JPH0540873U - Ultrasonic probe holding device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] An ultrasonic probe is rotated around a test material to scan the peripheral surface to improve acoustic coupling with the test material in online defect detection. A probe which is composed of an inner cylinder body 1 and an outer cylinder body 2 which is crowned from the outside to form a water chamber 3 between the inner cylinder body 1 and the inner cylinder body 1 and which is rotationally driven by a driving means. It has a tentacle holder 10. Then, a water supply port 12 for introducing an acoustic coupling agent into the water chamber 3 is formed in the probe holder 10, and an ultrasonic probe 8 having a nozzle 16 forming an ultrasonic wave propagation path is formed in the probe holder 10. The nozzle 16 is attached in a state where the nozzle 16 penetrates the water chamber 3 and the tip of the nozzle 16 is fitted into the inner cylinder 1.
The tip of the nozzle 16 opens to the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylindrical body 1 and communicates with the water chamber 3 through the communication port 17.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to an ultrasonic probe holding device, and more specifically, to an ultrasonic probe holding device that rotates an ultrasonic probe around a test material such as a pipe or a round bar that is conveyed on a line. The present invention relates to an ultrasonic probe holding device of a system of helically scanning a peripheral surface.

[0002]

[Background technology]

 A conventional example of this type of ultrasonic probe holding device is shown in FIG. In this figure, an inner cylindrical body 21 having an inner diameter somewhat larger than that of a test material 30 made of a round bar and a water chamber between the inner cylindrical body 21 and the inner cylindrical body 21 which is crowned from the outside. The probe holder 20 is composed of the outer cylindrical body 22 forming 23. Of these, as shown in the drawing, the ultrasonic probe 24 is attached to and held on the peripheral surface of the outer cylindrical body 22 in a direction (radial direction) directly intersecting with the peripheral surface at a position forming an angle of 180 degrees with each other. Has been done. A flange portion 22A is provided in the vicinity of the right end surface of the outer cylindrical body 22 in the drawing, and water as an acoustic coupling agent is sent from the outside into the water chamber 23 at the upper end portion of the flange portion 22A in the drawing. A water supply port 22B for inserting the water is provided. On the other hand, on the peripheral surface of the inner cylindrical body 21, water passages 25 are provided at positions ahead of the ultrasonic wave propagation direction of an ultrasonic transducer (not shown) that constitutes the ultrasonic probe 24. Further, both end portions of the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylindrical body 21 are chamfered in a tapered shape as shown in the drawing, which facilitates insertion of the test material 30 into the probe holder 20. This is so that the water that has flowed out to the test material side through the water passage port 25 can be efficiently discharged to the outside. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 26 indicates a bolt that connects the inner cylindrical body 21 and the outer cylindrical body 22.

According to the conventional ultrasonic probe holding device configured as described above, the ultrasonic holder is rotated from the outside into the water chamber 23 via the water supply port 22B while the probe holder 20 is rotationally driven by the driving means (not shown). When water used for acoustic coupling of sound wave propagation is fed, this water flows out to the test material 30 side through the water passage port 25, and a water column indicated by the reference numeral WP in the figure is formed. The ultrasonic wave radiated (transmitted) from the sound wave oscillator into the water chamber 23 is transmitted to the surface of the test material 30 through the water column WP, is reflected by the surface, and the reflected ultrasonic wave is similarly. It is transmitted to the ultrasonic probe 24 via the water column WP and received by the ultrasonic transducer inside the ultrasonic probe 24. In this way, helical scanning and detection of minute defects are performed over the entire peripheral surface of the material 30 to be inspected traveling on the transport line.

