Study of an Ultrasonic Probe Installed into a Small Diameter-Pipe Using an Electromagnetic Acoustic Transducer

Metal pipes having an inner diameter of about 25 mm or less are frequently used as heat exchangers for power plants, gas pipes, and water pipes. However, erosion and corrosion due to long-term use may cause serious accidents, such as steam leaks, resulting in economic loss and environmental pollution. Therefore, inspection of the entire length and thickness before shipping or monitoring during operation are important technologies. However, no inspection technology including the inside of the wall thickness has been developed. The purpose was to develop an ultrasonic probe that can inspect the inner and outer surfaces from the inside of the pipe at the same time. The developed ultrasonic probe is based on an electromagnetic ultrasonic transducer (EMAT) that does not require a couplant and is then easy to install in a pipe. The EMAT for the longitudinal and for the transverse vibration mode guided wave are connected in series in order to take into account the variety of defects. First, the EMAT was successfully developed for each mode. That is, it was conducted by using the magnetostrictive effect for the longitudinal mode type and by using the Lorentz force for the transverse mode type, and evaluated to improve the performance. The reflected signal from a notch defect was then evaluated in the state that each EMAT was connected in series using any artificial defects and found to be able to detect any notches with about 10% depth or about 15% circumferential length.

Non-Contact Stress Measurement during Tensile Testing Using an Emat for SH₀-Plate Wave and Lamb Wave

The stress on a test specimen during tensile testing is generally measured by a strain gauge. This method has some problems in that it would influence the measurement conditions of the tensile test and can evaluate only the position at which the strain gauge is attached. The acoustoelastic method is proposed as a method replacing the strain gauge method. However, an ultrasonic sensor with a piezoelectric oscillator requires a coupling medium to inject an ultrasonic wave into a solid material. This condition, due to the error factor of the stress measurement, makes it difficult for the ultrasonic sensor to move on the specimen. We then tried to develop a non-contact stress measurement system during tensile testing using an electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) with an SH0-plate wave and S0-Lamb wave. The EMAT can measure the propagation time in which the ultrasonic wave travels between a receiver and a transmitter without a coupling medium during the tensile testing and can move easily. The interval between the transmitter and the receiver is 10mm and can be moved along the parallel direction or the vertical direction of the tensile load. The transit time was measured by a cross-correlation method and converted into the stress on the test specimen using the acoustoelastic method. We confirmed that the stress measurement using an SH0-plate wave was superior to that with an S0-Lamb wave.

Pipe Inspection System by Guide Wave Using a Long Distance Waveguide

In the industrial fields, many high temperature structures that require a non-destructive inspection exist. However, there are currently few sensors that can carry out non-destructive testing in a high temperature environment. In particular, the ultrasonic sensor is normally not used at over 50 degrees Celsius. Also, a special sensor for high temperature is currently available, but there are various constraints;it has not yet reached a level that is useful in industry. Therefore, we have been developing a new sensor system using a long waveguide which can transmit an ultrasonic wave from a long distance. Especially, this study focuses on applying the developed technique to a pipe which is used in a nuclear power plant. Therefore, the best rectangular-shaped waveguide was studied and attempted to be wound around a pipe to be driven by an acoustic source of a guide wave. Finally, the L (0, 2) and T (0, 1)-mode guide waves were successfully detected by optimizing the shape of the opposite edge of the rectangular-shaped waveguide that could detect the reflected signal from an artificial defect machined into a test pipe.

Measurement of the Lubricant Properties Using Hall Effect Sensor: A Study on Contamination and Viscosity

This study proposes the development of contamination measurement for industrial machines based on magnetic field method. A permanent magnet was used to generate the 0.17 T magnetic fields and Hall Effect sensor was applied to measure the contamination level of metal particles in industrial machine lubricant during operation time and to predict the replacement period if the lubricant condition does not meet the standard (NAS 1638). Contamination level of metal particles was directly related to the output voltage of Hall Effect sensor. When there was any movement of metal particles to the permanent magnet, the measured result was then transferred to a computer for analysis. This methodology could be applied to experiment the conditions of used lubricant for assessing the contamination and the metal particle remaining in the tank or inside the pipe of the machine as well as the conditions of car lubricant and other lubricants used in industrial processes.

Application of the HES in Angular Analysis

This study presents an analysis of the relationship of angles and trigonometric functions by applying Hall Effect Sensor (HES). Electromagnetic density of 4.624 mT can be generated from the Helmholtz coil. Angle of shaft which was installed at the center of the Helmholtz coil perpendicularly to horizontal plane was considered as reference and can be rotated. In this study, an experiment for measuring the angle of shaft declination on X-axis was carried on. Ranges of measurement were related to the angle resolution between –15 to 15 degree with 1 step degree interval from perpendicular angle (Y-axis). Analysis of the relationship between shaft declination and electromagnetic field was performed using HES device which was installed on the top of shaft and perpendicularly to reference electromagnetic field [1,2]. The angle declining from the origin which was normal to magnetic field can be determined by measuring the relationship between Hall voltage and magnetic field. Normally, electromagnetic field is nonuniform and varied by point in Helmholtz coil radius. Shaft angles on X-axis were measured for assessing the repeatability of system developed. Five values of results were measured repeatedly at the same input. It can be observed that the system developed can provide the results with the best accuracy and reliability of 95%.

