The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 19, 1988
Filed:
Nov. 06, 1987
Lawrence D Nottingham, Charlotte, NC (US);
Thomas E Michaels, Freeville, NY (US);
Jennifer E Michaels, Freeville, NY (US);
Westinghouse Electric Corp., Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Abstract
An immersion based ultrasonic inspection system is disclosed which is used to interrogate the bore and near bore material of turbine and generator rotors by passing ultrasonic search units through the rotor bore. This system utilizes variable focus array inspection transducers in a shear mode inspection of the near bore material. A ranging transducer is provided which is used to correct the surface time of the inspection beam. A mapping transducer and blind bore sensor allow diameter mapping of the rotor bore as well as a blind rotor end sensing as the scan head carrying the transducers enters the bore. A scan head centering device or chuck deploys four radial arms to center and support the scan head. Each arm has a roller attached to the end which contacts the bore and rolls along so that the bore will not be damaged as the scan head passes through the bore. The chuck is driven by an electric motor and coupled to a resolver allowing the chuck to be adjusted according to bore geometry mapped by the mapping transducer. The chuck includes a pneumatic disengagement device for fail-safe disengagement of the centering arms to allow retrieval of the scan head in the event of motor or wiring failure. The chuck also includes cable pathways for control cables for the various scan head motion axes. An inspection transducer carriage is provided that provides three axes of motion to the inspection transducer. A radial motion is provided by two radial support assemblies driven by an electric motor and coupled to a resolver allowing radial position to be accurately determined.