JPH0527080A - Ultrasonic wave signal processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To increase the image display speed and improve the image disolving power by collecting the ultrasonic echo signals in the square of the number of ultrasonic transducers in a single scan. CONSTITUTION:A transmitter 14 for transmitting pulse signals into a plurality of ultrasonic transducers 21-24, and a selecting circuit 13 for selecting the transmission instruction supplied from the transmitter 14 are installed. Signal amplifiers 41-44 are connected in a ratio of 1:1 with the supersonic transducers 22-24, and the signal amplifiers 41-44 are connected with A/D converters 31-34. The A/D converters 31-34 are connected with an image processing part 15, which is connected with a scan controller 12. The scan controller 12 is connected with a scan drive device 11, and the scan drive device 11 is connected with a scan mechanism 52 on which the ultrasonic transducers 21-24 are fixed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is for visual inspection of structural objects in a reactor vessel by scanning an ultrasonic transducer in opaque sodium in sodium in the reactor vessel of a fast breeder reactor. The present invention relates to an ultrasonic signal processing device used in a furnace inspection device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional inspection of a reactor vessel using an ultrasonic signal processing device, the sharpness of the directivity of the ultrasonic transducer is used to irradiate the ultrasonic beam in a spot-like shape while moving the ultrasonic transducer. An image of the object is reconstructed by collecting reflected echo signals from the object. In the conventional ultrasonic signal processing shoes, it is difficult to improve the resolution because the resolution of the reproduced image depends on the performance of the ultrasonic transducer. In addition, since the collection of ultrasonic signals also has a one-to-one correspondence with ultrasonic transducers, the number of signals to be collected is proportional to the number of ultrasonic transducers even if the number of ultrasonic transducers is increased. It was difficult to increase the playback speed of.

[0003]

The confirmation of the soundness of the structure inside the reactor vessel, particularly the structure inside the reactor vessel, is the most important inspection item. In addition, it is necessary to confirm the condition inside the reactor vessel at the time of an accident promptly and as accurately as possible. In addition, in order to inspect the inside of the reactor vessel, it is necessary to access all places inside the reactor vessel. For this purpose, access is performed avoiding the complicated structure installed in the reactor vessel. Will be needed.

However, in the conventional ultrasonic signal processing apparatus, it is difficult to improve the resolution because the resolution of the reproduced image depends on the performance of the ultrasonic transducer. Also,
Since the collection of ultrasonic signals also corresponds to the ultrasonic transducers one-to-one, even if there are multiple ultrasonic transducers, the signals to be collected are in proportion to the number of ultrasonic transducers, and the image reproduction speed is high. Was difficult to convert. For this reason, when inspecting the inside of a nuclear reactor with images by ultrasonic waves, it is a reprioritized task to increase the image display speed and improve the image resolution.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and can collect an ultrasonic echo signal that is the square of the number of ultrasonic transducers in one scan, thereby increasing the image display speed. Another object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic signal processing device capable of improving the image resolution.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a plurality of ultrasonic trusses for transmitting ultrasonic signals having a wide directivity angle to an object to be visualized and receiving ultrasonic echo signals from the object. A transmitter, a transmitter capable of giving a pulse signal to the plurality of ultrasonic transducers, a switching circuit for switching a transmission command from the transmitter to each of the ultrasonic transducers, and one-to-one correspondence with each of the ultrasonic transducers. Connected to the signal amplifier, and an A / T that receives the ultrasonic reception signal connected to the signal amplifier
The D converter and the acquisition timing of the A / D converter are controlled, and at the same time after the data acquisition is completed, the positions of the ultrasonic transducers in the two-dimensional direction are detected to make the ultrasonic transducers constant in the same plane. A scanning driving device having a function of scanning at intervals, a scanning control device for issuing a scanning command to the scanning driving device, a two-dimensional position signal of an ultrasonic transducer from the scanning driving device, and the A / D converter. A plurality of ultrasonic wave reception signals of the above, and the image processing unit that visualizes the object at high speed by spatially statistically processing the signal from each measurement point at the image reproduction point by covering the signal from each measurement point. And

[0007]

[Operation] A process in which a plurality of ultrasonic transducers for transmitting ultrasonic signals having a wide directivity angle to an object to be visualized are arranged at regular intervals, and the ultrasonic transducers simultaneously receive the transmission signals from one ultrasonic transducer. Are sequentially switched, and all transducers are performed. As a result, it is possible to collect ultrasonic echo signals that are the square of the number of ultrasonic transducers in one scan. In principle, the data can be collected for 1 / (the square of the number of ultrasonic transducers) of the data collection time when there is one ultrasonic transducer.

The number of collected ultrasonic echo signal data is N ^{2 when} the number of ultrasonic transducers is N, but some of them have the same path and the signal propagation directions are opposite. These are 1 / 2N as valid data by means of either averaging or not collecting.
It is possible to collect (N + 1) ultrasonic echo signals. FIG. 2A shows a comparison result of the principle between the conventional example and FIG. 2B.

2A and 2B, reference numeral 1 is an ultrasonic transducer fixed to the scanning mechanism 2, 3 is an ultrasonic echo signal, and 4 is a reflecting surface of the object 5. There is. In the conventional example, the collection of the ultrasonic signal has a one-to-one relationship with the ultrasonic transducer 1, but in the present invention, the ultrasonic echo signal 3 which is the square of the number of the ultrasonic transducer 1 can be collected by one scanning. ..

