Sumitomo Metal Industries, Inc.

Masatoshi Tomabechi

Hisao Yamaguchi

Toshio Shiraiwa

Shigeaki Matsumoto

Kimio Nakajima

Method and apparatus for automatic ultrasonic flaw detection of pipe welding zones wherein the width of the weld zone is divided into a plurality of subdivisions. The ultrasonic energy received from each of the subdivisions is displayed by employing multichannel gate circuitry providing respective outputs in units of 10% of the height of the echoes in each subdivision on a cathode ray tube in synchronization with signals representative of the longitudinal and lateral position of the probes along the pipe with respect to a reference point. The height of the defective echoes in each gate are printed together with the positions of the probe. The positions of the defects are diagrammed by a computer, thereby enabling high-speed data processing of the flaw detection information, a decrease in the time for the precise flaw detection comparable to conventional manual flaw detection method and apparatus and easy determination of the flaw detection results.

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Osaka, Japan

Masatoshi Tomabechi