Southwest Research Institute

Federal-mogul World Wide, Inc.

Clock Spring Company, L.p.

Todd Hegert Goyen

Gary Lane Burkhardt

Albert Joseph Parvin, Jr

Alfred Eugene Crouch

Robert E Martinez

Stephen Anthony Cerwin

Ronald Herbert Peterson

Richard Franklin Tennis

Shawn Michael Laughlin

Jack Nunes

Patrick C Porter

The present disclosure relates to a device and method for pipeline inspection, The inspection device may include an exciter coil capable of providing an alternating current magnetic field and producing eddy currents. A plurality of sensors may then be provided which are capable of sensing a magnetic field produced by the eddy currents and the sensors may be engaged with a sensor shoe. The sensors may then be capable of being positioned at a first distance Dwith respect to an inner pipe wall surface and capable of providing coupling to the magnetic field produced by the eddy currents. The sensor shoe may also be capable of retracting to a second distance D, wherein D&#x3c;D. The sensor shoe may be connected to a sensor support arm wherein the support arm may be pivotably attached to a fixed hub and to a control arm which control arm may then be pivotably attached to a driven hub.

Pipeline inspection using variable-diameter remote-field eddy current technology

A system for mapping a surface defect in an electrically-conducting material by measuring a change in the resonance of the material includes a flexible printed circuit board and a two dimensional array of transducers printed on the flexible circuit board, wherein each element of the array includes two transducer coils in a paired arrangement. A receive circuit connected to the coils is tuned to a resonant frequency, and the transducer coils operate in a send/receive mode. In another feature of the invention, there are means for converting a change in measured resonance to a visual display of the depth and width of the surface defect.

System and method for producing color contour maps of surface defects of high pressure pipelines

The invention provides a sensor assembly which can sense human tissue in a protected area of a machine. An emitter plate and a plurality of sensor plates are disposed co-planar to each other and adjacent to the protected area of the machine. An electric field is generated between the emitter plate and the sensor plates and directed towards the protected area. The sensor plates produce electrical signals corresponding to the electric field received at the sensor plate. The electrical signals are amplified, measures, and analyzed to determine if human tissue is within the protected area. If human tissue is detected, a machine interface circuit will shut down the machine to prevent injury.

Sensor assembly and sensing system for sensing human tissue in a protected area of a machine

The present disclosure relates to a variable diameter electromagnetic coil. The coil may include a coil winding containing inner and outer winding layers. The coil may incorporate a first hub including one or a plurality of inner supports, one of the inner supports connected to a location on the inner winding layer. A second hub may then be provided including one or a plurality of outer supports, one of the outer supports connected to a location on the outer winding layer. One of the first or second hubs may be capable of rotating to cause the coil winding to wind or unwind. An interconnect hub may then be provided which may be capable of providing electrical connection to the coil winding.

Variable-diameter electromagnetic coil

Methods and systems are described for efficiently detecting an object. The system includes at least one electrode for measuring a displacement current. The at least one electrode is coupled to a floating ground configuration provided by an op-amp, where the inverting node of the op-amp is coupled to electrode and the non-inverting node is coupled to a signal generator. The system may include a single capacitance sensor for detecting an object. Systems may include a plurality of capacitance sensors in an array configuration for detecting an object.

Growing community of inventors

San Antonio, TX, United States of America

Todd Hegert Goyen