Automatic Ultrasonic Robotic Array

The Automatic Ultrasonic Robotic Array (AURA) project aimed to deliver a mobile robotic platform capable of deploying a bespoke ultrasonic transducer to carry out 45 - 70 degree shear wave inspection of girth and saddle welds in the nuclear and power generation industry. The project was a collaboration between: Alba Ultrasound Ltd, a world leader in array manufacture for underwater SONAR; Doosan Babcock Power Systems, as an end user with a high level of expertise in ultrasonic inspection of welds in the nuclear and power generation industry; and the University of Strathclyde, who entered into the project as an industrial partner through a planned spin out organisation QUEST Robotics, led by Gordon Dobie.

Project to develop a bespoke robotic platform capable of carrying out ultrasonic inspections of welds using a custom ultrasonic transducer.

A bespoke robotic platform was designed and tested; a new type of ultrasonic transducer was developed and tested; a 16 channel wireless phased array controller was developed, with the capability to increase the number of channels through multiplexing; significant knowledge of acoustic material properties was obtained.