The real time analysis of the results from mechanized ultrasonic testing

A mechanized ultrasonic testing equipment has been built in the Technical Research Centre of Finland. The equipment can be used for ultrasonic testing of plates and pipes having a diameter in excess of 200 mm. A large computer program has been written for analyzing results and reporting. A micro/PDP-11 with 512 kbyte central memory, a 10 Mbyte Winchester disk and dual 700 kbyte diskettes have been selected for the computation and the operating system is RT11. Measurements were made with a four channel - computer controlled - ultrasonic device KB 6000. The communication between the computer and the KB 6000 occurs via an interface unit DRV11J. The reporting is made with microprocessor based matrix printer Genicom 3404 working in graphic mode. As a result A-, B- and C-figures are produced from the inspected volume. From these figures two projections of the reflectors as well as the amplitude can be seen. The inspection parameters are also included. Afterwards the results can be reanalyzed from data stored on disc and for example, an other reporting level can be used. In the case of four transducers two figures are printed out. The results from the opposite transducers are printed in the same figure. The measurements are coordinated using interrupt signals produced by the independent controller of the manipulator. Subroutines for giving the initial values of the program and helpful hints for the user are included in the program. With the graphic monitor VT240 one can get an image of the weld to be tested including the position of transducers, their scanning movement and of the volume to be inspected. There are also programs to be used for inspecting the base material