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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8181529 | System and method for the detection of faults in rails A system (1) for the detection of defects in rails (12), the system comprising a source of ultrasonic waves for emitting ultrasonic waves onto a rail, a detector for detecting ultrasonic waves reflected or otherwise scattered by the rail or defects the... | 05/22/2012 |
| 7882742 | Apparatus for detecting, identifying and recording the location of defects in a railway rail An apparatus for ultrasonic inspection of an object. A tire is mounted for rolling along the surface of the object. It contains a liquid and a transducer assembly. The transducer assembly is positioned in the tire adjacent a portion of the surface of the tire in con... | 02/08/2011 |
| 7389694 | Rail inspection system An apparatus rides along a rail of a railroad track. A transmitter transmits ultrasonic guided waves bidirectionally along the rail while the apparatus and transmitter are moving along the railroad track. A sensor detects flaws in response to the transmitted ultraso... | 06/24/2008 |
| 7305885 | Method and apparatus for phased array based ultrasonic evaluation of rail In accordance with one embodiment, the present technique provides a testing apparatus for testing material integrity of an object. The exemplary testing apparatus includes a phased array transducer, which is disposed external to the object. The phased array transduc... | 12/11/2007 |
| 7278305 | Apparatus for detecting hunting and angle of attack of a rail vehicle wheelset An apparatus and method for estimating the angle of attack of wheels, wheelsets, trucks and railway vehicles traveling over a track employing a wayside system having a plurality of sensors, adjacent to the rails of the track, for detecting the passing of each wheels... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7275441 | Method for ultrasonic inspection of generator field teeth A method for ultrasonically inspecting a generator field tooth for the detection, characterization and/or sizing of cracks thereat is disclosed. A monolithic piezoelectric transducer (MPT) productive of a test signal having a defined angle of refraction with respect... | 10/02/2007 |
| 7275442 | Method for ultrasonic inspection of generator field teeth A method for ultrasonically inspecting a generator field tooth for the detection, characterization and/or sizing of cracks thereat is disclosed. An electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) productive of a test signal having a defined angle of refraction with respe... | 10/02/2007 |
| 7213459 | High speed inspection system and method An inspection system for inspecting a three-dimensional volume. The inspection system comprises at least one sensor coupled to a rolling object, the sensor being disposed on a non-contact outer region of the rolling object and at a pre-determined distance from a cen... | 05/08/2007 |
| 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 |
| 7104132 | Acoustic coupling with a fluid bath An apparatus examines the internal structure of an object disposed substantially in a medium such as air. The apparatus has an acoustic transducer assembly that emits and receives acoustic signals and an acoustic coupler that acoustically couples the acoustic transd... | 09/12/2006 |
| 7054762 | Method and system for analysis of ultrasonic reflections in real time An ultrasonic real-time inspection method which is user-friendly in an interactive environment to provide ease of operation, as well as a combination of consistency, thoroughness, and speed of operation in flaw detection not achievable by other methods. The method o... | 05/30/2006 |
| 6981419 | Portable direct sensor attachment system A vehicle equipped with monitoring equipment is adapted to ride a railroad track rail. An apparatus mount is coupled to the vehicle undercarriage. A downwardly displaced arm is coupled to the apparatus mount. A sensor mounting bracket couples a pair of railroad whee... | 01/03/2006 |
| 6945114 | Laser-air, hybrid, ultrasonic testing of railroad tracks Formed Laser Sources (FLS) using pulsed laser light for generation of ultrasonic stress waves are combined with air-coupled detection of ultrasound to provide for the hybrid non-contact, dynamic and remote ultrasonic testing of structural materials, especially railr... | 09/20/2005 |
| 6940413 | Method and apparatus for monitoring operation of electrical household appliances Discloses is a method and a corresponding apparatus for monitoring operation of electrical household appliances (such as a freezer). The method includes checking the temperature inside the freezer on a periodical basis and comparing with a de-frosting temperature. A... | 09/06/2005 |