[0004]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 In the ultrasonic probe holding device as described above, ultrasonic waves are radiated into the water chamber 23 from the ultrasonic probe 24 held by the outer cylindrical body 22 of the probe holder 20, The ultrasonic waves reflected from the vicinity of the water passage 25 of the cylindrical body 21 may generate multiple reflections with the ultrasonic probe 24, and these adversely affect the defect detection as coarse echo, that is, the radiation ( Since a part of the transmitted ultrasonic wave is reflected as described above, the ultrasonic wave transmitted to the test material 30 is transmitted through the water column WP formed between the water passage 25 and the test material 30. As a result, the level decreases, and the level of the reflected signal from the defect also decreases, making accurate detection of minute defects extremely difficult. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the level of the ultrasonic waves reaching the test material 30, and as a means therefor, it is conceivable to increase the size of the water passage 25. In this case, in this case, the probe holder 20 When rotating at a high speed, the formation of the acoustically coupled water column WP formed between the water passage 25 and the test material 30 is hindered by the action of the centrifugal force, so that the water column WP is sufficiently formed. However, even if the height is set appropriately, increasing the size of the water inlet 25 will increase the outflow rate and increase the pressure in the water chamber. Since it becomes difficult and the centrifugal force increases as the rotation speed increases, it becomes more difficult to form the water column WP correctly, which prevents the ultrasonic waves from being transmitted to the material 30 to be detected, which in turn enables accurate detection of defects. Almost nothing There is a disadvantage that the function. Further, even when the amount of eccentricity of the test material 30 is large, it is considered that the same state as above is exhibited due to the influence of the centrifugal force. Therefore, the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylindrical body 21 and the outer peripheral surface of the test material 30 are considered. However, there is a problem in that the gap between the test material 30 and the roundness and straightness of the test material 30 and the swing amount of the shaft core during transportation must be strictly controlled.

[0005]

[The purpose of the device]

 The object of the present invention is to improve the disadvantages of the prior art, and in particular, even when the rotation speed of the ultrasonic probe rotating around the test material is increased, the ultrasonic probe and the It is an object of the present invention to provide an ultrasonic probe holding device capable of forming a stable water column between a material to be inspected and accurately detecting minute defects and measuring the wall thickness.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 The ultrasonic probe holding device of the present invention includes an inner cylindrical body having an inner diameter somewhat larger than that of a test material such as a round bar and an inner cylindrical body externally crowned to the inner cylindrical body. In addition, it has a probe holder which is composed of an outer cylinder forming a binder accommodating chamber and is rotationally driven by a driving means. Then, a binder inlet for introducing the acoustic binder into the binder storage chamber is formed in a part of the probe holder, and one or more ultrasonic probes are held in the probe holder. Each probe is composed of a main body that contains an ultrasonic transducer that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves, and a nozzle block that is provided at the tip of the main body and that forms an ultrasonic wave propagation path. The ultrasonic probe is attached to the probe holder with the tip of the penetrating chamber contained and fitted into the inner cylinder, and the tip of the nozzle block opens to the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder. A nozzle that communicates with the binder storage chamber through the communication port is provided. With such a configuration, the above-mentioned object is to be achieved.

[0007]

[Action]

 According to the present invention, the probe holder, which holds the ultrasonic probe around the pipe material or the round bar material to be conveyed, is rotationally driven at a high speed by the driving means, and as a result, the helical circumference is applied to the entire circumference of the test material. The scan is performed. During this helical scan, pressurized water can be used as an acoustic binder, and this pressurized water is sent from the outside into the binder storage chamber via the binder inlet, and this sent pressurized water is passed through the communication port. It is sent into the nozzle and discharged from the opening end of the nozzle tip toward the surface of the subject. As a result, a water column is formed by the pressurized water inside the nozzle and between the nozzle and the subject, and the water column portion formed between the nozzle and the subject is at its height (the size of the gap between the nozzle tip and the subject). ) Can be made small, and even if centrifugal force acts, it is hardly affected and a stable water column is formed.

[0008]

【Example】

 Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the main part of an ultrasonic probe holding device according to an embodiment of the present invention, with the upper half of the drawing being cross-sectioned. In this figure, a binder accommodating chamber is provided between an inner cylindrical body 1 having an inner diameter somewhat larger than that of a test material 30 made of a round bar, and the inner cylindrical body 1 being externally capped with the inner cylindrical body 1. The outer cylindrical body 2 forming the water chamber 3 serves as a probe holder 10 having an external appearance shown in the lower half of FIG. Although not shown here, the probe holder 10 is actually driven to rotate by a known driving means (not shown).

