Transceiver Rotating Field Nondestructive Inspection Probe

Executive Summary

Eddy Current Testing (ECT) is a method for in-situ determination of defects in conductive materials.  A particular issue of interest to industry is the inspection of tubular goods. Current bobbin coils probes are not suitable for detecting circumferential defects in tubes. Rotating probe lift-off could obscure defects. There is a need for a fast, robust, highly efficient nondestructive inspection probe, which avoids the limitations of the current art.

Description of Technology

Michigan State University has developed a fast, robust, highly efficient way to construct a tube inspection probe, which avoids the need for a mechanically rotating control system. The rotating inspection probe allows users to measure defects in the circumferential and axial directions with speed and precision. It also allows for rotation of the system without any parts moving, which reduces the wear and tear of the probe. The probe is relatively insensitive to lift off, which allows for high speed scanning of defects, reduces the cost of the inspection probe, and increases the performance of the probe.

Key Benefits

• Better performance – The probe is sensitive to cracks in all directions and less susceptible to noise compared to the current methods
• Faster – The rotating magnetic field probe scans defects 5x faster than probes on the market
• Cheaper – The probe is 20% to 30%  less expensive

Applications

• Pipelines - ECT is a highly effective technique for detection of cracks

Patent Status:

Patent application published, no. 20160282307

Licensing Rights Available

Full licensing rights available

Inventors: Satish Udpa, Lalita Udpa, Chaofeng Ye

Tech ID: TEC2015-0027