Focused Probes for piping
A common problem in piping inspection can be solved by focused probes.
- Contrary to plate inspection where the backwall is flat, in piping inspection the backwall is curved
- Because of this curvature, part of the beam is not bouncing back in the weld. The result is a sharp decrease in the energy available for the inspection
- The solution is to use a probe with curved elements. The curvature is focusing the beam in the passive axis so less energy is lost in the wall of the pipe
Theoretically, for maximum effect, the curvature of the elements should be customized for the curvature and thickness of the pipe. In practical, a probe will cover a range of curvatures.