METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR DETECTING DEFECTS IN WELDED STRUCTURES UTILIZING PATTERN MATCHING
First Claim
1. A method for determining if a defect is present in a weld from ultrasonic response signals collected from a plurality of measurement locations along a weld, the method comprising:
- filtering an ultrasonic response signal from each of the measurement locations to produce a filtered response signal for each of the measurement locations;
calculating an ultrasonic energy for each of the measurement locations with the corresponding filtered response signal;
comparing the ultrasonic energy for each measurement location to the ultrasonic energy of adjacent measurement locations to identify potential defect locations, wherein, when the ultrasonic energy of a measurement location is less than the ultrasonic energy of the adjacent measurement locations, the measurement location is a potential defect location; and
analyzing fluctuations in the ultrasonic energy at measurement locations neighboring the potential defect locations to determine if a defect is present in the weld.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for processing ultrasonic response signals collected from a plurality of measurement locations along a weld to determine the presence of a defect in the weld may include filtering an ultrasonic response signal from each of the measurement locations to produce a filtered response signal for each of the measurement locations. Thereafter, an ultrasonic energy for each of the measurement locations is calculated with the corresponding filtered response signal. The ultrasonic energy for each measurement location is then compared to the ultrasonic energy of adjacent measurement locations to identify potential defect locations. When the ultrasonic energy of a measurement location is less than the ultrasonic energy of the adjacent measurement locations, the measurement location is a potential defect location. The presence of a defect in the weld is then determined by analyzing fluctuations in the ultrasonic energy at measurement locations neighboring the potential defect locations.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A method for determining if a defect is present in a weld from ultrasonic response signals collected from a plurality of measurement locations along a weld, the method comprising:
-
filtering an ultrasonic response signal from each of the measurement locations to produce a filtered response signal for each of the measurement locations; calculating an ultrasonic energy for each of the measurement locations with the corresponding filtered response signal; comparing the ultrasonic energy for each measurement location to the ultrasonic energy of adjacent measurement locations to identify potential defect locations, wherein, when the ultrasonic energy of a measurement location is less than the ultrasonic energy of the adjacent measurement locations, the measurement location is a potential defect location; and analyzing fluctuations in the ultrasonic energy at measurement locations neighboring the potential defect locations to determine if a defect is present in the weld. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
-
-
6. A method for testing a weld for defects, the method comprising:
-
inducing ultrasonic signals at multiple measurement locations along the weld; collecting an ultrasonic response signal for each of the measurement locations; filtering the ultrasonic response signal from each of the measurement locations to produce a filtered response signal for each of the measurement locations; calculating an ultrasonic energy for each of the measurement locations with the corresponding filtered response signal; determining an ultrasonic energy distribution for the weld based on the ultrasonic energy for each of the measurement locations; identifying local minima in the ultrasonic energy distribution; and analyzing fluctuations in the ultrasonic energy distribution around each local minimum to determine if a defect is present in the weld. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A defect detection system for identifying defects in a weld, the defect detection system comprising a controller, an acoustic signal generator, an acoustic signal detector, and a positioning device, wherein the acoustic signal generator, the acoustic signal detector and the positioning device are electrically coupled to the controller and the controller is programmed to:
-
induce ultrasonic signals at multiple measurement locations along the weld with the acoustic signal generator; collect an ultrasonic response signal from each of the measurement locations with the acoustic signal detector and store each ultrasonic response signal in a memory operatively associated with the controller; filter the ultrasonic response signal from each of the measurement locations to produce a filtered response signal for the corresponding measurement locations; calculate an ultrasonic energy for each of the measurement locations with the corresponding filtered response signal; compare the ultrasonic energy for each measurement location to the ultrasonic energy of adjacent measurement locations to identify potential defect locations, wherein, when the ultrasonic energy of a measurement location is less than the ultrasonic energy of the adjacent measurement locations, the measurement location is a potential defect location; and analyze fluctuations in the ultrasonic energy at measurement locations neighboring the potential defect locations to determine if a defect is present in the weld. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
Specification