Ultrasonic phased arrays are a novel technique for generating, receiving and imaging ultrasound. Instead of a single transducer and beam, phased arrays use multiple ultrasonic elements and electronic time delays to create beams by constructive and destructive interference.
As such, phased arrays offer significant technical advantages for weld testing and plant monitoring over conventional ultrasonic as the phased array beams can be steered, scanned, swept and focused electronically from a fixed probe position. Beam steering permits the selected beam angles to be optimized ultrasonically by orienting or focussing them perpendicular to the predicted discontinuities, for example lack of fusion in automated weld inspections.