ROTATING FIELD TRANSCEIVER NONDESTRUCTIVE INSPECTION PROBE

摘要

A rotating magnetic field probe includes three (or more) windings that work in both transmit and receive mode, to form an eddy current detection transceiver. In a transmit mode, the windings are driven with a drive signal (e.g., an alternating current) having similar or the same magnitude at each winding, but differing in phase from one another. In a receive mode, the terminal voltages of the windings is measured and summed to determine the location of a defect.

主权项

1. An eddy current detection assembly comprising:
a probe comprising three winding coil conducting elements, each spaced 120° from one another, and the three winding coil conducting elements centered on a longitudinal axis, each of the three winding coil conducting elements having a first portion extending longitudinally along the axis and a second portion extending orthogonally to the axis; an electrical signal controller coupled to the three winding coil conducting elements and configured (i) to provide a current to each of the three winding coil conducting elements and configured to provide to each of the three winding coil conducting elements a current of the same magnitude and that is 120° out of phase with respect to the current provided to each other of the three winding coil conducting elements, and to thereby produce a rotating magnetic field at a rate of rotation dependent upon a frequency of the current provided to the coils and that rotates circularly over an outer circumferential detection region, and (ii) to sense a change in load experienced by the coils when the probe is in position within a conducting vessel for examination, the change in load indicating the presence of a defect in the conducting vessel over the detection region.