A nondestructive method for a volumetric examination of a blade root of a turbine blade while the turbine blade is installed in a turbine shaft of a steam turbine includes attaching a bracket to the turbine blade, the bracket conforming to the geometry of the turbine blade, positioning an ultrasonic phased array probe within a slot formed in the bracket to enable the probe to translate along the geometry of the turbine blade to a desired position for generation of a scan of a portion of the blade root, generating a scan of the desired position by directing ultrasonic waves via the ultrasonic phased array probe, and capturing reflected ultrasonic waves by a receiver to generate the scan and comparing the scan to a reference scan of the blade root to determine defects within the blade root.

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.

An ultrasonic transducer includes a membrane, a bottom electrode, and a plurality of cavities disposed between the membrane and the bottom electrode, each of the plurality of cavities corresponding to an individual transducer cell. Portions of the bottom electrode corresponding to each individual transducer cell are electrically isolated from one another. Each portion of the bottom electrode corresponds to each individual transducer that cell further includes a first bottom electrode portion and a second bottom electrode portion, the first and second bottom electrode portions electrically isolated from one another.

According to one embodiment, a display control system acquires a tilt of a detector with respect to a weld portion. The detector includes a plurality of detection elements arranged along a first arrangement direction and a second arrangement direction. The first arrangement direction and the second arrangement direction cross each other. The tilt is calculated based on a detection result of a reflected wave obtained by transmitting an ultrasonic wave from the plurality of detection elements. The system displays a user interface, displays a symbol and a tolerance range in a region included in the user interface, and updates the display of the symbol in the region according to the acquiring of the tilt. The region spreads two-dimensionally. The symbol indicates the tilt. The tolerance range is of a target value of the tilt.

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.

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.

Inspection robots with swappable drive modules are described. An example inspect robot may include a first removeable interface plate on the side of a robot chassis. The first removable interface plate may couple a first drive module to an electronic board, within the chassis, where the electronic board includes a drive module interface circuit communicatively coupled to the first drive module. The example inspect robot may also include a second removeable interface plate on a side of a robot chassis. The second removable interface plate may couple a second drive module to an electronic board, within the chassis, where the electronic board includes a drive module interface circuit communicatively coupled to the second drive module.

Non-limiting examples of the present disclosure relate to devices, systems and methods of manufacture for an exemplary waveguide usable for acoustic signal transmission for non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of a specimen (e.g., a wooden specimen) as well as apparatuses usable therewith. An exemplary waveguide comprises a mating portion for interfacing with a transducer horn of an ultrasonic transducer. The mating portion comprises at least a contact well configured to enable a connection between the transducer horn and the waveguide. The waveguide further comprises a body portion that comprises an upper body portion, that has a flat-faced distal end that is usable to establish contact with a surface of the specimen, and a lower body portion that is attached to and extends outwardly from the upper body portion and is further attached to the mating portion. Other technical examples are further described in the present disclosure.

Because of the increase of the obesity related diseases, it is desirable to be able to detect a fatty liver and quantify the content in fat for the fatty liver. Known methods are biopsy and magnetic resonance imaging. However, biopsy is an invasive method and magnetic resonance imaging is a complicated method to carry out. The inventors propose a new ultrasonic method which is more compliant with a regular control of the content in fat for the fatty liver for a subject. This method notably relies on a smart exploitation of the coherence properties of ultrasound pulses applied to the liver. This method has already been validated on sane subjects as providing accurate measurements, notably for fat content.