US2008208505A1PendingUtilityA1
System and Methods For Non-Destructive Testing of Tubular Systems
Est. expiryJul 29, 2025(expired)· nominal 20-yr term from priority
G01N 29/348G01N 29/30G01N 29/343G01N 29/11G01N 2291/044G01M 7/00G01N 29/0609
45
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Claims
Abstract
Method and systems for non-destructive testing of a gas or liquid filled object at atmospheric pressure or high pressure. The method includes the steps of providing an acoustic pulse reflectometry (APR) system ( 200 ) having a wideband transmitter ( 210 ), a pressure sensor and short mixed wave tube ( 214 ) performing at least one calibration parameter, attaching the object to the APR system and performing a measurement to obtain at least one calibration parameter, attaching the object to the APR system and performing a measurement to obtain an object test result and processing the object test result and the at least one calibration parameter to obtain an object impulse response that reflects a status of the object.
Claims
exact text as granted — not AI-modified1 . A method for non-destructive testing of an object, comprising steps of:
a. providing an acoustic pulse reflectometry (APR) system having a wideband transmitter, a pressure sensor and a mixed tube with length 2 L; b. performing a calibration to obtain two calibration parameters, an exact acoustic excitation pulse form P 1 and a loudspeaker acoustic impulse response H i ; c. attaching the object to the APR system and performing a measurement to obtain an object test result P M o ; and d. using P 1 , H i and P M o to obtain an object impulse response H s ;
whereby the object impulse response reflects a status of the object.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the obtaining of P 1 includes performing a measurement selected from the group consisting of a measurement that measures P 1 while a semi-infinite tube serves as the object and a measurement on an object in which any faults are far enough from the connection to the mixed wave tube so that P 1 can be extracted from this measurement
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the obtaining of H i includes:
i. replacing the object with a rigid plug, ii. carrying out a measurement with the rigid plug to obtain a value P M p , and iii. extracting H i directly from P M p by a theoretical calculation that also uses the measured P 1 .
4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the obtaining of H i includes:
i. replacing the object with a rigid plug, ii. carrying out a first measurement P M p with the rigid plug, and iii. replacing the plug with a second object with a length L, the second object having a distal plugged end, carrying out a second measurement to obtain an added measurement P M p2 and calculating H i using P M p , P M p2 and P 1 .
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the APR system further includes a data acquisition card (DAQ), a pre-amplifier and an amplifier, and wherein the step of performing the measurement on the object is preceded by a check to determine overflow/underflow conditions of the APR system, and, if overflow or underflow conditions are found, by adjusting gains of the DAQ, the pre-amplifier and the amplifier.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the using of P 1 , H i and P M o to obtain an object impulse response H s includes applying a separation algorithm to disentangle forward and backward propagating signals in order to obtain the true impulse response of the object.
7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the applying a separation algorithm includes using an equation
H
s
=
P
M
o
P
1
-
1
P
M
o
P
1
·
H
i
-
1
·
P
1
P
1
=
P
M
o
-
P
1
P
M
o
·
H
i
-
P
1
;
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the object is selected from the group consisting of a pressurized object and a liquid filled object.
9 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the extracting of H i directly from P M p by a theoretical calculation includes calculating H i using the formula
H
s
=
P
M
p
P
1
-
1
P
M
p
P
1
·
H
i
-
1
·
P
1
P
1
=
P
M
p
-
P
1
P
M
p
·
H
i
-
P
1
10 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the calculating of H i using P M p , P M p2 and P 1 includes using the formulas:
H
s
=
P
M
o
P
1
-
1
P
M
o
P
1
·
H
i
-
1
·
P
1
P
1
=
P
M
o
-
P
1
P
M
o
·
H
i
-
P
1
H
s
2
=
P
M
p
2
P
1
-
1
P
M
p
2
P
1
·
H
i
-
1
·
P
1
P
1
=
P
M
p
2
-
P
1
P
M
p
2
·
H
i
-
P
1
wherein H s 2 is the acoustic response of the second object;
11 . An acoustic pulse reflectometry (APR) system for non-destructive testing of a pressurized test object, comprising:
a. a wide band signal transmitter for providing source acoustic pulses; b. a mixed wave tube for serving as conduit for the source pulses between the transmitter and object; c. a pressure sensor equidistantly spaced between two opposite ends of the mixed tube and used for sensing impulse responses from the test and calibration objects; and d. means for pressurizing the mixed wave tube, calibration and test objects, thereby enabling non-destructive testing of a pressurized object.
12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the means for pressurizing include means for introduction and removal of a substance selected from the group consisting of a pressurized gas and a pressurized liquid.
13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the pressurized liquid includes a liquid at atmospheric pressure.
14 . An acoustic pulse reflectometry (APR) system for non-destructive testing of a test object filled with liquid, comprising:
a. a wide band signal transmitter for providing source acoustic pulses; b. a mixed wave tube for serving as conduit for the source pulses between the transmitter and object; c. a pressure sensor equidistantly spaced between two opposite ends of the mixed tube and used for sensing impulse responses from the test and calibration objects; and d. means for introducing and removing a liquid into or from the mixed wave tube, calibration and test objects, thereby enabling non-destructive testing of a liquid filled object.
15 . A method for calibrating an acoustic pulse reflectometry system that can be used to non-destructively measure an object, the method comprising steps of:
a. measuring the acoustic excitation pulse form P 1 as emitted by the loudspeaker and b. using the measured P 1 to determine a loudspeaker acoustic impulse response H i ,
whereby both P 1 and H i can be further used in determining non-destructively a status of a measured object.
16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the step of measuring P 1 includes performing a measurement selected from the group consisting of a measurement that measures P 1 while a semi-infinite tube serves as the object and a measurement on an object in which any faults are far enough from the mixed tube so that P 1 can be extracted from the measurement
17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the using the measured P 1 to obtain H i includes:
i. replacing the semi-infinite tube with a rigid plug, ii. carrying out a measurement with the rigid plug to obtain a value P M p and iii. extracting H i directly from P M p by a theoretical calculation that also uses the measured P 1 .
18 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the using the measured P 1 to obtain H i includes:
i. replacing the semi-infinite tube with a rigid plug, ii. carrying out a first measurement P M p with the rigid plug and iii. replacing the plug with a second object with a length L, the second object having a distal plugged end, carrying out a second measurement to obtain an added measurement P M p2 and calculating H i using P M p , P M p2 and P 1 .
19 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the extracting of H i directly from P M p by a theoretical calculation includes calculating H i using the formula
H
s
=
P
M
p
P
1
-
1
P
M
p
P
1
·
H
i
-
1
·
P
1
P
1
=
P
M
p
-
P
1
P
M
p
·
H
i
-
P
1
20 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the calculating of H i using P M p , P M p2 and P 1 includes using the formulas:
H
s
=
P
M
p
P
1
-
1
P
M
p
P
1
·
H
i
-
1
·
P
1
P
1
=
P
M
p
-
P
1
P
M
p
·
H
i
-
P
1
H
s
2
=
P
M
p
2
P
1
-
1
P
M
p
2
P
1
·
H
i
-
1
·
P
1
P
1
=
P
M
p
2
-
P
1
P
M
p
2
·
H
i
-
P
1
wherein H s 2 is the acoustic response of the second object.Cited by (0)
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