Patent ID: 8037763

Claim:
A rail inspection device [ 1000 ] for inspecting internal volumes of an elongated object [ 10 ] for defects, the elongated object 10 extending in a horizontal “z” direction with a vertical direction being a “y” direction and a direction perpendicular to both the “y” and “z” directions, being the “x” direction and for providing the information to a calculation device [ 1500 ], comprising: a central ultrasonic (US) probe [ 1330 ] for transmitting at least one US beam [B] through said elongated object [ 10 ], for receiving a reflected signal, and for providing the signal to said calculation device [ 1500 ]; at least one angled US probe [ 1310 ] for transmitting at least one US beam [A 1 -A 5 ] through the elongated object [ 10 ] at an oblique angle within an y, z, plane which intersects with the beam [B] from the central US probe [ 1330 ], and adapted to receive reflected signals from the same oblique angle, and for providing the signal to said calculation device [ 1500 ]; an encoder [ 1380 ] adapted to identify a location of the US probes [ 1330 ] and [ 1310 ] along the elongated object [ 10 ] as the reflected signals are received and for pairing the locations of the probes corresponding to the received signals and for providing this information to the calculation device [ 1500 ] to identify locations of the defects [ 19 , 21 ] within the elongated object [ 10 ].