More specifically, the inner cylindrical body 1 includes a cylindrical member 4 having a flange portion 4A at one end (right end in FIG. 1) and a boss portion 5A fitted to the cylindrical member 4. 1 and a doughnut-shaped plate member 5 formed on the right end surface of 1. The outer cylindrical body 2 is also provided with a flange portion 6A at one end (the right end in FIG. 1) and has an octagonal columnar member 6 (see FIG. 2) having a circular inner peripheral portion having a diameter larger than that of the cylindrical member 4, and this octagonal member. The columnar member 6 is composed of a donut-shaped plate member 7 concentrically fixed to the left end surface of the columnar member 6. Here, an outline of the method of assembling the probe holder 10 will be described. The plate member 7 is preliminarily fixed to the left end surface of the octagonal columnar member 6 to form the outer cylindrical body 2, and the outer cylindrical body 2 is provided on the right side of FIG. Then, the cylindrical member 4 is inserted from one side, and then, as shown in FIG. 1, the right end surfaces of the cylindrical member 4 and the octagonal columnar member 6 are flush with each other, and the average radius is the boundary line between the members 4 and 6. A ring-shaped fixing member 11 that is substantially aligned is applied, and the screws 12 and 12 are tightened via the fixing member 11 to fix both members. Finally, by assembling the plate member 5 from the left side of FIG. 1 to the right end of the cylindrical member 4, the assembly of the probe holder 10 is completed.

The outer peripheral surfaces of the plate member 5 and the plate member 7 are provided with tapers having the same inclination. As shown in FIG. 1, these two outer peripheral surfaces have a predetermined conical outer peripheral surface. The positional relationship is such that separate parts are formed. Then, a water supply port 12 as a binder introduction port for introducing an acoustic binder (pressurized water is used in this embodiment) into the water chamber 3 is formed by the gap between the plate members 5 and 7. There is. A ring-shaped water discharge port 13 is provided on the fixed portion side corresponding to the water supply port 12, and the pressurized water pressurized from the water discharge port 13 by a pump or the like serves as an acoustic coupling material through the water supply port 12 to the water chamber 3. It is forcibly supplied inside.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the outer cylindrical body 2 has two vertical probes 8 and two beveled probes 9 as an ultrasonic probe, which are alternately arranged in a cross shape. Are placed and held in. Here, the vertical probe 8 is a probe in which the path of the ultrasonic waves transmitted and received by the ultrasonic vibrator built in the vertical probe 8 is perpendicular to the surface of the test material 30. One is provided on each of the upper surface and the lower surface of the outer cylindrical body 2 in FIGS. The bevel probe 9 is a probe in which the path of ultrasonic waves transmitted and received by the ultrasonic transducer built into the vertical probe 9 is oblique to the material 30 to be tested. One is provided on each of the front side and the back side of the cylinder 2 in the plane of FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 3, the vertical probe 8 has a stepped columnar main body portion 8A, and is provided on the tip end surface of the main body portion 8A so as to project toward the center of the test material 30. And a stepped cylindrical nozzle block 8B. As shown in FIG. 3, an ultrasonic transducer 15 having a back plate 14 provided on one side is housed inside the main body portion 8A, and the ultrasonic transducer 15 is oriented toward the center of the test material 30. The direction is such that ultrasonic waves can be transmitted. Inside the nozzle block 8B, a nozzle 16 having a diameter substantially equal to the length of the ultrasonic transducer 15 is bored in the ultrasonic wave transmitting direction. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a communication port 17 communicating with the water chamber 3 is provided in a part of the peripheral wall of the nozzle block 8B. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the vertical probe 8 is fitted at its tip into a through hole 1A formed in the inner cylinder 1 with the nozzle block 8B penetrating the water chamber 3. The probe holder 10 is attached and held in this state. The vertical probe 8 is used for vertical flaw detection of a round bar, wall thickness measurement of a pipe material, and the like.

