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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8033172 | Hand-held flaw detector imaging apparatus The present invention relates to a flaw detector imaging apparatus for detecting and visualizing a flaw in a target material to be investigated, comprising an ultrasonic phase-array probe comprising an array of ultrasonic transducers and a flaw detector. The flaw de... | 10/11/2011 |
| 7975549 | Method, apparatus and system for inspecting a workpiece having a curved surface A non-destructive inspection method, apparatus and system are provided for inspecting a workpiece having a curved surface with at least one predefined radius of curvature. The apparatus, such as an inspection probe, includes a plurality of transducer elements positi... | 07/12/2011 |
| 7779696 | Separate cMUTs for reception and transmission A capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers (cMUT) system has two cMUTs connected to each other. The first cMUT is adapted for operation in a transmission mode, and the second cMUT is adapted for operation in the reception mode. The first cMUT and the second c... | 08/24/2010 |
| 7594439 | Method and device for ultrasonic testing of a workpiece having an uneven surface A method and a device for the ultrasonic testing of a workpiece having an uneven surface is provided. An ultrasonic test head containing a multiplicity of transducer elements arranged rigidly in a linear array, is acoustically coupled to a workpiece. The ultrasonic ... | 09/29/2009 |
| 7428842 | Phased array ultrasonic testing system and methods of examination and modeling employing the same A phased array ultrasonic testing system is for examining turbine disc bores and blade attachments for discontinuities, such as stress corrosion cracking. The system is particularly suited to perform an accurate and efficient inspection of components despite their h... | 09/30/2008 |
| RE40456 | Acoustic wave imaging apparatus and method An acoustic imaging apparatus and method that achieves desired delays with coded signals. Linear, curved linear and sector scanning is provided in 1-D arrays and planar, curved planar and sector scanning is provided in 2-D arrays. Composite and non-linear implementa... | 08/12/2008 |
| 7361145 | Block-switching in ultrasound imaging Systems of generating and manipulating an ultrasound beam are disclosed. The system uses selective sets of ultrasound elements to generate an ultrasound beam, scanning the beam over a series of ultrasound elements in order to collected echo data covering an area, an... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7360417 | Fluid level detector A fluid detector for determining a presence of a fluid within a container includes a piezoelectric element that outputs a first ultrasonic signal in response to an input electrical signal and a lens with an upper portion and a lower portion. The piezoelectric elemen... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7360292 | Method of minimizing inter-element signals for surface transducers The present invention provides a method of packaging surface microfabricated transducers such that electrical connections, protection, and relevant environmental exposure are realized prior to their separation into discrete components. The packaging method also isol... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7351204 | Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus For the purpose of reducing the size and power consumption of a power source in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, charge pump circuits are connected to a transmitter power source. A regulator in the transmitter power source drives the charge pump circuit to genera... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7353056 | Optimized switching configurations for reconfigurable arrays of sensor elements The reconfigurable ultrasound array disclosed herein is one that allows groups of subelements to be connected together dynamically so that the shape of the resulting element can be made to match the shape of the wave front. This can lead to improved performance and/... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7331234 | Ultrasonic imaging method and ultrasonic imaging apparatus An ultrasonic imaging method and apparatus capable of obtaining image information at a high volume rate and improving resolution. The ultrasonic imaging apparatus has an ultrasonic transducer array including plural ultrasonic transducers for transmitting ultrasonic ... | 02/19/2008 |
| 7331233 | Method and apparatus for ultrasonic sizing of particles in suspensions A particle size distribution monitor, comprising: a transducer adapted to be a source of ultrasonic energy and positioned in contact with a suspension containing a percent by volume of particles in a liquid, the transducer transmitting ultrasonic energy through the ... | 02/19/2008 |
| 7327803 | Systems and methods for vector power amplification Methods and systems for vector combining power amplification are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a plurality of signals are individually amplified, then summed to form a desired time-varying complex envelope signal. Phase and/or frequency characteristics of one... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7322936 | Ultrasound diagnosis apparatus In an ultrasound diagnosis apparatus, a plurality of sub arrays are defined on a 2D array transducer. The sub array shape pattern of each sub array is adaptively changed in accordance with the beam scanning direction. Each sub array is composed of a plurality of gro... | 01/29/2008 |
| 7311667 | Multiple pattern transducer array and method of use Transducer with different array configurations and methods of using the transducers are provided. An electrode layer on one side of a transducer device defines a one-dimensional array of elements. An electrode layer on an opposite side of the transducer device defin... | 12/25/2007 |
| 7300403 | Wide aperture array design with constrained outer probe dimension The invention presents solutions for large apertures of an ultrasound array under given dimension constraints given by the application for the ultrasound probe, for example by an endoluminal application. The invention has applications to annular arrays for 2D and 3D... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7289938 | Method and a device for detecting discontinuities in a medium A method and a device for detecting discontinuities in a medium by detecting maxima, e.g. in an echo signal of an ultrasound excitation of the media, with maxima corresponding to a given discontinuity being grouped together as a function of coherence criteria applie... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7285898 | Ultrasonic transducer and manufacturing method thereof An ultrasonic transducer comprises: an acoustic matching layer including at least a layer made up of a hard material; a piezoelectric member of which the length dimension is shorter than this acoustic matching layer, which is fixed and disposed at a predetermined po... | 10/23/2007 |
