Method and apparatus for ultrasonic examination

Claim 1

A method of ultrasonic examination of an object which comprises directing pulses of ultrasonic energy from a plurality of transducers along a plurality of beam axes through a liquid coupling bath and into said object, each beam axis being associated with one of said plurality of transducers, and receiving echoes of said pulses reflected along said beam axes by acoustic impedance discontinuities in said object, said directing step including: directing said pulses into the object from said plurality of transducers at spaced positions relative to each other and to said object; steering said beam axes to a plurality of angular directions in a single plane; and directing said pulses sequentially along each of said beam axes in each of said angular positions at a rate sufficiently fast, compared to the rate of movement of the transducer beams, that each transducer beam axis moves only a small distance between successive activations of said one of said plurality of transducers, said sequential activation along said transducer beam axes comprising sequential activation along a non-adjacent beam axis substantially simultaneously with the receipt of echoes of a previous pulse.

Claim 2

A method of ultrasonic examination of an object which comprises directing pulses of ultrasonic energy from a plurality of transducers along a plurality of beam axes through a liquid coupling bath and into said object, each beam axis being associated with one of said plurality of transducers, and receiving echoes of said pulses reflected along said beam axes by acoustic impedance discontinuities in said object, said directing step including: directing said pulses into the object from said plurality of transducers at spaced positions relative to each other and to said object; steering said beam axes to a plurality of angular directions in a single plane; and directing said pulses sequentially along each of said beam axes in each of said angular positions at a rate sufficiently fast, compared to the rate of movement of the transducer beams, that each transducer beam axis moves only a small distance between successive activations of said one of said plurality of transducers, said sequential activation along said transducer beam axes comprising sequential activation along a non-adjacent beam axis substantially simultaneously with the receipt of echoes of a previous pulse.

Claim 3

An apparatus for the ultrasonic examination of an object comprising: a liquid coupling bath; a plurality of transducers for directing pulses of ultrasonic energy along a beam axis through said liquid coupling bath and into said object and receiving echoes of said pulses reflected along said beam axis by acoustic impedance discontinuities in said object, said transducers being spatially positioned relative to each other and to the said object; means for steering the beam axis of each of said transducers to a plurality of angular directions in a single plane; and means for sequentially activating each of said transducers to direct a pulse of ultrasonic energy along a beam axis into the object and to receive echoes reflected along said beam axis in each of said angular directions at a rate sufficiently fast, compared to the rate of movement of the transducer beam, that each transducer beam axis moves only a small distance between successive activations of each respective transducer, said means for sequentially activating each of said transducers comprising means for activating non-adjacent transducers to direct a pulse of ultrasonic energy along a beam axis into the object substantially simultaneously with the receipt of echoes resulting from activation of the previously activated transducer.

Claim 4

An apparatus for the ultrasonic examination of an object comprising: a liquid coupling bath; a plurality of transducers for directing pulses of ultrasonic energy along a beam axis through said liquid coupling bath and into said object and receiving echoes of said pulses reflected along said beam axis by acoustic impedance discontinuities in said object, said transducers being spatially positioned relative to each other and to the said object; means for steering the beam axis of each of said transducers to a plurality of angular directions in a single plane; and means for sequentially activating each of said transducers to direct a pulse of ultrasonic energy along a beam axis into the object and to receive echoes reflected along said beam axis in each of said angular directions at a rate sufficiently fast, compared to the rate of movement of the transducer beam, that each transducer beam axis moves only a small distance between successive activations of each respective transducer, said means for sequentially activating each of said transducers comprising means for activating non-adjacent transducers to direct a pulse of ultrasonic energy along a beam axis into the object substantially simultaneously with the receipt of echoes resulting from activation of the previously activated transducer.