Ultrasonic unipolar pulse/echo instrument

Patent · Tue Apr 06 04:00:00 EDT 1993

OSTI ID:6150235

Hughes, M J; Hsu, D K; Thompson, D O; Wormley, S J

An ultrasonic unipolar pulse/echo instrument uses active switches and a timing and drive circuitry to control electrical energy to a transducer, the discharging of the transducer, and the opening of an electrical pathway to the receiving circuitry for the returning echoes. The active switches utilize MOSFET devices along with decoupling circuitry to insure the preservation of the unipolar nature of the pulses, insure fast transition times, and maintain broad band width and time resolution. A housing contains the various circuitry and switches and allows connection to a power supply and a movable ultrasonic transducer. The circuitry maintains low impedance input to the transducer during transmitting cycles, and high impedance between the transducer and the receiving circuit during receive cycles to maintain the unipolar pulse shape. A unipolar pulse is valuable for nondestructive evaluation, a prime use for the present instrument.

• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-82
• Assignee: Iowa State Univ. Research Foundation, Inc., Ames, IA (United States)
• Patent Number(s): A; US 5199299
• Application Number: PPN: US 7-667437
• OSTI ID: 6150235
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
420500* -- Engineering-- Materials Testing
ACOUSTIC MEASUREMENTS
ACOUSTIC TESTING
CONTROL
CONTROL SYSTEMS
DESIGN
ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
FUNCTION GENERATORS
MATERIALS TESTING
NONDESTRUCTIVE TESTING
PULSE ANALYZERS
PULSE CIRCUITS
PULSE GENERATORS
TESTING
TRANSDUCERS
ULTRASONIC TESTING