Phased Array

Applications
Phased Array Applications
 Ultrasonic phased arrays are used in a wide
variety of industries where the technology has
inherent advantages. These industries include:
– Aerospace
– Petrochemical
– Automotive
– Pipe mills
– Steel mills
– Pipeline construction
– Nuclear power
– General manufacturing, construction, and a selection of
special applications.
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Phased Array Applications
 All these applications take advantage of one or more of the
dominant features of phased arrays:
– Speed: scanning with phased arrays is much faster than single-
probe conventional mechanical systems, at the same time offering
better coverage.
– Flexibility: setups can be changed in a few minutes, and typically
a lot more component-dimension flexibility is available.
– Inspection angles: a wide variety of inspection angles can be
used, depending on the requirements and the array.
– Small footprint: small matrix arrays can give significantly more
flexibility than conventional probes for inspecting restricted areas.
– Imaging: showing a “true depth” image of defects is much easier to
interpret than a waveform. The data can be saved and redisplayed
as required.

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Aerospace
Applications

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Scribe Mark Inspection – Problem
 Damage has been reported along fuselage skin
lap joints, butt joints, and other areas of several
aircraft caused by the use of sharp tools used
during paint and sealant removal.

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Scribe Mark Inspection – Solution
 Advantages of ultrasonic phased array technology for scribe mark
detection offers the following capabilities:
– Software control of beam angle, focal distance, and spot size
– Multiple-angle inspection with a single, small, electronically controlled,
multielement probe
– No paint removal necessary to carry out the inspection (huge time
savings)
– Sectorial scan imaging

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Landing Gear Inspection – Problem
 In 2003, Northwest Airlines
experienced two DC-9 main
landing gear failures due to
cracking in the outer cylinder
near the trunnion arm radius.
 Exhaustive analysis at the
NTSB and Boeing-Long Beach
showed that these cracks were
the result of grain boundary
separations forming around
inclusions in the cylinder forging
over its life span.

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Landing Gear Inspection – Solution
 Use of sector scan capabilities allows easy coverage of
this area using only one probe.
 Notches implemented on test samples showed clear
detection.
 Main interest:
– No need to remove paint and break lines
– HUGE TIME SAVING!

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Composite Radius Inspection
 Curved PA probe for radii inspection

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Composite Radius Inspection
 Inspection
– Properly adjusting the probe
height to the radius allows for 0°
inspection of a near 90° section
of the radius.
 Scanning and sizing
– Defect sizing can be directly
obtained from the C-scan on
the scan axis.
– The size of the defect on the
index axis is a function of the
radius of the corner, the radius
of the probe, and the depth of
the defect below the surface.

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Friction Stir Weld
 The friction stir welding (FSW) technique
was developed as a method to join
materials that are difficult to fusion weld
such as aluminum alloys.
 The best method to inspect friction stir
welds is to use the ultrasonic phased array
technique. Because of the weld shape,
raster scanning is impossible; but with
phased arrays, inspection of the entire weld
volume is done in a single-pass scan.
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Friction Stir Weld – Solution
 One probe on each side of the
weld for axial detection, plus a
third probe for transverse
detection
 Motorized positioning of the
probe (weld centering)
 Inspection with 65° SW and 45°
SW for axial defects
 Inspection with 45° SW
refraction angle and skew
angles of -30°, 0°, and 30° for
transverse defects
 Electronic scanning of the
beam for all configurations
 Entire inspection performed as
a one-line scan (up to 70 feet)
 Coupling is performed with
local immersion wedges
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 Industrial
Applications

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Pressure Vessel Inspection
 Weld inspection (PV200)
– Combine TOFD + PA probe in order
to cover complete weld volume.
– 1 PA probe on each side of the weld
– 1 TOFD channel

PA PA PV 200 Inspection

+ =

TOFD
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Pipe Line Inspection
 Pipe Wizard:
– Automated ultrasonic
inspection of pipeline
girth welds using
phased arrays.

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Bar and Billet Inspection
 LW & SW+ / SW- inspection
with different angles from 40° to
65° with the same probes
 Hot rolled bars: surface with
calamine and straightness of
2mm/m with floating head.

 High sensitivity of detection:

+8 to 10dB more than
conventional performances

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Full Body Tube Inspection System
 Rotating Pipe inspection:
– Contact shoes used on pipe for
high-quality coupling with
water.
– Used for high-diameter range
(from 3 in. to more than 20 in.).
– Adapted for various
mechanical movements.
– Pipe rotating on trolley with
motorized axis for end-of-tube
inspections
– Use of Phased Array
technology to improve
coverage.

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Turbine Inspection
 Looking for defects with a
3-D scan pattern
 Multiple beam angles from
single probe
 Optimized focus
 Much simpler probe pan
assembly – replaces
multiple probes with one
array
 Faster: single-pass
inspection of complex
geometries

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Thank you!