| 6920791 | Ultrasound monitoring of overlapping welded joints between sheets In a method and a device for the ultrasonic monitoring of overlapping welded joints between a first sheet and a second sheet pulses are irradiated at an angle of between 15 and 80° into the first sheet by a first rotating probe head. The rotating probe head is arra... | 07/26/2005 |
| 6862936 | Laser-air, hybrid, ultrasonic testing of railroad wheels A remote, non-contact system for detecting a defect in a railroad wheel as the wheel is stationary or moving along a railroad track includes; (1) a pulsed, laser light source for generating an ultrasonic wave in the wheel, the ultrasonic wave having a direct portion... | 03/08/2005 |
| 6854332 | Inspection of non axi-symmetric elongate bodies Apparatus for inspecting a non axi-symmetric elongate body includes at least one exciter array having a plurality of wave exciters that can be coupled to an exterior surface of the elongate body. A driver unit generates driving signals to excite the wave exciters. E... | 02/15/2005 |
| 6604421 | Method, transducer wheel and flaw detection system for ultrasonic detecting railroad rails This invention relates to a nondestructive flaw detection method, especially an ultrasonic flaw detection method for detecting rail flaws, as well as the wheel transducer and flaw detection system for implementing the method. According to the method, a so... | 08/12/2003 |
| 6571636 | Wheel-type transmit/receive ultrasonic inspection device with constant length internal liquid soundpath A wheel-type inspection device includes within the wheel structure a sensor head. The sensor head carries both ultrasonic transducers and a surface tracking structure maintained at fixed distance relative to the transducers. In operation, the surface trac... | 06/03/2003 |
| 6553838 | Detection of anomalies on railroad tracks The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for detecting anomalies, defects or electromagnetic properties of electrically conductive and magnetically permeable materials by using a magnet to partially saturate the material, thereby lowering i... | 04/29/2003 |
| 6536553 | Method and apparatus using acoustic sensor for sub-surface object detection and visualization An apparatus for detecting an underground abject includes a container in contact with the ground surface; a medium disposed in the container; at least one acoustic sensor disposed in the medium in the container; and an output device connected to the acous... | 03/25/2003 |
| 6516668 | Automatic carriage alignment An ultrasonic aligning device for laterally aligning a rail testing device with respect to a rail has an ultrasonic transducer formed of an array of closely spaced ultrasonic elements, with center to center distances between elements being selected to det... | 02/11/2003 |
| 6513384 | Method and apparatus for measuring the load bearing capacity of a platform The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for measuring the lift of a transport infrastructure road level and industrial floors. The apparatus comprises a wheel borne by a chassis pivotally mounted on a trailer towed by a vehicle. An unbalanced m... | 02/04/2003 |
| 6459656 | Information generating apparatus using elastic waves The present invention relates to an information generating apparatus for transmitting and receiving elastic waves through a rail for a train. The information generating apparatus comprises elastic wave transmitting means for transmitting elastic waves to ... | 10/01/2002 |
| 6434207 | Inspection method and apparatus for piping Nuclear fuels are taken from a nuclear reactor pressure vessel, a rail for running is mounted under the reactor pressure vessel drain piping in parallel with a horizontal portion of the reactor pressure vessel drain piping inside a pedestal positioned on ... | 08/13/2002 |
| 6424150 | Magnetostrictive sensor rail inspection system A method and apparatus is shown for implementing magnetostrictive sensor techniques for the nondestructive evaluation of railroad rails. The system includes magnetostrictive sensors specifically designed for application in conjunction with railroad rails ... | 07/23/2002 |
| 6401044 | Installation for the automatic evaluation of the rolling band on wheels of moving trains An installation for the automatic evaluation of the condition of the rolling band on wheels of moving trains. It comprises a rail beam (1) for each railway line (8), a guard-rail to assure wheel guidance, feelers (P1, P2, P3, P4) intended to come into con... | 06/04/2002 |
