• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.227-233
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• 2011

The ultrasonic guided wave phased array using magnetostrictive patch transducers is proposed. The magnetostrictive transducer has received much attention because it is cost-effective and capable to generate ultrasonic waves with a simple configuration. However, it has not been used for ultrasonic guided wave phased array applications until now. In this paper, we propose a magnetostrictive transducer based phased array system consisting of a multi-channel function generator, power amplifiers and Lamb wave magnetostrictive transducers. To check the performance of the ultrasonic guided wave phased array, several Lamb wave focusing experiments were carried out in an aluminum plate. The results demonstrated the capability of the developed array to focus the Lamb waves at specific target points.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.207-216
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• 1999

A phased array is a multi-element piezoelectric device whose elements are individually excited by electric pulses at programmed delay time. One of the advantages of using phased array in nondestructive evaluation (NDE) application over conventional ultrasonic transducers is their great maneuverability of ultrasonic beam. There are some parameters such as the number and the size of the piezoelectric elements and the inter-element spacing of the elements to design phased array transducer. In this study, the characteristic of ultrasonic beam for phased array transducer due to the variation of the number of elements has been simulated for ultrasonic SH-wave on the basis of Huygen's principle. Ultrasonic beam directivity and focusing due to the change of time delay of each element were discussed due to the change of the number of piezoelectric elements. It was found that ultrasonic beam was much more spreaded and hence its sound pressure was decreased as steering angle of ultrasonic beam was increased. In addition, the ability of ultrasonic bean focusing decreased gradually with the increase of focal length at the same piezoelectric elements. However, the ability of beam focusing was improved as the number of consisting elements was increased.

• 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.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.8-14
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• 2013

Steam turbine blades and discs of nuclear power plants are one of the most highly stressed areas of turbine rotor, and periodic inspection of the blade roots is essential for monitoring integrity and preventing turbine failure. Ultrasonic technique is applied for volumetric inspection of blade root. However, the complexity of blade root geometry imposes challenges to inspection of blades and discs. Recently, phased array ultrasonic inspection technology is being applied to numerous power generation inspection applications including turbine rotor. The phased array ultrasonic technique requires customized inspection wedges which are generally necessary to generate effectively higher incident angle. But the usage of this wedge can cause access limitation for the lower stage blades of turbine because of the wedge front length. Therefore, the shear wave phased array probe which can generate high inspection angle without wedge is essentially necessary. In this study, feasibility study is conducted for the shear wave phased array ultrasonic probe application to blade and disc inspection. As results, the experimental results show that the shear wave phased array probe can detect the flaw and measure its size with reliable accuracy. Therefore if this shear wave phased array probe is applied to field inspection of blade and disc, more reliable inspection is expected for turbine having access limitation.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.137-146
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• 2019

The ultrasonic phased arrays are used for treating tumors in the human body by the focus control of the acoustic pressure at the desired position. The magnitude and phase of the surface acoustic pressure in each ultrasonic transducer is controlled by the magnitude and phase of the applied voltage to it. In this paper, the relationship between the applied voltage and the surface acoustic pressure of the ultrasound transducer is modelled, and the desired voltage is realized by PWM technique. The validity of the proposed method is verified by computer simulation of the focus control of a ultrasonic phased array composed of 61 ultrasonic transducers.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.123-130
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• 2014

An ultrasonic magnetostrictive transducer-based phased-array system for imaging defects in plate structures is newly proposed. In that most ultrasonic phased array systems rely on piezoelectric transducers or electromagnetic acoustic transducers, this system has its own unique feature of employing magnetostrictive transducers. Interest in using a phased array system using magnetostrictive transducers has been recently reported for pipe inspection but no such system has been developed for plate inspection. In this investigation, we aim to propose a phased array system using OL-MPTs (Omnidirectional Lamb wave Magnetostrictive Patch Transducers) for plate inspection. The developed system consists of a multi-channel function generator, power amplifiers, preamplifiers and a data acquisition unit. In the process of its development, each of the units must be checked and in doing so, we suggest types of ultrasonic wave experiments that should be carried out. Finally, the phased system using a transducer array composed of eight OL-MPTs is newly configured and is applied for actual crack detection experiments.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.467-474
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• 2005

The expanded multi-Gaussian beam model has recently been developed that can calculate the radiation beam field from a single, rectangular transducer with great computational efficiency. In this study, this model is adopted to calculate the radiation beam field for a phased array transducer with various time delays to achieve steering and/or focusing. The calculation beam fields are compared to those obtained by well known Rayleigh-Sommerfeld integral that provides the exact solution in order to explore the validity of the expanded multi-Gaussian beam model And then, this study proposes a complete ultrasonic measurement model including the expanded beam model, far-field scattering model and system efficiency, Using the proposed model, phased array ultrasonic testing signals for a flat-bottomed hole with/without focusing were performed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.185-191
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• 2012

Typically, a wedge is involved to generate effectively high inspection angle in pipe weld inspection using phased array ultrasonic technique. But the usage of this wedge for weld or access limited area can cause coverage limitation for the examination volume because of the wedge front length. Therefore, the shear wave phased array probe which can generate high inspection angle without wedge is essentially necessary. In this paper, the shear wave phased array ultrasonic probe which can generate high inspection angle designed by modeling and manufactured from the modelling result. And this shear wave probe tested whether it can detect and sizing for EDM test block that contains various depth. As results, the experimental results show that the designed shear wave phased array probe can detect and size with reliable accuracy. Therefore if this phased array probe apply in field inspection, it is expected that it show more reliable inspection result for plant structure having access limitation.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.416-423
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• 2009

The ultrasonic pressure fields for the 3 MHz linear phased array transducer with sixteen piezoelectric elements of which one may not be operated by defect were simulated theoretically and measured experimentally using a visualization system of the Schlieren method. The simulation results for steering angles of $0^{\circ}$ and $30^{\circ}$ show that the side-lobe patterns of the transducer including a defective element is quite different from the transducer with all normal elements, and those patterns are in good agreement with the results of visualization. It is shown that the defective elements in a linear array transducer can be detected by comparison of the simulated and the visualized side-lobe patterns in two dimensional acoustic fields.