Patent ID: 7987724

Claim:
An ultrasonic cross-sectional inspection method for inspecting a cross section of a test object using a transducer array comprised of a plurality of ultrasonic transducers arranged substantially in one dimension, the method comprising the steps of: transmitting ultrasonic waves from some or all of the ultrasonic transducers in the transducer array; receiving reflected waves generated by the transmitted ultrasonic waves using some or all of the ultrasonic transducers in the transducer array; converting the received signals into digital waveform signals; transforming the timing between the digitalized signal data received by each transducer element in at least one transducer group, which is comprised of a plurality of transducer elements selected from the transducer array, on the basis of the distances between the transducer element and spatially continuous focuses of receiving beam set to be formed in the test object; summing the timing-transformed signals received by transducer elements in the transducer group; and wherein plural transducer groups comprised of the plurality of transducer elements are selected from the transducer array, and summing is carried out for the plural ultrasonic transducer groups in parallel.