公开(公告)号：US11549918B2

公开(公告)日：2023-01-10

申请号：US16164597

申请日：2018-10-18

Applicant: OLYMPUS AMERICA INC.

Inventor： Benjamin Spay ,  Simon Alain ,  Martin Dupuis ,  Sylvain Sauvageau ,  Francois Houde

IPC: G01N29/265 ,  G01N29/24 ,  G01N29/28 ,  G01N29/22

Abstract: An ultrasound probe assembly comprises a housing and a wedge, wherein wedges configured for pipes of different diameter may be easily interchanged in the assembly. Four wheels are attached to the housing, there being a front wheel pair and a rear wheel pair. Wheels of each pair are positioned on either side of a linear probe array, wherein the distance between wheels in each pair in a direction perpendicular to the array length is as small as possible. A position encoder monitors the position of the assembly during scanning, and a push lock switch is used to disable the encoder and the data acquisition while indexing to a new scan position on the pipe.

公开(公告)号：US10883970B2

公开(公告)日：2021-01-05

申请号：US16169050

申请日：2018-10-24

Applicant: OLYMPUS AMERICA INC.

Inventor： Benjamin Spay ,  Sylvain Sauvageau

IPC: G01N29/265 ,  G01N29/04 ,  G01N29/26 ,  G01N29/22 ,  G01N29/24

Abstract: An ultrasound scanner assembly for inspection of pipes and pipe elbows comprises a frame and a wedge. Four wheels are attached to the frame, there being a front wheel pair and a rear wheel pair. In order to maintain stable positioning of the probe assembly while scanning, the wheels are magnetic, thereby establishing a magnetic stabilizing force between the wheels and the pipe or pipe elbow. The magnetic stabilizing force is larger for pipes of small diameter than for pipes of large diameter.