Patent Description:
Nondestructive testing devices can be used to inspect, measure, or test objects to identify and analyze anomalies in the objects. These devices allow an inspection technician to maneuver a probe at or near the surface of the test object in order to perform testing of both the object surface and its underlying structure. Nondestructive testing can be particularly useful in some industries, e.g., aerospace, power generation, and oil and gas transport or refining (e.g., pipes and welds). The inspection of test objects must take place without removal of the object from surrounding structures, and where hidden anomalies can be located that would otherwise not be identifiable through visual inspection. Ultrasonic testing is one example of nondestructive testing. When conducting ultrasonic testing, ultrasonic pulses or beams are emitted from ultrasonic transducers mounted in a probe and pass through a test object. As the ultrasonic energy, in the form of pulses or beams, pass through the object, various ultrasonic reflections called echoes occur as the ultrasonic beams interact with internal structures (e.g., anomalies or surfaces) of the test object. These echoes are detected by the ultrasonic transducers and are analyzed by processing electronics connected to the ultrasonic transducers.

A phased array ultrasonic probe comprises a plurality of electrically and acoustically independent ultrasonic transducers that incorporate piezoelectric material and are mounted in a single probe housing. During operation, predetermined patterns of electrical pulses are generated and transmitted to the probe. The electrical pulses are applied to the electrodes of the phased array transducers causing a physical deflection in the piezoelectric material which generate ultrasonic energy (e.g., ultrasonic signals or beams) that is transmitted through the test object to which the probe is coupled. By varying the timing of the electrical pulses applied to the phased array ultrasonic transducers, the phased array ultrasonic probe generates ultrasonic beams that impact the test object at different angles. This process of beam steering facilitates an efficient inspection of different regions of the test object to completely detect anomalies therein. The amplitude and firing sequence of the individual transducers of the phased array probe can be programmably controlled in order to adjust the angle and penetration strength of the ultrasonic beam that is emitted into the test object. When the resulting ultrasonic echo returns to contact the surface of the piezoelectric material of a transducer it generates a detectable voltage difference across the transducer's electrodes which is then recorded as echo data by the processing electronics, and includes an amplitude and a delay time. By tracking the time difference between the transmission of the electrical pulses and the receipt of the echo data, and measuring the amplitude of the received echo data, various characteristics of the test object can be determined such as its thickness, or the depth and size of anomalies therein.

In some applications, the ultrasonic probe is connected to a dedicated processing station by cables which can be several meters long. The processing station drives the ultrasonic probe via the cables and the cables carry analog echo data detected by the transducers during a scanning inspection back to the processing station for analysis. The length of the cables tends to create added noise in the returning echo data. The processing station includes signal processing electronics for analyzing the echo data and a display screen for displaying the results of any analyses. The processing station hardware must match the type of the ultrasonic probe providing the echo data and is typically custom manufactured for each type of ultrasonic probe. For example, a probe having <NUM> transducers requires the same number of conductors in the cable to transmit echo data from each of the transducers in the probe head back to the processing station. For phased array ultrasonic probes containing such a large number of transducers, or more, the probe cable between the phased array probe and the processing station can be quite dense and is difficult to maneuver.

One aspect of the invention is an integrated active ultrasonic probe and a processing system operable with the integrated active ultrasonic probe. The integrated active ultrasonic probe includes specialized hardware and processing components required for generating ultrasonic test data which can be transmitted over a standard digital interface to a connected processing system. By moving specialized hardware and processing into the integrated active ultrasonic probe, the use of a generic processing system, or processing unit, such as a PC/workstation, laptop, or tablet, to analyze and visualize the ultrasonic echo data is facilitated. This relieves the requirement for specialized hardware and processing in the processing station. The new design is integrated into a small volume that fits into the probe housing that can be maneuvered within test objects. Signal-to-noise ratio is improved because shorter wires connect processing electronics directly to the ultrasonic transducers. The ultrasonic transducers and the processing of data generated thereby are part of the integrated active ultrasonic probe and heavy cables for housing significant data transmission lines are not required.

The ultrasonic probe includes ultrasonic transducers and processing electronics to control emission of ultrasonic energy and to process and digitize returned echo data. Processed echo data can then be transmitted over a standard digital interface. Advantages that may be realized in the practice of some disclosed embodiments of the integrated active ultrasonic probe is improved signal-to-noise and compatibility with various processing systems.

A method of processing ultrasonic data as defined in claim <NUM> is disclosed. The method includes receiving output data generated by an active integrated ultrasonic probe, which output data comprises beam formation data. A scan conversion of the beam formation data is performed and the beam formation data is decimated into a format compatible for display on a display screen. The scan converted beam formation data is combined into volume data and then rendered and displayed on the display screen.

This brief description of the invention is intended only to provide a brief overview of subject matter disclosed herein according to one or more illustrative embodiments, and does not serve as a guide to interpreting the claims or to define or limit the scope of the invention, which is defined only by the appended claims. This brief description is provided to introduce an illustrative selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This brief description is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. The claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in the background.

