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Title: Method of ultrasonic inspection of materials through opaque barriers

Patent ·
OSTI ID:7237351

This patent describes a method of nondestructive acoustical inspection for discontinuities in solid structures including sending an ultrasound wave packet into a solid structure to be inspected, reflecting the ultrasound wave packet from a located discontinuity in the solid structure to be inspected, receiving and transducing the reflected echo of the ultrasound wave packet, and analyzing the reflected echo of the ultrasound wave packet for nondestructive interrogation of the solid structure inspected. It comprises providing a first solid structure for originally receiving the interrogating ultrasound; providing a second solid structure separated from the first solid structure by a gap; flooding the gap between the first and second solid structures with a medium; transmitting an interrogating wave packet of ultrasound to the first solid structure, the ultrasound of the wave packet when traveling through media such as that media flooding the gap including an instantaneous standing path length within the media which is at least twice the dimension of the gap to be bridged; passing the ultrasound of the frequency into the second solid structure; providing a receiving transducer for receiving the reflected ultrasound of the frequency; receiving the reflected ultrasound of the frequency at the receiving transducer from the interrogated second solid structure along a path including the second solid structure.

Assignee:
General Electric Co., San Jose, CA (United States)
Patent Number(s):
US 5118464; A
Application Number:
PPN: US 7-669450
OSTI ID:
7237351
Resource Relation:
Patent File Date: 15 Mar 1991
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English