Patent ID: 11917921
Assignee: THE BOEING COMPANY
Field: Macromolecular chemistry, polymers (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC B  H  C | IPC C  H

Claim 11:
12. A method for inspecting a part with a flexoelectricity UT transducer imaging system, the method comprising:
covering the part with the flexoelectricity UT transducer imaging system having a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) layer, a plurality of flexoelectricity UT transducers attached to a back surface of the PTFE layer, and a multiplexer in signal communication with each flexoelectricity UT transducer of the plurality of flexoelectricity UT transducers, wherein the plurality of flexoelectricity UT transducers is sandwiched between the multiplexer and the PTFE layer and the plurality of flexoelectricity UT transducers is arranged along the back surface of the PTFE layer as a two-dimensional array, wherein each flexoelectricity UT transducer corresponds to a pixel of the two-dimensional array;
applying a first set of voltages to the plurality of flexoelectricity UT transducers with the multiplexer to produce vibrations in the plurality of flexoelectricity UT transducers;
transmitting a plurality of sound waves towards the part with the PTFE layer, wherein the plurality of sound waves are produced by a combination of the PTFE layer and the vibrations of the plurality of flexoelectricity UT transducers;
receiving a plurality of reflected sound waves from the part with the PTFE layer;
producing a second set of voltages from the plurality of flexoelectricity UT transducers;
receiving the second set of voltages from the plurality of flexoelectricity UT transducers with the multiplexer; and
transmitting pixel data from each flexoelectricity UT transducer to a controller to produce a full image of the part.