Whether an internal defect is present in an inspection target is readily judged. Provided is an inspection method for an inspection target that is a layered structure including an FRP material and/or a structure made of resin, the method including the steps of: tapping, with a tapping tool, an inspection target area on a surface of the inspection target; detecting, by an accelerometer mounted to the tapping tool, an acceleration signal corresponding to acceleration of the tapping tool due to reaction force against the tapping; recording waveform data about the detected acceleration signal; creating a contour map corresponding to the inspection target area, based on the recorded waveform data; displaying the contour map on a display unit; and judging whether an internal defect is present in the inspection target, based on the contour map displayed on the display unit.

A method for determining the prestress force of a connection component (10) is proposed. In the method, ultrasonic signals (22) are introduced into the connection component (10) and ultrasonic echoes (24) of the ultrasonic signals (22) are received again. The method comprises the following steps: a) introducing a longitudinal ultrasonic signal and determining a first signal time of flight FTOF.sub.L of the longitudinal ultrasonic signal until the reception of an echo of the longitudinal ultrasonic signal, b) introducing a transverse ultrasonic signal and determining a second signal time of flight FTOF.sub.T of the transverse ultrasonic signal until the reception of an echo of the transverse ultrasonic signal, and c) determining an effective temperature T.sub.eff and the prestress force of the connection component (10) on the basis of the first signal time of flight FTOF.sub.L, the second signal time of flight FTOF.sub.T, previously determined reference data and calibration factors using the assumption that a prestress force F.sub.L ascertained using the first signal time of flight FTOF.sub.L and a prestress force F.sub.T ascertained using the second signal time of flight FTOF.sub.T are equal in magnitude,
wherein steps a) and b) are carried out successively in any desired order or in parallel. A further aspect of the invention relates to a device for carrying out the method.

The disclosed apparatus, systems and methods relate to technology that provides a method for the assessment of the polymerization of a sample, e.g., whole blood or blood plasma coagulation, by a non-contact acoustic tweezing device via the application of a sweeping frequency to the levitating sample and the corresponding assessment of extracted sample parameters.

A method for ultrasonic inspection of composite parts includes providing a composite part to be inspected with a plurality of layers, determining the runtime and/or attenuation of an ultrasonic signal propagating through the composite part to be inspected, providing the runtime and/or attenuation of the ultrasonic signal propagating through a reference composite part, subtracting the runtime and/or attenuation of the ultrasonic signal in the reference composite part from the runtime and/or attenuation of the ultrasonic signal in the composite part to be inspected, or vice versa, and determining from the result of the subtraction one or more missing and/or additional layers in the inspected composite part. The difference of the runtime and/or attenuation of the ultrasonic signal in the inspected composite part relative to the reference composite part, and/or the difference of the thickness between the composite part and the reference part, is/are visualized.

Method for monitoring the operation of a pair of turboprop engines of an aircraft comprising the steps of: detecting the sound pressure generated by the first or second turboprop engine generating a respective first or second signal x(t); iteratively calculating by means of a function Rx/Ry the similarity between the first/second signal x(t)/y(t) at a time T1 and at a time T2 subsequent to time T1; and storing the degrees of similarity calculated in successive iterations in order to detect situations of normal operation of the engines when the degrees of similarity fall in successive iterations within the interval of a first value and to detect a potential fault situation in the engines when the degrees of similarity depart from this interval.

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.

A method for the measurement of the speed of sound in a gas suitable for the determination of gas characteristics, especially the composition of the gas, the temperature and/or the humidity of the gas, and a speed of sound based gas sensor arrangement adapted to measure that gas characteristics comprising sound sending means and sound receiving means and signal processing unit. A sound sender is used as sound sender and a first sound receiver and a second sound receiver as sound receiving means, all three of them being arranged such that the travel distance of the sound provided by the sender to the first receiver is different from the travel distance of the sound provided by the sender to the second receiver. Further the arrangement includes the signal processing means connected with the sender and the receivers which operate the sender and determine gas characteristics, especially the composition of the gas, the temperature and/or the humidity of the gas, from the different signals provided by the first and the second receiver.

A method of monitoring both liner wear and charge impact in an industrial mill uses a sensor mounted on an elongated element deployed through a shell into a liner of the mill. The elongated element wears at a same rate as the liner under conditions within the shell. Liner wear is related to a reduction in length of the elongated element as measured by travel time of an ultrasound wave, while location and strength of charge impact is related to change in amplitude of vibrations caused by the charge impact. Liner wear measurement can be improved by using shear ultrasound waves instead of conventional longitudinal ultrasound waves. A mill monitoring apparatus has a means for acquiring ultrasonic waves and audible sound waves using the same digitizer; a means for determining the angular position of the monitoring apparatus; and a means for supplying electric power to the apparatus.

A sonic speed measurement device includes a reception array in which a plurality of reception elements which output reception signals in response to reception of an ultrasonic wave are disposed in one direction, a phase difference detection portion that detects a phase difference between the reception signals output from the reception elements adjacent to each other in a case where the plurality of reception elements receive the ultrasonic wave which propagates in a spherical wave shape from a target point, and a sonic speed calculation portion that calculates a sonic speed of the ultrasonic wave on the basis of the phase difference.

Object analysis comprising measuring a frequency-dependent natural oscillation behavior of the object by dynamically-mechanically exciting the object in a defined frequency range (f) by means of generating a body oscillation by applying a test signal, and detecting a body oscillation generated in the object on account of the exciting. Moreover, the method involves simulating a frequency-dependent natural oscillation behavior for the object by generating a virtual digital representation of the object, and carrying out a finite element analysis on the basis of the virtual representation comprising dynamically exciting, in a simulated manner, the virtual representation into a virtual frequency range for generating a virtual body oscillation, calculating the virtual body oscillation generated in the object on account of the exciting in a simulated manner, and deriving an object state on the basis of a comparison of the measured natural oscillation behavior and the simulated frequency-dependent natural oscillation behavior.