Like the vertical probe 9, the bevel probe 9 is also composed of a main body portion 9A and a nozzle block 9B, and is similarly attached to and held by a probe holder 10. In this case, a nozzle block 9B having a cross-sectional shape as shown in FIG. 4 is used, and a nozzle 18 is bored in this nozzle block 9B in a direction oblique to the surface of the material 30 to be tested. The ultrasonic transducer 15 is also arranged so that ultrasonic waves can be transmitted in the direction of the nozzle 18. A communication port 19 is also formed in the nozzle block 9B. The bevel probe 19 is used to detect defects on the surface and inside since ultrasonic waves are incident on the test material 30 from an oblique direction.

Next, the overall operation and action of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described. First, a probe holder 10 in which ultrasonic probes 8, 8, 9, 9 are held around a test material 30 conveyed on a line in a direction opposite to the arrow X in FIG. It is rotationally driven by a non-driving unit, and thereby helical scanning is performed over the entire peripheral surface of the material 30 to be tested. During this helical scanning, pressurized water is used as an acoustic coupling agent, and the pressurized water pressurized by a pump or the like (not shown) is forcibly sent from the water outlet 13 into the water chamber 3 through the water inlet 12, and, for example, In the case of the vertical probe 8, the fed pressurized water is fed into the nozzle 16 through the communication port 17 and the open end of the nozzle 16 (inner cylinder 1 side) to the surface of the test material 30. Is released towards. As a result, the water column WP is formed between the nozzle 16 and the test material 30 by the pressurized water. In this case, since the water column having a sufficient height is formed including the inside of the nozzle 16, the water column WP formed between the nozzle 16 and the test material 30 has the height (the tip of the nozzle 16 and the test material 30). Since the size of the gap) can be made small and the flow rate of the water discharged from the nozzle 16 is also small, pressurized water of sufficient pressure can be supplied from the water discharge port 13. Therefore, the rotational speed is increased to 1000 to 3000 rpm, and even if a large centrifugal force acts on the water column WP, the effect is reduced, so that a stable water column WP is formed. The bevel probe 9 also has the same effect, and similarly a stable water column WP is formed.

According to the present embodiment described above, the probe holder 10 includes the bevel probe 9 used for detecting defects in the longitudinal direction and the circumferential direction of the material 30 to be detected and the lamination defect detection and the defect detection. Since a plurality of types of ultrasonic probes such as the vertical probe 8 used for measuring the pipe wall thickness are arranged in a well-balanced manner, the amount of eccentricity of the probe holder 10 is suppressed and stable even at high speed rotation. Since the water column WP is formed, various ultrasonic probes can be easily balanced with respect to the probe holder 10, and can be mounted easily and quickly. In the ultrasonic probes 8 and 9, the ultrasonic wave transmitted from the transducer 15 propagates in the nozzle 16 (or 18) with a small propagation loss and suppressing the generation of miscellaneous echoes due to unnecessary reflection. Since ultrasonic waves having an excellent signal-to-noise ratio and a large level are transmitted to the test material 30 via the water column WP, the circumferential surface of the test material 30 conveyed using the ultrasonic probes 8 and 9 is helically wound. By scanning, it is possible to detect minute defects on the entire circumference and measure the wall thickness of the pipe material at high speed online in the production process, which can contribute to the quality improvement of the material to be inspected. Since a plurality of types of probes 8 and 9 are used as the ultrasonic probe, the irradiation range of the ultrasonic wave to the test material 30 can be expanded. Since the probe holder 10 does not have a contact portion with the test material 30, the test material 30 can be freely carried in, carried out, and transported to and from the probe holder 10, and also has no sliding part. Therefore, there is an advantage that the maintenance period becomes long.

