• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics A
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• v.32A no.11
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• pp.9-16
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• 1995

In this paper, an ultrasonic phased array transducer with spherical liquid lens, which utilizes both electronic focusing by linear phased array and variable geometric focusing by spherical lens. is investigated. This system reduces the elevational beamwidth which is disadvantage of the 1-dimensional linear phased array, and adds real-time dynamic focusing capability by controlling the volume of liquid in the lens. A prototype of this transducer is constructed and tested. The experimental results are compared with those of computer simulations. The range of applications are in the hyperthermia applicators or ultrasonic image system with narrow beam and rapid scanning characterisitcs.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.299-306
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• 2015

A conventional phased array system can control an ultrasonic beam electronically by adjusting the excitation time delay of individual elements in a multi-element probe and produce an ultrasonic image. In Contrast, full matrix capture (FMC) is a data acquisition process that allows receiving ultrasonic signals from one single shot of the phased array transducer element through all the other elements and captures the complete dataset from every possible transmit-receive combination. This FMC data can be used to create the ultrasonic image in post processing. It is possible to produce not only images equivalent to conventional phased array image but also total focusing method (TFM) images with improved resolution and sharpness, which is virtually focused at any point in a region of interest. In this paper, the system that can perform FMC by using a conventional phased array instrument is developed, and a study was conducted on the imaging algorithms to reconstruct sector B-scan and TFM images from FMC dataset.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.550-556
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• 2009

In an application of a time reversal(TR) focusing of array transducer on a defect inside the test material, we employ a new time delay focusing technique based the TR process. In order to realize this idea, a multi-channel ultrasonic system is constructed capable of applying necessary time delays to each channel. The TR-based focusing procedure first measures the backscattered signals after firing one of the array elements. A phase slope method is then used to determine the time-of-flights of the backscattered signals received by all elements of the array. These time delays are used to adjust the time of excitation of the elements for transmission focusing on the defect. In addition to the TR focusing, the classical phased array focusing is also considered for comparison. Experimental results show that the TR-based time delay focusing produces much stronger backscattered signals than the phased array focusing, demonstrating the enhanced capability of the TR focusing.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.84-90
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• 2017

An ultrasonic synthetic aperture focusing technique (SAFT) using a root mean square (RMS) velocity model is proposed for pulse-echo immersion testing to improve the computational efficiency. Considering the immersion ultrasonic testing of a steel block as an example, three kinds of imaging were studied (B-Scan, SAFT imaging based on ray tracing technology and RMS velocity). The experimental results show that two kinds of SAFT imaging have almost the same imaging performance, while the efficiency of RMS velocity SAFT imaging is almost 25 times greater than the SAFT based on Snell's law.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.106-109
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• 2006

In this paper, the design and characteristics of a novel ultrasonic motor are investigated. Such a motor is appropriate far use in the optical zoom or auto focusing functions of the lens system in mobile phones. Its design and simulation of performances are carried out by FEM commercial software (ATILA). The shape of the motor is similar to a square without one side, on which an optical lens can be mounted. Two sheets of piezoelectric ceramics are adhered to both sides of two legs of the elastic body, respectively To drive the ultrasonic motor, the voltage is applied to two sheets of piezoelectric ceramics bonded to one leg. The rotation direction can be easily changed by switching the piezoelectric sheets bonded to the other leg, to which voltage is applied. A proto type of the motor is fabricated and its outer size is $10^*10^*2[mm3]$ including the camera lens of which the diameter is 7.5(mm). Its power consumption is about 0.3[W] and the speed of rotation is adjustable from 10 to 200[rpm] according to the applied voltage

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.228-231
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• 2015

