the transmitting component from the receiving component. The transducer has annular electroplates adjacent to the piezoelectric material. The two transducers can comprise a single, integrated transducer module.

Methods, systems, and computer-readable storage media for providing high-resolution assessment of the condition of pipes of a fluid distribution down to the individual pipe stick. An acoustic sensor is placed in acoustical communication with a pipe at one end of a target segment. An acoustical wave is generated in the pipe at a first out-of-bracket excitation location while signal data is recorded from the acoustic sensor. Timing information regarding the arrival at the acoustic sensor of reflections of the acoustic wave from pipe joints in the target segment is extracted from the recorded signal data, and a time delay between reflections from consecutive pipe joints is computed. An acoustic propagation velocity in a pipe stick between the consecutive pipe joints is then computed based on the time delay and a length of the pipe stick. A condition of the pipe stick is determined based on the computed acoustic propagation velocity.

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.

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.

An apparatus for performing ultrasonic evaluation of a portion of a pipe includes a frame assembly and a plurality of ultrasonic sensors disposed in the frame assembly. The frame assembly includes a frame which is structured to cooperatively engage an outer surface of the pipe. The frame has a curved surface which is curved about an axis which, when the frame is engaged with the pipe, generally coincides with the central longitudinal axis of the pipe. The curved surface is generally defined by a radius which is generally equal to an outer radius of the pipe. The plurality of ultrasonic sensors are disposed in the frame assembly a fixed distance from the curved surface.