Nondestructive Materials Characterization Projects
Acoustic Inspection Device
The Acoustic Inspection Device offers diverse applications.
Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have developed a new ultrasonic technology that can look into sealed containers. The Acoustic Inspection Device (AID) has applications in homeland security, food processing and other industries.
The AID is a portable, battery operated, hand-held device that rapidly and reliable "looks" into sealed containers to:
- Identify liquid contents and bulk-solid materials
- Sort liquids and solid materials into groups of like and unlike
- Determine the fill-level in liquid-filled containers
- Determine if there are anomalies or concealed compartments within the sealed, liquid-filled containers
- Monitor the contents of vessels and piping
This tool is being used to rapidly screen bulk containers in the field, checking for materials that can be used to build weapons of mass destruction, containers concealing contraband and illegal substances and containers that have been fraudulently labeled or mislabeled. It significantly reduces the amount of time required to screen such shipments while increasing the accuracy of the screenings.
The AID is roughly the size of a flare gun and contains an ultrasonic sensor head. It is tethered to a personal digital assistant and linked to a data library.
The AID launches ultrasonic pulses into a container and analyzes the return echoes. Ultrasonic pulses easily penetrate dense materials, including liquids, which often defeat x-ray inspection methods. The AID analyzes return echoes from these pulses in terms of time-of-flight and amplitude decay to extract physical property measurements of the material in the container. These two parameters are used to sort and identify specific components in a sealed container. The hand-held, battery-operated AID system use two interchangeable ultrasonic sensor heads that can interrogate containers ranging in size from approximately 6 to more than 96 inches in diameter.
AID technology is readily applicable to other industries, such as food processing. The AID allows food processors to quickly and non-invasively monitor the contents of vessels and piping. It can determine liquid levels, mixing endpoints, fouling and composition in liquid-filled vessels and piping.
AID technology can also detect liquid interfaces in food processing. For example, in clean-in-place processes, water, cleaning solutions and product can easily be distinguished in flowing piping, thereby minimizing waste and loss of product. The PC-based acoustic inspection technology can be configured either as an in-line device or a hand-held device.
A battery-operated, hand-held AID – tailored for law enforcement applications – is commercially available from Mehl, Griffin and Bartek, Ltd.
Video link featuring the Acoustic Inspection Device
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