A Pipe Inspection Using a Circumferential SH-Mode Plate Wave Generated in a Pipe by an Electromagnetic Acoustic Transducer (EMAT)

Inspection of a pipeline is essential for the safe use of such facilities. A trial sensor using an electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT), which can generate the SH-mode plate wave propagating in the circumferential direction, has been developed to realize this objective. It consists of a circulating electromagnetic induction coil around the pipe and many permanent magnets arranged on the surface of the pipe in the circumferential direction. It is postulated that the intensity of the SH-mode plate wave propagating in the circumferential direction is dependent on any defects in the circumferential direction. A resonance method was then utilized to obtain a stronger received signal. As a result, it was confirmed that the resonance status can be detected. The relationship between the signal intensity and the pipe thickness was then evaluated. It was confirmed that the wall thickness of about 20% can be detected under a static condition. Finally, a moving test has been executed by using an axially traveling device manufactured by trial. The test pipes with different sizes of drilled holes were prepared. The change in the received signal intensity according to different sizes of the drilled holes was successfully detected.

Study of Material Evaluation Probe Using a Longitudinal Wave and a Transverse Wave

Transmitting a longitudinal wave and a traverse wave into a composite material in a molten state has been studied in the online control of the composite material which cannot be evaluated by a conventional ultrasonic sensor as a final analysis, using the difference in the propagation characteristics of both modes. It is especially expected that measurement of the physical quantity which was not able to be conventionally measured can be performed by carrying out coincidence measurement of the ultrasonic wave in both modes. Therefore, in this research study, an ultrasonic probe, which can simultaneously transmit and receive a longitudinal wave and a traverse wave has been developed using an electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) because it has the advantage of measuring high temperature samples. In this study, two methods have been compared. The 1st method uses a traverse wave EMAT that travels in a vertical direction and a bar wave by which the low order mode is equivalent to longitudinal wave vibration. The other method is to carry out the mode conversion of the traverse wave by a traverse wave-EMAT. The longitudinal converted from the transverse wave are spread in the axis direction. As the experimental results of both optimizations of the drive conditions, it has been confirmed that the 2nd mode conversion method was promising. This paper reports about the trial process and the experimental results.

Noncontact Driving System Using Induction-Based Method and Integrated Piezoelectric Ultrasonic Transducers

Integrated Ultrasonic Transducers (IUTs) have been developed for high-temperature nondestructive evaluation applications. In many field, it would be helpful if a pipe covered by a protective layer of about 10 cm thickness, which is under operation at several hundred Celsius, could be inspected from above the protective layer by an IUT. As a first step toward achieving the inspection of such a pipeline, an induction-based method using coils is presented together with IUTs. This study focuses on the effects of the separation distance (liftoff) between the coils on the ultrasonic signal strength and bandwidth of the IUTs. Ultrasonic signals were generated and received by the IUTs on a steel plate with a sufficient strength for thickness measurements when the liftoff was 20 cm. It was also shown that a ferrite disc together with the coils enhanced the received signal strength even when the liftoff was over 10 cm.

Ultrasonic Inspection System Using a Long Waveguide with an Acoustic Horn for High-Temperature Structure

The nondestructive inspection of a high temperature structure is required in order to guarantee its safety. However, there are no useful sensors for high temperature structures. Some of them cannot work at temperatures over 50°C. Another concern is that they are too expensive to use. A sensing system, which can transmit and receive an ultrasonic wave that travels a long distance using a long waveguide, has been studied. We confirmed that the optimal guided ultrasonic wave could travel more than 10 m using an electromagnetic transducer (EMAT) with a thin Ni-sheet surrounded on the surface of the bar and a 2-mm diameter bar as the waveguide. However, we had the difficult problem of receiving the reflected ultrasonic wave from the inside of a test specimen. We tried to improve the trial inspection system using an acoustic horn. An experiment in which the temperature of the test block was heated to about 500°C has now been completed. Finally, the condition of the bend in the waveguide to pass without reflection was confirmed.

