Methods and systems for detecting defects in welded structures
First Claim
1. 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, the method comprising:
- filtering an ultrasonic response signal from each of the measurement locations to produce a plurality of filtered response signals for each of the measurement locations, wherein each filtered response signal corresponds to specific types of defects;
calculating a plurality of energy distributions for the weld based on the plurality of filtered response signals for each of the measurement locations; and
comparing each energy distribution to a corresponding baseline energy distribution to determine the presence of a defect in the weld.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for processing ultrasonic response signals collected from a plurality of measurement locations along a weld of a test sample to determine the presence of defects in the weld may include filtering an ultrasonic response signal from each measurement location to produce a plurality of filtered response signals for each measurement location, wherein each filtered response signal corresponds to specific types of defects. Thereafter, a plurality of energy distributions may be calculated for the weld based on the plurality of filtered response signals for each measurement location. The plurality of energy distributions may be compared to corresponding baseline energy distributions to determine the presence of defects in the weld.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. 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, the method comprising:
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filtering an ultrasonic response signal from each of the measurement locations to produce a plurality of filtered response signals for each of the measurement locations, wherein each filtered response signal corresponds to specific types of defects; calculating a plurality of energy distributions for the weld based on the plurality of filtered response signals for each of the measurement locations; and comparing each energy distribution to a corresponding baseline energy distribution to determine the presence of a defect in the weld. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method for testing a weld for the presence of defects, the method comprising:
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inducing ultrasonic signals at multiple measurement locations along the weld; collecting an ultrasonic response signal for each of the measurement locations along the weld; filtering the ultrasonic response signal from each of the measurement locations by; decomposing the ultrasonic response signal by discrete wavelet transform with a plurality of mother wavelets to produce sets of wavelet coefficients corresponding to each mother wavelet; band pass filtering the sets of wavelet coefficients to isolate a frequency range sensitive to defects in the weld; reconstructing each set of filtered wavelet coefficients by inverse discrete wavelet transform to produce a plurality of filtered response signals for each measurement location; calculating a plurality of energy distributions for the weld based on the plurality of filtered response signals for each of the measurement locations; and comparing each of the plurality of energy distributions to a corresponding baseline energy distribution to determine the presence of a defect in the weld. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A defect detection system for determining the presence of 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:
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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 the ultrasonic response signals in a memory operatively associated with the controller; filter the ultrasonic response signal collected from each of the measurement locations to produce a plurality of filtered response signals for each of the measurement locations; calculate a plurality of energy distributions for the weld based on the plurality of filtered response signals for each of the measurement locations; and determine the presence of defects in the weld by comparing each energy distribution to a corresponding baseline energy distribution by calculating a summed energy difference distribution for the weld and identifying locations along the weld which have a summed energy difference that is less than a low energy threshold. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. 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, the method comprising:
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filtering an ultrasonic response signal from each of the measurement locations to produce a plurality of filtered response signals for each of the measurement locations, wherein each filtered response signal corresponds to specific types of defects; calculating a plurality of energy distributions for the weld based on the plurality of filtered response signals for each of the measurement locations; and determining the presence of defects in the weld by comparing each energy distribution to a corresponding baseline energy distribution by calculating a summed energy difference distribution for the weld and identifying locations along the weld which have a summed energy difference that is less than a low energy threshold.
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Specification