Patent GB-1363390-A (GB)
Title: Method and device for measuring thickness by ultrasonic resonance
IPC: G01B17/02
Filed: 1973-01-25
Abstract: 1363390 Measuring thickness COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE 25 Jan 1973 [3 Feb 1972] 3743/73 Heading G4H [Also in Division H4] In a system for measuring the thickness of an object by exciting it to resonance with sweptfrequency ultrasonic waves then determining the resonant frequency from the duration of a sequence of wave periods, the error associated with the continual wave-period variation during the frequency determination is reduced by measuring the duration T of a sequence of N 0  wave periods immediately following the instant of occurrence of resonance, measuring the duration T<SP>1</SP> of a sequence of N 1  wave periods immediately following either the resonance instant or the end of the sequence of N 0  periods, and combining the two duration measurements. The Fig. 1 embodiment uses a focused transducer 10, driven by an oscillator 14 whose frequency is varied as a sinusoidal function of time between limite f 0  and 2f 0 , to monitor wall thickness of a helically-moving tube 12. The occurrence of resonance triggers a unit 22 (detailed in Fig. 2, not shown) which counts up clock pulses of frequency F1 over the next N 0  (preset in unit 52) ultrasonic wave periods then counts down clock pulses of frequency F1/3 over the following N 0  wave periods. The resulting accumulated count is the error-reduced measure of thickness, which can be displayed in metric units by appropriate choice of F1. To allow for resonances occurring when the wall thickness is a multiple h of the ultrasonic half-wavelength, units 65, 66 multiply the count by h to give a corrected count in counter 84. If the corrected count is between acceptable limits (set in units 100, 102) as determined by comparators 104, 106, it is transferred via gate 110 and memory 103 to a GaAs lamp display 114 and to a D/A converter 112. Units 116, 118, 146, 148 determine respectively the maximum, minimum and mean thickness and mean eccentricity measured in a series of measurements at points on the tube. The multiplication device (Fig. 5) stores the accumulated count from 22 in counter 42 and stores the factor h at 66. In the first multiplication step, multiplexer 80 connects the "units" decade of 42 to comparator 90, and clock pulses from 76 are fed to a single-decade counter 78 and (via multiplexer 82) to the "units" decade of counter 84. When the count at 78 reaches the value U of the units digit in 42, comparator 90 resets counter 78 and sets a counter 88 to "1". When the count at 78 again reaches the units digit value U, counter 78 is reset again and counter 88 is advanced to "2". This procedure repeats until counter 88 registers h, at which point hU clock pulses have been fed to counter 84. Comparator 86 then actuates address selector 68 to step on the multiplexers to the "tens" decades of counters 42, 84. Multiplication of the "tens" digit D by h then takes place (the second multiplication step), and so on. Maximum and minimum thickness are determined (Fig. 6, not shown) by comparing the current corrected count in counter 84 with the contents of two counters (130, 134) and updating the contents (of 134 or 130) if the current count is respectively greater than or less than the prevailing contents. At the end of the series of thickness measurements the contents of the two counters (130, 134) are read out. These counters are reset respectively to all 0's and all 9's at the beginning of a series of measurements. Mean eccentricity is determined (Fig. 7) by comparing the current corrected count Hn in counter 84 with the contents R of a register 154. If Hn>R, clock pulses from 168 are gated to the count-up input 166 of register 154 and to counter 150. If Hn<R, the clock pulses are gated to the count-down input of register 154. R thus follows Hn as the thickness measurement varies during a tube revolution. If the eccentricity is regular successive thickness measurements increase to a maximum, then decrease to a minimum in one revolution, hence the number of times the count at 154 switches between the up and down directions can be registered at 152 as a measure of the number of revolutions. Count-down units 174, 176 and a set-reset flip-flop 172 ensure that local tube-wall flows (where a maximum or minimum is not followed by at least a predetermined number of monotonically decreasing or increasing thickness measurements respectively) do not upset the revolution count. Counter 150 accumulates measures of the differences between successive maximum and minimum thicknesses and its count is divided by the count at 152 to give the mean eccentricity.