That is, the number of points to be scanned once can be reduced. Further, one or a plurality of D.S.T. S. P (Digital Signa
Image processing can be speeded up by creating a device that has an I Processor) and an auxiliary storage device. By the means described above, it is possible to speed up data collection and image reproduction processing, which are elements for speeding up image processing.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the ultrasonic signal processing device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, the ultrasonic transducers 21 to 24 are fixed to the scanning mechanism 2,
Each time the scanning mechanism 2 is moved by a constant value in the X direction by the scanning drive device 11 in accordance with a command from the scanning control device 12, the ultrasonic transducers 21 to 24 emit and receive ultrasonic waves in the following procedure.

First, the scanning control device 12 outputs a pulse signal to the switching circuit 13 and the image processing section 15 as a signal indicating that scanning has been completed, and the switching circuit 13 causes the scanning control device 12 to operate.
A transmission command is output to the oscillator 14 after the setting is completed in a state of selecting the ultrasonic transducer 1 according to the signal indicating that the scanning received from is completed.

The oscillator 14 subsequently emits a pulse signal, and the pulse signal emitted from the oscillator 14 is output to the ultrasonic transducer 1. The ultrasonic transducer transmits an ultrasonic signal having a wide directivity angle to the object 5, and ultrasonic echo signals reflected from the object 5 are received by the ultrasonic transducers 21-24.

The ultrasonic echo signals received by the ultrasonic transducers 21-24 are amplified by the signal amplifiers 41-44.
It is taken into the image processing unit 15 via the / D converters 31 to 34. Upon confirming that the ultrasonic echo signal has been captured, the image processing unit 15 immediately outputs a capture completion signal to the switching circuit 13. The switching circuit 13 then selects the second ultrasonic transducer, repeats the same procedure as above, and finally the ultrasonic echo signal from the Nth ultrasonic transducer is fetched by the image processing unit 15 so that the ultrasonic echo signal is output once. Complete the scan. With this one scan, 1 /
2 {N (N + 1)} data can be collected without moving the scanning mechanism.

The image processing section 15 outputs a signal indicating that the scanning is completed to the scanning control device 12, and the scanning control device 12 further moves the scanning mechanism 2 in the X direction by a constant value to perform the same scanning, This procedure is repeated in the X direction for a certain number of times (until the ultrasonic transducers 21 to 24 are moved by an interval) and then moved in the Y direction by a certain value, and the same scanning is performed in the X direction. Is repeated in the Y direction for a certain number of times to complete a series of all scans on the X and Y planes.

In the image processing unit 15, the signals obtained by the scanning in the above-mentioned embodiment are on the X and Y planes of the ultrasonic transducer position signals taken in from the scanning control device at the same time as the reception of a large amount of ultrasonic echo signals. The ultrasonic transducer position signal Z representing the position is stored in a pair, and all these signals are subjected to calculation processing in which the data on the coordinates for reproducing the image are back-calculated and overlapped. This processing is performed by one or more D. S. P
(Digital Signal Processor)
A large amount of ultrasonic echoes can be processed at high speed to reproduce an image of a signal target with high resolution and high speed.

[0017]

According to the present invention, a plurality of ultrasonic transducers for transmitting ultrasonic signals having a wide directional angle to an object to be visualized are arranged at regular intervals, and all the transmitting signals from one ultrasonic transducer are transmitted. By sequentially switching the processes simultaneously received by the ultrasonic transducers and performing the processing for all the transducers, it is possible to collect the ultrasonic echo signals of the square of the number of the ultrasonic transducers in one scan in one time. In addition, one or a plurality of D.I.D.s has one or more calculation procedures called spatial statistical processing in which an ultrasonic echo signal collected every time the ultrasonic transducer is scanned is used as an image reproduction point. S. P (Digital Signal
It is possible to provide an ultrasonic signal processing device capable of displaying an ultrasonic image having a high resolution at high speed by speeding up image reproduction processing by making a device having a Processor) and an auxiliary storage device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an ultrasonic signal processing device according to the present invention.

2A is a principle diagram showing a conventional example, and FIG. 2B is a principle diagram of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Ultrasonic transducer, 2 ... Scanning mechanism, 3 ... Ultrasonic echo signal, 4 ... Reflecting surface, 5 ... Object, 11 ... Scan drive device, 12 ... Scan control device, 13 ... Switching circuit, 14 ... Oscillator, 15 ... Signal processing unit, 21-24 ... Ultrasonic transducer, 31-34 ... A / D converter, 41-44 ... Signal amplifier, 51 ...
Object, Z ... Position signal of ultrasonic transducer.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Shoji Kurabayashi No.1 Toshiba-cho, Fuchu-shi, Tokyo Toshiba Corporation Fuchu factory

Claims (1)

Claim: What is claimed is: 1. A plurality of ultrasonic transducers for transmitting ultrasonic signals having a wide directivity angle to an object to be visualized and receiving ultrasonic echo signals from the object. A transmitter capable of giving a pulse signal to the plurality of ultrasonic transducers; a circuit for switching a transmission command from the transmitter to each of the ultrasonic transducers; and a one-to-one correspondence with each of the ultrasonic transducers. Connected to the signal amplifier, an A / D converter connected to the signal amplifier for receiving the ultrasonic wave reception signal, and the A / D converter.
Scan drive having a function of controlling the acquisition timing of the transducers and at the same time detecting the two-dimensional position of each of the ultrasonic transducers after the data acquisition is completed and scanning each of the ultrasonic transducers in the same plane at regular intervals. An apparatus, a scanning control device which issues a scanning command to the scanning drive device, a two-dimensional position signal of the ultrasonic transducer from the scanning drive device, and a plurality of ultrasonic reception signals from the A / D converter. An ultrasonic signal processing device, comprising: an image processing unit which captures a signal from each measurement point at a video reproduction point and spatially statistically processes it to visualize the object at high speed.