System and method of dynamic gating in non-destructive weld inspection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9759692-B2
Application number	US-201514722501-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 27, 2015
Priority date	May 30, 2014
Publication date	Sep 12, 2017
Grant date	Sep 12, 2017

Abstract

A phased array ultrasonic inspection system configured for weld inspection includes a data analysis process with automated and optimized gating to take into account the actual distance between a phased array probe and a weld line. The system embodies a weld tracking module and a dynamic gating module. The tracking module produces dynamically corrected overlays of the weld line based on the echo signals, the dynamically corrected overlays having a series of offsets from the corresponding initial overlays. The dynamic gating module purposefully positions a plurality of data analysis gates to filter out noise signals caused by sources unrelated to the weld, and to provide dynamic target gating adjusted by at least part of the offset.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-destructive testing and inspection (NDT/NDI) device operable to conduct an NDT/NDI test operation on a weld of a test object, the weld forming a weld line, and the device having an initial overlay of the cross section of the weld and an initial scan path along the weld line,
the NDT/NDI device comprising:
at least one phased array probe operable to beam ultrasonic energy into and along the weld line, receive response echoes and provide corresponding sets of electronic echo signals, with each set of the electronic echo signals corresponding to a scan path location;
a data acquisition unit receiving the electronic echo signals from the at least one probe and sending commands to the probe with predetermined focal law;
a data processing and analyzing module configured to process and analyze the electronic echo signals and identify an anomaly in the weld and instruct a display module to display such, the analyzing module further comprising,
a tracking module configured to produce dynamically corrected overlays of the weld line based on the echo signals, the dynamically corrected overlays having a series of offsets from the initial overlay;
a gating module configured to purposefully determine the relative positions of a plurality of data analysis gates to filter out noise caused by sources unrelated to the weld, and to provide dynamic target gating adjusted by at least part of the offset.

2. The NDT/NDI device in claim 1 further comprising an electronic memory for storing data related to the echo signals, wherein the analyzing module is configured to perform analysis during the test operation or post the test operation using data stored in the memory.

3. The NDT/NDI device in claim 1 , wherein said tracking module is configured to acquire data from the data acquisition unit during the test operation.

4. The NDT/NDI device in claim 1 having two or more phased array probes that are mechanically and rigidly linked.

5. The NDT/NDI device in claim 1 , wherein the initial overlay and the corrected overlay include at least one corresponding predetermined geometric characteristic of the weld.

6. The NDT/NDI device in claim 5 , wherein the at least one geometric characteristic of the weld is a weld cap or a weld root.

7. The NDT/NDI device in claim 5 , wherein the data acquisition unit is configured to operate in a plurality of acquisition cycles, each of which corresponds to one set of ultrasonic echo signals indicating an axial position along the initial scan path.

8. The NDT/NDI device in claim 7 , wherein the tracking module is configured to identify the position of the at least one geometric characteristic obtained from a specific set of echo signals in a coordinate formed by the initial scan path and its transversal line.

9. The NDT/NDI device in claim 7 wherein the position of the echo signal is the centroid of each echo signal corresponding to the characteristics on the weld line.

10. The NDT/NDI device in claim 8 , wherein the at least one geometric characteristic includes at least two geometric characteristics, and there is a known and constant geometric relationship between the at least two geometric characteristics.

11. The NDT/NDI device in claim 10 , wherein the constant geometric relationship is a constant distance between the two geometric characteristics corresponding to the set specific set of the echo signals.

12. The NDT/NDI device in claim 9 , wherein the tracking module is configured to use the constant geometric relationship as a reference value to confirm and/or correct the position of the echo signal corresponding to the geometric characteristics.

13. The NDT/NDI device in claim 5 , wherein the gating module uses separate and individual gates for each of the at least one geometric characteristics.

14. The NDT/NDI device in claim 1 , wherein said gating module correlates and overlays ultrasonic scanning data to automatically adjust readings from the phased array probes.

15. The system and method in claim 1 , wherein said display unit can display the automatically adjusted readings from the phased array probes to accurately measure ultrasonic scan distances on welds, parts and overlays.

16. A method of abating noise from sources non-related to a weld during a non-destructive testing and inspection (NDT/NDI) on the weld using at least one phased array probe, the weld forming a weld line, and the device having an initial overlay of the weld and an initial scan path,
the method comprising the steps of:
beaming ultrasonic energy into the weld while moving the probe along the weld line, receiving response echoes and providing corresponding sets of electronic echo signals, with each set of electronic echo signals corresponding to a location along the scan path location;
receiving the electronic echo signals from the probe and sending commands to the probe with predetermined focal law;
producing a location of a specific set of the echo signals defined by its longitudinal and transversal positions relative to the scan path;
calculating an offset between the location of the specific set of the echo signals in comparison to its corresponding position on the initial scan path;
deducing a corrected weld overlay based on the offset;
applying dynamic gating based on the corrected weld overlay for the location;
conducting data processing and analysis utilizing the dynamic gating.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the step of calculating the offset and deducing the corrected weld overlay is performed by a tracking module, and,
the step of applying dynamic gating is performed by a gating module.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the step of identifying the location of the specific set of the echo signals comprises identifying the geometric center of a geometric characteristic of the set of the echo signals.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the step of identifying the location of the specific set of the echo signals comprises identifying two or more distinct geometric characteristics the set of the echo signals by using pattern recognition method.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the geometric characteristic is a weld cap or weld root.

21. The method of claim 18 , wherein the dynamic gating is to position a plurality of data analysis gates to abate the noise caused by sources unrelated to the weld, and to provide dynamic target gating adjusted by at least part of the offset so that the data processing and analysis can analyze the electronic echo signals with the abated noise and identify an anomaly in the weld.

Assignees

• St-Laurent Martin
• Lepage Benoit
• Olympus Scient Solutions Americas Inc

Inventors

• St-Laurent Martin
• Lepage Benoit

Classifications

• G01N2291/0234

  Metals, e.g. steel · CPC title

• G01N29/043

  in the interior, e.g. by shear waves · CPC title

• G01N29/262

  by electronic orientation or focusing, e.g. with phased arrays (phased arrays per se G10K11/34) · CPC title

• G01N29/32

  Arrangements for suppressing undesired influences, e.g. temperature or pressure variations {, compensating for signal noise} · CPC title

• G01N2291/044

  Internal reflections (echoes), e.g. on walls or defects · CPC title