In the above embodiment, a case where a total of four ultrasonic probes are arranged in a cross shape on the probe holder 10 has been illustrated, but the present invention is not limited to this and one ultrasonic probe is used. , 2, 3, 5, 6 or more, and the combination of the types of ultrasonic probes is not limited to that of the above-mentioned embodiment, and all of them may be the vertical probe 8 or the oblique angle. The probe 9 may be used, or another combination is possible. Further, in the above embodiment, when the inner cylinder body 1 constituting the probe holder 10 is made of plastic having excellent wear resistance and mechanical characteristics, the probe holder 10 rotating at high speed is assumed. Even if the test material 30 comes into contact with the test material 30, damage to the test material 30 can be avoided. Therefore, the gap size (height of the water column WP) between the probe holder 10 and the test material 30 can be set smaller. Since the influence of centrifugal force is further reduced, a more stable water column WP can be formed, and even if the water column WP is deformed to have a water film shape, the acoustic coupling with the test material 30 is properly performed. It has the advantage that it can be maintained and the ultrasonic waves can be transmitted efficiently.

[0017]

[Effect of the device]

 As described above, according to the present invention, a stable water column is formed between the ultrasonic probe and the material to be inspected. Since various types of probes such as vertical probes and beveled probes can be used as ultrasonic probes mounted on the probe holder, it is possible to perform measurements, so that the entire circumference of the test material can be measured. It is possible to provide an ultrasonic probe holding device of unprecedented practicality that can detect a surface defect and measure the wall thickness of a pipe material accurately and efficiently.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an arrangement of ultrasonic probes in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a specific configuration of a vertical probe in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a specific configuration of the bevel probe in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Inner Cylinder 2 Outer Cylinder 3 Water Chamber as Binder Storage Chamber 8 Vertical Probe as Ultrasonic Probe 8A Main Body 8B Nozzle Block 9 Beveled Probe as Ultrasonic Probe 9A Main Body Part 9B Nozzle block 10 Probe holder 12 Water inlet as binder inlet 15 Ultrasonic transducer 16 Nozzle 17 Communication port 18 Nozzle 19 Communication port 30 Test material

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Atsushi Yamashiro Atsushi Yamashiro 2-16-46 Minami Kamata, Ota-ku, Tokyo Within Tokimetsuku Co., Ltd. (72) Hiromitsu Watanabe 2-16-46 Minami Kamata, Ota-ku, Tokyo Stocks Company Tokimetsu (72) Inventor Toshinobu Goto 2-16-46 Minami Kamata, Ota-ku, Tokyo

Claims (4)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A binder accommodating chamber is formed between an inner cylindrical body having an inner diameter somewhat larger than that of a test material such as a round bar, and the inner cylindrical body being externally capped with the inner cylindrical body. A probe holder which is composed of an outer cylinder and is rotationally driven by a drive means, and a binder introducing port for introducing an acoustic binder into the binder accommodating chamber is formed in a part of the probe holder; One or more ultrasonic probes are held in the probe holder, and each probe is provided at a main body part containing an ultrasonic transducer for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves, and at the tip of the main body part. And a nozzle block that forms an ultrasonic wave propagation path, and the probe is probed with the nozzle block penetrating the binder storage chamber and with its tip fitted to the inner cylinder. When attached to a child holder and the tip of the nozzle block opens to the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder, An ultrasonic probe holding device, characterized in that a nozzle communicating with the binder storage chamber through a communication port is bored. 2. At least one of the ultrasonic probes has a propagation direction of ultrasonic waves transmitted and received through a nozzle constituting the ultrasonic probe in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the material to be inspected. 2. A vertical probe as follows.
The ultrasonic probe holding device described. 3. At least one of the ultrasonic probes has a propagation direction of ultrasonic waves transmitted / received through a nozzle forming the ultrasonic probe is oblique with respect to the surface of the test material. The ultrasonic probe holding device according to claim 1, wherein the ultrasonic probe holding device is a bevel probe. 4. The ultrasonic probe holding device according to claim 1, wherein the inner cylinder is made of a plastic material.