Patent ID: 7171854

Claim:
A nondestructive inspection apparatus using a guided wave, comprising: waveform forming means for forming a transmission waveform by employing a reference waveform; a transmitting element for generating a guided wave within an object under inspection based upon said transmission waveform; a receiving element for receiving a reflection wave of said guided wave from an inspection region of said object under inspection; analyzing means for outputting inspection information which is acquired based upon the reception waveform of said reflection wave received by said receiving element; and display means for displaying thereon said inspection information, wherein said waveform forming means further comprises: means for computing a calculated waveform from said reference waveform which propagates as said guided wave over a total distance between said transmitting element and said inspection region and between said inspection region and said receiving element; and means for forming the transmission waveform by applying time-inversion to said calculated waveform.