New-Generation Portable Phased Array Systems: Benefits of Enhanced Computing Power to Efficient Inspections

摘要

Moore's law states that computer power doubles every 18 months. This exponential improvement has dramatically enhanced the impact of digital electronics in nearly every segment of the world economy. It also applies to the nondestructive testing industry. The first generation of portable phased array UT systems has hit the market in the early 2000s. The massive adoption of these devices has been a game-changer for ultrasonic inspections of critical components in oil and gas, aerospace, heavy industry and power generation plants. Given their relatively low computing power, operators have learned to deal with the intrinsic limitations of the older portable PA systems to a point where it has became normal to limit the number of focal laws, the data quality and or the data file size. Also, creating transmit-receive configurations, e.g. for inspection of austenitic material, is in most cases very inconvenient to do. This paper will show how enhanced computing power of new-generation portable phased array UT systems allows breaking the barriers to truly efficient data acquisition. In particular, we will explain through representative user cases how more focal laws, more amplitude resolution, larger data file size and easy transmit-receive setup creation allow more efficient inspections.