Ultrasonic motors provide high torques and quick responses compared to their magnetic counterparts; therefore, they are widely used in small-scale applications such as mobile phones, microrobots, and auto-focusing modules in digital cameras. To determine the feasibility of lead-free piezoceramics for ultrasonic motor applications, we fabricated a ring-type piezoceramic with a KNN-based lead-free piezoceramic (referred to as CZ5), intended for use in an auto-focusing module of a digital camera. The vibration of the lead-free stator was observed at 45.1 kHz. It is noteworthy that the fully assembled lead-free ultrasonic motor exhibited a revolution speed of 5-7 rpm, even though impedance matching with neighboring components was not considered. This result suggests that the tested KNN-based piezoceramic has great potential for use in ultrasonic motor applications, requiring minimal modifications to existing lead-based systems.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.13-20
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• 2017

A conventional phased array ultrasonic system offers the ability to steer an ultrasonic beam by applying independent time delays of individual elements in the array and produce an ultrasonic image. In contrast, full matrix capture (FMC) is a data acquisition process that collects a complete matrix of A-scans from every possible independent transmit-receive combination in a phased array transducer and makes it possible to reconstruct various images that cannot be produced by conventional phased array with the post processing as well as images equivalent to a conventional phased array image. In this paper, a basic algorithm based on the LLL mode total focusing method (TFM) that can image crack type flaws is described. And this technique was applied to reconstruct flaw images from the FMC dataset obtained from the experiments and ultrasonic simulation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.531-537
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• 2008

One of the fundamental features of time reversal acoustic (TRA) techniques is the ability to focus the propagating ultrasonic beam to a specific point within the test material. Therefore, it is important to understand the focusing properties of a TR device in many applications including nondestructive testing. In this paper, we employ an analytical scheme for the analysis of TR beam focusing in a homogeneous medium. More specifically, a nonparaxial multi-Gaussian beam (NMGB) model is used to simulate the focusing behavior of array transducers composed of multiple rectangular elements. The NMGB model is found to generate accurate beam fields beyond the nonparaxial region. Two different simulation cases are considered here for the focal points specified on and off from the central axis of the array transducer. The simulation results show that the focal spot size increases with increasing focal length and focal angle. Furthermore, the maximum velocity amplitude does not always coincide with the specified focal point. Simulation results for the off-axis focusing cases do demonstrate the accurate steering capability of the TR focusing.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.24 no.4 s.175
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• pp.972-981
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• 2000

The phased array transducer has two distinct advantages. One is rapid scanning comparing with the conventional mechanical or manual scanning system. Therefore, output image is represented in real-time. The other is the dynamic focusing and the dynamic steering of ultrasonic beam. Only the delay times that are controlled electrically are used to focus and to steer beam without any lenses or wedges. In this study, the profile of the ultrasonic beam for the phased array transducer has been simulated in the Huygens principle with varying the inter-element spacing of the linear phased array transducer. From the result of this study, it was found that the ultrasonic beam spread wider as the inter-element spacing was decreased. However, the focusing effect was improved, even when the number of the element was not big. In addition, there was grating lobes that are constructed when the inter-element spacing is more than half wavelength. However, this grating lobe has lower amplitude than the main lobe.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.228-235
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• 2016

Flaws at dissimilar metal welds (DMWs), such as reactor coolant systems components, Control Rod Drive Mechanism (CRDM), Bottom Mounted Instrumentation (BMI) etc., in nuclear power plants have been found. Notably, primary water stress corrosion cracking (PWSCC) in the DMWs could cause significant reliability problems at nuclear power plants. Therefore, phased array ultrasound is widely used for inspecting surface break cracks and stress corrosion cracks in DMWs. However, inspection of DMWs using phased array ultrasound has a relatively low probability of detection of cracks, because the crystalline structure of welds causes distortion and splitting of the ultrasonic beams which propagates anisotropic medium. Therefore, advanced evaluation techniques of phased array ultrasound are needed for improvement in the probability of detection of flaws in DMWs. Thus, in this study, an investigation of focusing and steering phased array ultrasound in DMWs was carried out using a time reversal technique, and an adaptive focusing technique based on finite element method (FEM) simulation. Also, evaluation of focusing performance of three different focusing techniques was performed by comparing amplitude of phased array ultrasonic signals scattered from the targeted flaw with three different time delays.