Patent ID: 9500627
Filing Date: 2016-11-22
CPC Classification: G01N

Claim Text:
1. A system for scanning a radius of a part comprising: an array of transducer elements; a probe body that holds said array transducer elements; and a pulser/receiver unit programmed to perform the following operations: (a) pulsing transducer elements of the array in accordance with a first set of focal laws to emit a first plurality of beams in sequence, said beams of said first plurality of beams being respectively focused at respective target locations of a first plurality of target locations located in space along respective model curved line segments, said beams of said first plurality of beams being respectively normal to said respective model curved line segments at said respective target locations of said first plurality of target locations; (b) after each beam of said first plurality of beams is emitted, processing transducer output signals from the transducer elements in accordance with a second set of focal laws to derive a first set of parameter values characterizing the strengths of the respective echoes received from the first plurality of target locations; (c) pulsing transducer elements of the array in accordance with a third set of focal laws to emit a second plurality of beams in sequence, said beams of said second plurality of beams being respectively focused at respective target locations of a second plurality of target locations located in space along said respective model curved line segments, said beams of said second plurality of beams being respectively normal to said respective model curved line segments at said respective target locations of said second plurality of target locations; and (d) after each beam of said second plurality of beams is emitted, processing transducer output signals from the transducer elements in accordance with a fourth set of focal laws to derive a second set of parameter values characterizing the strengths of the respective echoes received from the second plurality of target locations, wherein said model curved line segments span an expected total range of variation of a radius surface of a part to be inspected.