FPGA Embedded System Design of Multi-channel Guided Waves Ultrasonic Testing Instrument for Pipelines Inspection

摘要

Long range ultrasonic testing (LRUT) is an emerging non-destructive testing (NDT) ultrasound testing method.The LRUT technique uses low frequency ultrasonic guided waves to inspect plates and pipes efficiently for corrosion and other degradation.Increasing numbers of requirements for quick long range pipeline inspection have led to urgent need for improvement of testing methods and the development of new testing equipment to help the researchers in laboratory and help technicians in field inspection.The market for multi-channel ultrasonic instruments is characterized by small volumes of sales and a high ratio of development costs to sale price.The consequence is that the investment required to develop an instrument is significant and upgrades and other changes to instrument specification or configuration are difficult for many manufacturers to justify.These factors are particularly relevant for long range guided wave technology,where the technology is still relatively new in the market place and the instrumentation has different characteristics from other type of ultrasonic systems.In order to support the design and manufacture of the Teletest? FOCUS+ system,Plant Integrity Ltd has supported this study into the use of a fully programmable gate array (FPGA) based control circuits for the electronics,which allows the component count to be decreased and also permits the of the system to support future functions to be modified via flexible reconfiguration of the FPGA.This has benefits of reduction of size,weight and power consumption of the electronics and provides a means of upgrading the product without expensive re-design of hardware.