Ultrasonic unipolar pulse/echo instrument

Patent · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1993

OSTI ID:868724

Hughes, Michael S ^[1]; Hsu, David K ^[1]; Thompson, Donald O ^[1]; Wormley, Samuel J ^[1]

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1. Ames, IA

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.

• Research Organization: Ames Laboratory (AMES), Ames, IA
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-82
• Assignee: Iowa State University Research Foundation, Inc. (Ames, IA)
• Patent Number(s): US 5199299
• OSTI ID: 868724
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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