System for non-destructively acquiring and processing information about

Abstract

A system for non-destructively acquiring and processing information about a test piece includes an array of ultrasonic transducers each adapted to transmit ultrasonic energy into the test piece and to receive ultrasonic energy transmitted back thereto to produce a response signal capable of representing deviation from the expected condition of the test piece. The transducers are mounted on a carriage to be transported relative to the test piece and a transducer control sequentially pulses the transducers while so transported to ultrasonically inspect the test piece and produce a set of response signals representing the inspection. A plurality of transducer monitors, one for each transducer, sequentially monitor each of the response signals and an analogue-to-digital converter converts each monitored response signal to a single set of digital data. A digital preprocessing subsystem compresses each single set of digital data for subsequent processing by the system and includes a digital peak detector for identifying the subset of data in each single set of data having maximum points of inflection. A threshold datum generator produces a digital threshold datum representative of acceptable background noise characteristic of each of the response signals. A digital threshold computer compares the maximum data and the threshold datum and a digital multiplexor transmits only the maximum data of each single set of data that is greater than the threshold datum to a memory for subsequent processing by the system.