So that the manner in which the features of the invention can be understood, a detailed description of the invention may be had by reference to certain embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the drawings illustrate only certain embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the scope of the invention encompasses other equally effective embodiments. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis generally being placed upon illustrating the features of certain embodiments of the invention. In the drawings, like numerals are used to indicate like parts throughout the various views. Thus, for further understanding of the invention, reference can be made to the following detailed description, read in connection with the drawings in which:.

<FIG> illustrates an integrated active ultrasonic probe <NUM>. In one embodiment, the integrated active ultrasonic probe <NUM> comprises an array <NUM> of ultrasonic transducers <NUM> each electrically connected to a transmitter and receiver circuit <NUM>. The transmitter portion of the transmitter and receiver circuits <NUM> each comprise a pulser <NUM> that transmits electrical pulses to a connected one of the ultrasonic transducers <NUM>. The pulsers <NUM> generate electrical pulses coordinated by control circuit <NUM> and buffered in transmitter delay circuits <NUM>, including delays for controlling beam steering.

The receiver portion of the transmitter and receiver circuits <NUM> comprises an amplifier <NUM> and receiver delay <NUM> for receiving ultrasonic echoes detected by one of the connected ultrasonic transducers <NUM>. In addition to controlling transmitter signals to the ultrasonic transducers <NUM>, control circuit <NUM> sums the received echo data from all the transmitter and receiver circuits <NUM> connected to it, using receiver delay circuits <NUM>, as part of a beam forming calculation process, and transmits the processed echo data to analog-to-digital (A/D) converter <NUM> over an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) output port <NUM>. Each ASIC <NUM> comprises an ASIC output port <NUM> connected to an A/D converter <NUM> for digitizing the ASIC output which can include A-scan data. A plurality of transmitter and receiver circuits <NUM>, and a control circuit <NUM>, are fabricated on a single ASIC <NUM> having an ASIC output port <NUM>. Thus, the beam formation is executed on the ASIC <NUM> which is disposed in the integrated active ultrasonic probe <NUM>. By integrating the transmitter and receiver circuits <NUM> directly onto the ASIC <NUM> in the integrated active ultrasonic probe <NUM>, the signal-to-noise ratios are improved due to the shorter electrical connection as compared to the conventional longer cable connections as described above.

A digital control unit <NUM>, comprised of, for example, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), comprises an ASIC data interface <NUM> for communicating control data to the ASICs <NUM> and is connected to the A/D converters <NUM> for receiving the A/D converted data. The control unit <NUM> includes a digital interface <NUM> output. Such an interface can include, for example, a standard interface such as a USB interface, PCIe interface, WLAN interface, or Ethernet interface, to communicate with a connected generic processing unit <NUM> such as a tablet computer <NUM>, a laptop computer <NUM>, or a PC/workstation computer <NUM>. The control unit <NUM> controls the different functions of the integrated active ultrasonic probe <NUM> and the ASICs <NUM>. In one embodiment, four ASICs <NUM> are connected to the control unit <NUM>, with each ASIC <NUM> typically connected to about thirty two ultrasonic transducers <NUM>. This configuration of ultrasonic transducers <NUM> can be mounted within the integrated active ultrasonic probe <NUM>.

The digital control unit <NUM> implements the standard digital interface <NUM> using digital transmission over a cable, e.g. USB, PCIe, Ethernet, or over a wireless interface, e.g., WLAN, for data transmission to the processing unit <NUM>. The alternative wireless implementation uses battery <NUM> that provides power for wireless digital transmission via antenna <NUM>. The data received from A/D converter <NUM> and processed by control unit <NUM> is typically clipped to <NUM> bit width before it is transmitted to the processing unit <NUM> over the standard digital interface <NUM>.

The scheme for interrogating a test object is generated in probe control unit <NUM> and sent to the control circuit <NUM> in the form of a programmed beam steering operation. The interrogation scheme is stored, for example, in probe memory <NUM>. The scheme might comprise, for example, a series of ultrasonic beams directed at the test object at particular angles wherein each beam in the series is slightly shifted by a predetermined number of degrees for a complete scan of the test object. Although the integrated active ultrasonic probe <NUM> is illustrated and described as a phased array probe, it should be noted that the integrated active ultrasonic probe <NUM> can include a single ASIC <NUM> with multiple connected ultrasonic transducers <NUM>.