| 7278289 | Apparatus and methods for testing acoustic systems Methods and apparatus are provided for testing an acoustic system having multiple transmitter elements and multiple receiver elements. A transmitter signal generated by a selected transmitter element is received. An echo electrical signal is generated in response to... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7278314 | Obstacle detection system A plurality of ultrasonic sensors is provided in both front and rear bumpers of a vehicle to detect obstacles around the vehicle. Each sensor sets up a transmission frequency of an ultrasonic pulse signal that should be set up in a frequency adjustment circuit and a... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7277012 | Broad field motion detector A motion sensing system device and method which utilize dispersed ultrasonic radiation is disclosed. The system preferably comprises a low profile sensor unit configured to couple to a ceiling position. The sensor unit comprises an ultrasonic transmitter and an ultr... | 10/02/2007 |
| 7270325 | Sheet feeding apparatus, image reading apparatus, and method of detecting double feed A sheet feeding apparatus includes first and second transport devices disposed at a transport guide with a distance in between for nipping and transporting a sheet, and a double feed detection device disposed between the first transport device and the second transpo... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7252004 | Imaging method and device employing sherar waves An imaging method for observing the propagation of a shear wave simultaneously at a multitude of points in a diffusing viscoelastic medium. The shear wave is caused to be generated by firing at least one focused ultrasound compression wave into the viscoelastic medi... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7238157 | Broad-beam imaging methods Methods of probing a material under investigation using an ultrasound beam. Echolocation data is generated using a multi-dimensional transform capable of using phase and magnitude information to distinguish echoes resulting from ultrasound beam components produced u... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7234354 | Ultrasonic probe and inspection method and system A method of inspecting a component includes immersing the component in a coupling medium with material velocity cw and immersing an ultrasonic (UT) probe having at least one transducer in the coupling medium. The UT probe has a convex lens with acoustic v... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7220256 | Laser system and method for treatment of biological tissues A system for and method of performing laser assisted surgery is disclosed. Laser radiation is preferably delivered to a target area of tissue using a Er:YAG laser source. The laser radiation is delivered to the target area in bursts of laser radiation comprising set... | 05/22/2007 |
| 7217243 | Ultrasound diagnosis apparatus A plurality of 2D sub arrays are defined on a 2D array transducer for effecting transmission and reception of ultrasound. For each sub array, a plurality of groups are set. More specifically, a plurality of (16, for example) transducer elements forming a sub array a... | 05/15/2007 |
| 7215788 | Digital loudspeaker A digital pulse-width-modulation (PWM) generator comprising: an n bit digital magnitude comparator having first and second n bit inputs and an output indicative of the relative values of the signals applied at the first and second inputs; a first n bit digital up/do... | 05/08/2007 |
| 7207940 | Ultrasonic probe and ultrasonic transmitting and receiving apparatus using the same An ultrasonic probe in which transducer array including ultrasonic transducers out of the specifications can be used so that the yield in the manufacture of transducer arrays is improved. The ultrasonic probe to be used when connected to an external apparatus main b... | 04/24/2007 |
| 7204142 | Liquid level detecting apparatus A guide pipe is formed from a metal material, and its internal cross section has a circular shape whose diametric dimension gradually becomes smaller with a distance from an ultrasonic sensor. That is, the guide pipe is formed so that a route for transmitting an ult... | 04/17/2007 |
| 7197932 | Failure detecting system The present invention relates to a failure detecting system that enables the detection of a break in a rail and the like by a simple network configuration. Detecting units (20 and 50), relay units (30A, 30B, 60A through 60C)... | 04/03/2007 |
| 7176828 | Near-field antenna array with signal processing Method and apparatus for extracting coherent information from in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) signals. In a form, signals from an antenna array are mixed to form a plurality of I and Q signals that combined to form respective complex vectors. Each vector is adjusted... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7174255 | Self-processing integrated damage assessment sensor for structural health monitoring A small, lightweight, portable, and inexpensive self-processing integrated damage assessment sensor (SPIDAS) that may be temporarily or permanently attached to a structure for structural health monitoring is provided. The SPIDAS device employs an electromechanical i... | 02/06/2007 |
| 7135806 | Transducer-based sensor system with multiple drive signal variants A sensor system including a plurality of transducer groups, with each transducer group having a plurality of transducers. The transducers of each group are adapted to be placed in operative proximity with a sample material. Within each transducer group, each transdu... | 11/14/2006 |
| 7125384 | Ultrasonograph An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is disclosed which can reduce the device amount of a receiving circuit, while obtaining the shape of an excellent received beam. In this ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, a plurality of transducer elements are arrayed and used as an... | 10/24/2006 |
| 7117743 | Multiple-transducer sensor system and method with selective activation and isolation of individual transducers A transducer-based sensor system, including a transducer array having a plurality of transducers, a selector coupled with the transducer array and an output processing subsystem. Defined between each transducer and the output processing subsystem is an output transm... | 10/10/2006 |
| 7117134 | Method to optimize generation of ultrasound using mathematical modeling for laser ultrasound inspection The invention is directed to a laser ultrasound testing system with adaptive generation of sonic energy signals. The system may detect or test features of the manufactured object such as defects and layer properties. A laser generator initiates a sonic energy signal... | 10/03/2006 |
| 7101337 | Method and non-invasive device for focusing acoustic waves The invention concerns a method for focusing acoustic waves useful for obtaining an image of a field to be observed in a dissipative heterogeneous medium (2, 3) around which acoustic transducers (T1–Tn, T′1–T′m) forming an imaging networ... | 09/05/2006 |
| 7093490 | Ultrasonic flaw detecting method and ultrasonic flaw detector In order to make it possible in ultrasonic flaw detection to generate ultrasonic waves containing a main beam only by use of an array probe and clearly identify a defect in a specimen by use of images, an element pitch P (the distance between centers of adjacent ult... | 08/22/2006 |
