| 摘要 |
An aspect of the present invention is an apparatus for inspecting a base of a liquid filled tank for corrosion, having (a) a housing for use in the liquid filled tank; (b) a set of one or more ultrasonic transducers mounted to the housing, for directing one or more ultrasonic pulses at the base, where the ultrasonic pulses each have a frequency selected to produce a return signal from the base, and for receiving this return signal; and (c) a data capturing system, for storing information from these return signals. Optional features include a second set of one or more ultrasonic transducers for directing one or more ultrasonic pulses at the liquid/gas interface at a frequency selected to produce a return signal from the liquid/gas interface, a data analysis system, a locomotive system, and a spatial location system. Another aspect of the invention is a method for inspecting a base of a liquid filled tank for corrosion, having the steps: (a) directing a broadband ultrasonic pulse at the base from an ultrasonic transducer within the tank, where the ultrasonic pulse includes a resonant frequency for the tank base over the range of expected thicknesses for the base; (b) receiving a return signal with the ultrasonic transducer; (c) performing a Fourier analysis on the return signal to generate a frequency domain signal; and (d) determining the thickness of the base from the frequency domain signal.
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