As shown in <FIG> the processing unit <NUM> can comprise any of several embodiments. The processing unit <NUM> can include a tablet computer <NUM>, a laptop computer <NUM>, or a PC/workstation computer <NUM>. A peripheral digital interface <NUM>, can connect the integrated active ultrasonic probe <NUM> to processing unit <NUM> for managing control and data communications between the processing unit <NUM> and the integrated active ultrasonic probe <NUM> or other components. The digital interface <NUM> can include, for example, a standard USB interface, Ethernet interface, or PCIe interface, or a wireless, e.g., WLAN or Bluetooth interface. Software installed on generic processing unit <NUM> enables controlled operation of integrated active ultrasonic probe <NUM> via a user interface. The software can be scaled in complexity to conform to the integrated active ultrasonic probe <NUM> hardware, for example, the number of transducers <NUM> mounted in the active ultrasonic probe <NUM>. Control data sent from processing unit <NUM> to the integrated active ultrasonic probe <NUM> can include configuration set up, mode selection, and initialization data. Processing unit <NUM> includes one or more processor(s) <NUM>, for running system software and controlling system operations, and processing unit memory <NUM> coupled to processor <NUM>. Computer program instructions (executable instructions) can be stored in processing unit memory <NUM> or otherwise available to be executed by the processor <NUM> such as by downloading from a network. Processing unit <NUM> comprises a display screen <NUM> for a user to view system operations, user interface, and integrated active ultrasonic probe <NUM> inspection results. The processing unit <NUM> receives A-scan summation data generated by the control unit <NUM> of the integrated active ultrasonic probe <NUM>. The received A-scan data are typically processed via scan conversion and decimation, after which they are displayed on an x-y graph with, for example, depth on the y-axis and distance from the transducer <NUM> on the x-axis, or with amplitude on the y-axis and time of flight on the x-axis. These displayed data form the signature of a potential anomaly and are typically stored in processing unit memory <NUM> and post processed to provide additional views for the operator to assist in determining if an anomaly is truly a defect or not. The processing unit <NUM> includes a power supply <NUM>, connected to an external AC voltage or provided by a portable power source such as a battery.

<FIG> illustrates a method <NUM> of processing data transmitted from the integrated active ultrasonic probe <NUM>. After receiving the data output <NUM> from the integrated active ultrasonic probe <NUM>, the first step in the processing unit <NUM> comprises a scan conversion <NUM> and a down sampling decimation step <NUM> for enabling the data to be displayed on display screen <NUM> of processing unit <NUM> with maximum resolution according to its display rate. Scan conversion <NUM> calculates an image from the beam formation data while decimation limits the sampling rate to about <NUM> samples per beam. Afterwards the scan converted and decimated data is calculated and combined into a volume <NUM>, which is then rendered and displayed <NUM> on display screen <NUM>. The data transmission between the integrated active ultrasonic probe <NUM> and the processing unit <NUM> can implement a format where one data frame, i.e. one set of beams, is combined into one block for transmission to the processing unit <NUM>. It should be noted that other methods of processing ultrasonic echo data output by the integrated active ultrasonic probe <NUM> can be implemented in the processing unit <NUM>.

In view of the foregoing, embodiments of the invention combine an integrated active ultrasonic probe <NUM> with a compatible digital interface <NUM>, e.g. a standard USB, PCIe, Ethernet, WLAN, or Bluetooth. A technical effect is improvement to the signal-to-noise ratio that is realized, as the transmitter and receiver for the ultrasonic signals is directly connected to the integrated active ultrasonic probe <NUM>, at a distance of less than about <NUM>. It simplifies the connection between the integrated active ultrasonic probe <NUM> and the processing unit <NUM> due to bulky cables being replaced with standard digital interface <NUM> cables. With the standard digital interface <NUM> any commercially available processing unit <NUM> can be used with integrated active ultrasonic probe <NUM>.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the present invention may be embodied as a system, method, or computer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.), or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a "circuit," "circuitry," "unit," and/or "system.

Program code and/or executable instructions embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer (device), partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention.

Claim 1:
An ultrasonic probe (<NUM>) for emitting ultrasonic energy toward a test object and for receiving echo data generated thereby, the ultrasonic probe (<NUM>) comprising:
a plurality of ultrasonic transducers (<NUM>);
an integrated circuit (<NUM>) connected to the plurality of ultrasonic transducers (<NUM>), the integrated circuit comprising:
a plurality of transmitter and receiver circuits (<NUM>), the plurality of transmitter and receiver circuits (<NUM>) each generating electrical signals transmitted to one of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers (<NUM>) for causing ultrasonic energy to be emitted therefrom, and each receiving the echo data detected by the one of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers (<NUM>); and
a control circuit (<NUM>) connected to the plurality of transmitter and receiver circuits (<NUM>) for controlling the transmission of the electrical signals to the plurality of ultrasonic transducers (<NUM>) and for processing the received echo data detected by the plurality of ultrasonic transducers (<NUM>) to form processed echo data including summing the received echo data from all the transmitter and receiver circuits (<NUM>) connected to it using receiver delay circuits (<NUM>) as part of a beam forming calculation process;
the plurality of transmitter and receiver circuits (<NUM>) and the control circuit (<NUM>) being fabricated on the single integrated circuit (<NUM>);
an analog-to-digital converter (<NUM>) connected to the integrated circuit (<NUM>) for digitizing the processed echo data;
a control unit (<NUM>) connected to the analog-to-digital converter (<NUM>) and receiving the digitized processed echo data for processing it into A-scan summation data; and
a digital interface (<NUM>) connected to the control unit (<NUM>) for transmitting the A-scan summation data.