| 6347550 | Ultrasonic test device An ultrasonic test process and device intended for testing a preferably cylindrical specimen (2), such as railway wheel, which is capable of displacement along a support, such as a rail (10). The ultrasonic test device comprises at least one ultrasonic pr... | 02/19/2002 |
| 6292432 | Information generating apparatus using elastic waves The present invention relates to an information generating apparatus for transmitting and receiving elastic waves through a rail for a train. The information generating apparatus comprises elastic wave transmitting means for transmitting elastic waves to ... | 09/18/2001 |
| 6131460 | Ultrasonic inspection system for laminated stiffeners An ultrasonic one pass inspection system for determining the presence, location, and size of flaws in laminated structure such as an "I" stiffener in a single inspection cycle. The exemplary system includes an immersion tank, six (6) single probes, 184 tr... | 10/17/2000 |
| 6055862 | Method of and an apparatus for detecting, identifying and recording the location of defects in a railway rail Method and apparatus for ultrasonic inspection of an object. A tire is mounted for rolling along the surface of the object. It contains a liquid and a transducer assembly. The transducer assembly is positioned in the tire adjacent a portion of the surface... | 05/02/2000 |
| 6031790 | Information generator using elastic wave The present invention relates to an information generating apparatus for transmitting and receiving elastic waves through a transmission medium and for generating information which is necessary for controlling/monitoring associated elements of a control s... | 02/29/2000 |
| 5970438 | Method and apparatus for testing rails for structural defects A method and apparatus for testing rails for structural defects, the rails being associated with a railroad track include providing and using a first rail traveling vehicle for movement along a segment of rails followed by a second rail traveling vehicle ... | 10/19/1999 |
| 5903517 | Moving body control apparatus The present invention relates to a moving body control apparatus wherein operating control flexibility and system maintainability are improved by carrying out moving body travel control by transfer of ultrasonic wave signals between moving bodies, without... | 05/11/1999 |
| 5804731 | Ultrasonic device for measuring the internal defects of a rail An ultrasonic device for continuously detecting and/or measuring in situ internal defects of a railway rail includes at least one ultrasonic sensor (15) subjected to a pressure tending to move it in the direction of the rail. The sensor presses against th... | 09/08/1998 |
| 5777891 | Method for real-time ultrasonic testing system An ultrasonic real-time inspection method which is user-friendly in an interactive environment to provide ease of operation, as well as a combination of consistency, thoroughness, and speed of operation in flaw detection not achievable by other methods. T... | 07/07/1998 |
| 5627508 | Pilot vehicle which is useful for monitoring hazardous conditions on railroad tracks A self-propelled remotely controlled pilot vehicle adapted for use on raiad tracks to monitor hazardous conditions and obstacles on the railroad tracks. The pilot vehicle precedes a train along the railroad tracks at a distance which will allow the train... | 05/06/1997 |
| 5578758 | Rail investigating ultrasonic transducer An ultrasonic railhead investigating apparatus is described wherein a side looking transducer is used with a lens to focus the beam in a manner whereby rail defects in the sides of rail head are more readily detected. In one form of the invention a side r... | 11/26/1996 |
| 5574224 | Process and device for the continuous nondestructive control of rails on a railway line by ultrasonics A continuous nondestructive process for controlling the rails on a railway line by ultrasounds is carried out by the emission of ultrasounds at successively different points along the rail which are spaced apart by a measured value. For each echo, the aco... | 11/12/1996 |
| 5522265 | Device for the ultrasonic measuring of the defects of a railway track A shoe (1) is provided which includes two housings designed for receiving ultrasonic probes (2) of which the vertical position with respect to the track is adjustable via two pressure cylinders (9). The shoe (1) is connected via two pressure cylinders (13... | 06/04/1996 |
