초록 ▼

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 rail investigating transducer is provided with

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 rail investigating transducer is provided with a curved emitting surface and so located as to place the focused acoustic beam between a side of the rail and the rail center. The curved emitting surface can be part of a cylindrical surface aligned parallel with the longitudinal axis of the rail or a spherically shaped emitting surface to provide a conically shaped beam for investigating the side of a rail.

대표청구항 ▼

An apparatus for an acoustic investigation of a rail with a fluid filled rotating wheel inside of which is a stable yoke on which a plurality of ultrasonic transducers are mounted for the investigation with ultrasonic beams which exit the wheel at a generally common area in a flexible outer membrane

An apparatus for an acoustic investigation of a rail with a fluid filled rotating wheel inside of which is a stable yoke on which a plurality of ultrasonic transducers are mounted for the investigation with ultrasonic beams which exit the wheel at a generally common area in a flexible outer membrane of the wheel as it rotates about an axis to travel along the top running surface of the head of the rail under inspection, comprising: an ultrasonic transducer mounted to the yoke, below the rotational axis of the wheel and away from ultrasonic beams from other transducers, and having a single, discrete area, focused beam emitting surface with a radius of curvature selected so that the focal point of the ultrasonic beam, after acoustic refraction, is located between the center of the rail and an outer lateral surface of the rail head, said focused beam emitting surface further being so located and sized so as to direct the ultrasonic focused beam at the common area of the flexible outer membrane to enter the rail head in a direction that significantly reduces reflections from outer rail surfaces below the acoustically refracted focal point of the ultrasonic beam inside the rail.