Study of an Omnidirectional Guide Wave Sensor Using an EMAT

Nondestructive inspection of structures is important for ensuring the safety of the social infrastructure. Among them, the ultrasonic inspection method plays a role as a major technology. However, when examining a huge structure, the inspection time tends to be very long. Therefore, a system for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves in all directions from the ultrasonic sensor has been constructed. Several types of ultrasonic sensors using this concept have already been devised, but since the ultrasonic energy is dispersed in all directions, there is a problem that a sufficient detection performance cannot be ensured, especially when the thickness of the material to be inspected becomes thick. Therefore, we developed a highly sensitive omnidirectional ultrasonic sensor utilizing the resonance phenomenon of the ultrasonic wave propa-gating in the thickness direction. The omnidirectional ultrasonic system also consists of an electromagnetic ultrasonic transducer (EMAT) using a circular magnet. It is possible to inspect the plate thickness from 0.3 mm to 10 mm and the inspection range of the diameter of 300 mm around the sensor by the developed system. It is indicated that the developed system allows the high-speed inspection of huge structures.

Analysis of Land Subsidence Using the HES

This study presents a methodology for analysis of the industrial machine alignment in the production line. The level of land subsidence in the area of the industrial machine location was assessed by adopting Hall Effect Sensor (HES). A computer was used for real-time data collecting and displaying the angle of subsidence over operational period. The measurement module consists of two flat-curve permanent magnets mounted parallelly and the magnetic poles which were placed in position that can be generating the magnetic tension force. The center between two permanent magnets was the sensor namely HES placed perpendicularly to the magnetic fluxes. The permanent magnets were the moving parts which can be displaced depending on the inclined angle of land subsidence. Analysis of the relationship between the incline angle of the measurement module and the output voltage from the HES was considered from the function of subsidence angle and magnetic density on X-axis and perpendicular angle (Y-axis) with the resolution of 100 mV per degree. There were two ranges of measurement according to the angle resolution, –20 to 20 degree at 1 degree of resolution per step and –6 to 6 degree at 0.01 degree of resolution per step.

Elimination of Oil Residual inside the Copper Pipe Using Ladder Technique

This study presents the methodology to eliminate oil residual in copper pipe due to rolling process for manufacturing coil used in air conditioner. The pressure caused by Nitrogen flow rate was applied starting from 0, 5, 10, and 15 bar, respectively which was depending on time delay and pipe length. The developed system was divided into 2 modules: Parallel pressure ladder module (PPLM) [1] and Serial pressure ladder module (SPLM) which were experimented with 2 sizes of copper pipe: diameter 7.29 mm, thickness 0.25 mm, and length 10 km, and diameter 8 mm, thickness 0.25 mm, and length 10 km. From experiment, it can be noted that PPLM would perform better in elimination of oil residual compared to SPLM. About 97.44% (0.04 mg/m) and 97.59% (0.05 mg/m) of oil residual can be respectively eliminated from diameter 7.29 mm pipe and diameter 8 mm pipe which exceeded the standard allowance of 30% or 0.1 mg/m. Moreover, the cost of Nitrogen can be reduced by 6.25% per month.

Synthesis and Analysis of PZT Using Impedance Method of Reactance Estimation

This study presents an analysis of equivalent circuit namely Butterworth Van Dyke (BVD) [1,2] by using impedance method to stimulate Zirconate Titanate (Piezoelectric ceramic) which is initially synthesized from Lead Oxide (PbO), Zirconium Dioxide (ZrO2) and Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) and vibrated in thickness mode. The reactance was estimated in the frequency range lower than the resonance frequency and then compared to the impedance obtained from measurement using impedance analysis machine model HP4192A and HP4194 [3]. The results from HP4194 were analyzed for BVD parameters: Motional resistance (R1), Inductor (L1), Capacitor (C1), and Capacitor corresponds to the electrostatic capacitance (Co). Another accuracy analysis was compared by the calculation results using the method of IEEE 176-1987 [4] to the impedance values measured by HP4192A. In this study, there were two conditions for experiment and consideration of parameter variation in BVD equivalent circuit: variation of temperature and mechanical force. These parameters are evaluated to design the efficient circuit for PZT utilization to obtain the optimal efficiency.

A New Guide Wave Inspection System Using Three Polarized Transverse Wave EMATs without Any Couplant

A guide wave is provided with the characteristic of long range propagation in the axis direction of a pipe, so it is possible to detect many defects over a large pipe area at once. At present, there is a technique to generate a guide wave using a piezoelectric element (PZT). However, the transverse wave-transducer using PZT needs to require a high viscosity couplant because the transverse wave cannot travel into typical liquid like water or oil. A guide wave inspection system that uses an electromagnetic ultrasonic transducer (EMAT) which does not require any couplant has then been developed to solve this trouble. First, a guide wave into a pipe, L, T and F-mode, can be transmitted and received by a polarized shear horizontal transverse wave propagating to the thickness direction when the vibration direction has been adjusted to the best direction. At next stage, the three EMATs for L, T and F-mode with different polarized vibration directions were piled up to improve the performance at the same position under the permanent magnet to inspect the pipe at the same condition. Next, the system with the EMATs can be confirmed to be able to detect three guide wave modes signal with enough intensity. Finally, the detection performance using the test pipes with any artificial defects has been done by the developed pipe inspection system, and any drilled holes and any notches can be detected. It is indicated that the developed system could be useful in real industrial field.