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Method and apparatus for testing wear, size and residual stress conditions

  • US 3,978,712 A
  • Filed: 05/24/1974
  • Issued: 09/07/1976
  • Est. Priority Date: 11/17/1971
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. The method of testing the physical condition of a wheel comprising the steps of:

  • A. coupling a tangent zone of the wheel with an ultrasonic energy transmitting medium having an index of refraction of ultrasonic energy substantially lower than the index of refraction of ultrasonic energy in the wheel;

    B. positioning a first ultrasonic transducer in the coupling medium with the sonic axis of the transducer inclined with respect to the tangent zone at an angle wherein low frequency ultrasonic energy delivered to the wheel along the sonic axis enters the wheel, penetrates to a substantial depth therein, and is refracted substantially tangent to the curved surface; and

    whereby the energy which penetrates the wheel to a substantial depth travels along a path near to and converging toward the curved surface and having a progressively increasing radius of curvature, and thereby migrates toward the curved surface thereof, as it travels along said path;

    C. coupling a second tangent zone of the wheel with an ultrasonic energy transmitting medium having an index of refraction of ultrasonic energy substantially lower than the index of refraction of ultrasonic energy in the wheel, said second tangent zone being at a known angular distance from the first tangent zone;

    D. positioning a second ultrasonic transducer in the coupling medium at the second tangent zone with the sonic axis of the second transducer inclined with respect to the tangent zone at an angle corresponding and opposite to the angle of the sonic axis of the first transducer relative to its tangent zone wherein ultrasonic energy delivered to the wheel by the first transducer and entering the tangent zone from within the wheel is refracted out of the wheel to the coupling medium to impinge upon the second transducer;

    E. pulsing the first ultrasonic transducer with a low frequency pulse to produce an ultrasonic energy pulse traveling along the sonic axis into the wheel, refracted substantially tangent to the surface thereof, and thereafter traveling about the periphery of the wheel adjacent to the surface;

    E. thereafter monitoring the second transducer for receipt of the ultrasonic energy pulse thereat; and

    G. measuring the time interval between pulsing the first transducer and receiving the ultrasonic energy pulse at the second transducer wherein the time interval is determined by the length of the circumference of the wheel within the known angular distance and therefore indicates the diameter of the wheel.

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