KR-20260064590-A - Ultrasonic inspection system for welded joints

KR20260064590AKR 20260064590 AKR20260064590 AKR 20260064590AKR-20260064590-A

Abstract

The present invention provides a weld ultrasonic inspection system for non-destructively inspecting a weld of an austenitic stainless steel base material, comprising: a phased array ultrasonic probe having a plurality of elements; an inspection head unit including a wedge on which the phased array ultrasonic probe is mounted; a signal processing module unit that receives and corrects a signal collected from the inspection head unit; and an evaluation module unit that determines whether there is a defect in the weld through the signal corrected by the signal processing module unit, wherein the mounting surface of the wedge on which the phased array ultrasonic probe is mounted has an inclination angle of 30 to 45° based on the tangent to the outer circumference of the base material on which the weld is formed, and the inclination angle is selected as a reference value of 36°, and the base material has a thickness of less than 6mm.

Inventors

이재성
김준범
장하늘

Assignees

에이치디현대미포 주식회사

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20251028
Priority Date: 20241030

Claims (6)

In a weld ultrasonic inspection system for non-destructively inspecting welds of austenitic stainless steel base material, A testing head comprising a phased array ultrasonic probe having multiple elements and a wedge on which the phased array ultrasonic probe is mounted; A signal processing module that receives and corrects signals collected from the inspection head unit; and, It includes an evaluation module that determines whether there is a defect in the welded part through a signal corrected by the signal processing module above; The mounting surface of the wedge on which the above-mentioned phased array ultrasonic probe is mounted has an inclination angle of 30 to 45° based on the tangent to the outer circumference of the base material on which the weld is formed, and the inclination angle is selected as a reference value of 36°, and The above base material is a weld ultrasonic testing system having a thickness of less than 6 mm.
In claim 1, The above-described phased array ultrasonic probe is a weld ultrasonic inspection system operating in the 5 MHz frequency band.
In claim 1, A weld ultrasonic inspection system in which each element of the above-described phased array ultrasonic probe emits an ultrasonic beam driven in a sector scan angle range of 40 to 82°.
In claim 1, The above base material is a pipe having an inner diameter of 50 to 300 mm, and A weld ultrasonic testing system having a contact insert having a curved surface shape with a curvature identical to the curvature of the outer surface of the base material at the end of the wedge in contact with the base material.
In claim 4, The above-mentioned contact insert is a weld ultrasonic inspection system detachably disposed at the end of a wedge.
In claim 1, A weld ultrasonic testing system in which a delay material is further provided on the above wedge.

Description

Ultrasonic inspection system for welded joints The present invention relates to a weld ultrasonic inspection system for inspecting welds of austenitic stainless steel pipes using ultrasound. Generally, quality inspection of welds in welded steel pipes is performed through non-destructive testing, and recently, ultrasonic testing is widely used. This ultrasonic inspection method uses an ultrasonic probe to scan the weld area using ultrasound, causing the weld condition to appear as an image on a display means. If a defect is found in the weld area, its type, location, and extent are detected based on the image displayed on the screen. However, due to columnar grains and crystal anisotropy in austenitic welds, ultrasonic scattering and attenuation are significant with single-element ultrasonic testing, and numerous clinical echoes are generated, making indication identification difficult. Furthermore, in one-side inspection environments for thin plates or small-diameter pipes, there is a problem in that the inspection area is limited by near-field acoustic influences, geometric scattering caused by bead/cap shapes, and bond instability due to curvature. In particular, conventionally, when the thickness of the pipe is less than 6 mm, there is a problem that ultrasonic inspection is impossible due to the near-field limit. Related technology regarding such an ultrasonic inspection device is disclosed in Korean Utility Model Publication No. 20-2014-0003841 (June 23, 2014). FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a weld ultrasonic testing system according to one embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, preferred embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. Prior to this, terms and words used in this specification and claims should not be interpreted as being limited to their ordinary or dictionary meanings, and should be interpreted in a meaning and concept consistent with the technical spirit of the present invention, based on the principle that the inventor can appropriately define the concept of the terms to best describe his invention. Referring to FIG. 1, a weld ultrasonic inspection system according to one embodiment of the present invention may include an inspection head unit (100), a signal processing unit (200), and an evaluation unit (300). Such a weld ultrasonic inspection system non-destructively inspects a weld (WZ) of an austenitic stainless steel base material (BM). Here, the base material (BM) may have a pipe shape with an inner diameter of 50 to 300 mm. Also, the thickness of the base material (BM) may be less than 6 mm. The above-mentioned inspection head (100) is a part that transmits and receives an ultrasonic beam at a desired angle of incidence and path to a weld (WZ) of an austenitic stainless steel base material (BM). The above-mentioned inspection head (100) may include a phased array ultrasonic probe (110) and a wedge (120). Here, the phase array ultrasonic probe (110) can be fastened to the wedge (120) with a low-torque screw, snap, or quick-lock structure while positioned on the mounting surface (120a) of the wedge (120) to be described later. The above-described phase array ultrasonic probe (110) includes a plurality of elements (not shown), and performs steering and focusing of the ultrasonic beam by controlling the driving phase and time delay for each element. Here, the phase array ultrasonic probe (110) may have a plurality of elements arranged in a two-dimensional matrix array. In one embodiment, the ultrasonic beam frequency emitted from the phase array ultrasonic probe (110) can be operated in the 5 MHz band so that stable inspection is achieved in an environment of scattering or attenuation occurring in an austenitic weld. And, the above-mentioned phased array ultrasonic probe (110) can perform a sector scan or a linear scan. In one embodiment, the phase array ultrasonic probe (110) can be set and driven in an operating angle range of 40 to 82° sector scan. The wedge (120) is a structure on which a phase array ultrasonic probe (110) is mounted. The above wedge (120) may be made of a polymer-based or composite material having good machinability and sound insulation or damping characteristics. In one embodiment, the wedge (120) may be made of acrylic (PMMA), polycarbonate (PC), polystyrene-based, or low-loss epoxy composite material, but is not limited thereto. Here, the mounting surface (120a) of the wedge (120) on which the phase array ultrasonic probe (110) is mounted may have an inclination angle in the range of 30 to 45° based on the tangent to the outer surface of the base material (BM). In one embodiment, the optimal inclination angle 'θ' for the mounting surface (120a) of the wedge (120) on which the phase array ultrasonic probe (110) is mounted can be selected as a reference value of 36°. In this way, when the inclination angle for the mounting surface (120a) of the wedge (120) on which the phas