Patent ID: 7328619

Claim:
An ultrasonic probe assembly suitable for detecting defects in material surrounding a fastener hole, the probe comprising: an array having a plurality of ultrasonic elements disposed circumferentially around an axis; at least one controller to drive the ultrasonic elements; a centering procedure to be used by the at least one controller for driving the plurality of ultrasonic elements to generate at least three probing beams directed at the material surrounding the fastener hole, said at least three probing beams providing information by reflection of the at least three probing beams into the ultrasonic elements to determine the location of the fastener hole center, said centering procedure corresponding to a first mode of operation; a set of focal laws defining a scanning procedure to be used by the at least one controller for driving the plurality of ultrasonic elements to generate at least two probing beams directed at the material surrounding the fastener hole, said at least two probing beams providing information by reflection of said at least two probing beams into the ultrasonic elements, said scanning procedure corresponding to a second mode of operation; a selector for selecting between the first and the second modes of operation; and an output to provide information resulting from the propagation of the at least three or two probing beams in the selected first or second mode of operation; and wherein selection of one mode of operation provides different information than selection of another mode of operation.