• The Journal of the Korean dental association
• /
• v.55 no.11
• /
• pp.800-807
• /
• 2017

Ultrasonography is one of the most common diagnostic tools in medical imaging with non-invasive and non-radiation loaded characteristics. In the field of dentistry, especially for periodontology, high frequency ultrasonic device can be used for several purposes such as evaluating gingival thickness, identifying the level of alveolar bone, measuring the volume of mucosa of donor site for soft tissue graft and so on. According to recent studies, it was demonstrated that ultrasonic diagnosis had both accuracy and repeatability comparable to conventional diagnostic tools. However, improvement and development of intra-oral probe suitable for adpatation to gingiva and palatal mucosa, are considered as prerequisites for diffusion of ultrasonic diagnosis in periodontology.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.223-230
• /
• 2018

This study examines a non-contact laser scanning-based ultrasound system, called an angular scan pulse-echo ultrasonic propagation imager (A-PE-UPI), that uses coincided laser beams for ultrasonic sensing and generation. A laser Doppler vibrometer is used for sensing, while a diode pumped solid state (DPSS) Q-switched laser is used for generation of thermoelastic waves. A high-speed raster scanning of up to 10-kHz is achieved using a galvano-motorized mirror scanner that allows for coincided sensing and for the generation beam to perform two-dimensional scanning without causing any harm to the surface under inspection. This process allows for the visualization of longitudinal wave propagation through-the-thickness. A pulse-echo ultrasonic wave propagation imaging algorithm (PE-UWPI) is used for on-the-fly damage visualization of the structure. The presented system is very effective for high-speed, localized, non-contact, and non-destructive inspection of aerospace structures. The system is tested on an aluminum honeycomb sandwich with disbonds and a carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) honeycomb sandwich with a layer overlap. Inspection is performed at a 10-kHz scanning speed that takes 16 seconds to scan a $100{\times}100mm^2$ area with a scan interval of 0.25 mm. Finally, a comparison is presented between angular-scanning and a linear-scanning-based pulse-echo UPI system. The results show that the proposed system can successfully visualize defects in the inspected specimens.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
• /
• v.8 no.3 s.24
• /
• pp.31-36
• /
• 2004

Electrofusion(EF) joints have been widely used as they are easy to fuse and suitable for high-quality joints for polyethylene(PE) pipes. This paper studies the cause of defects and classifies 5 types of defects. The defect detection technique for electrofusion joints of polyethylene piping is utilized by the ultrasonic phased array technique to obtain ultrasonic images of electrofusion joints. Test sample joints have been designed and fabricated using artificial defects which were made using paper. Finally, we studied the condition of electrofusion in the field and analyzed the main causes of defects. And we classified the defect types as local lack of fusion, sand inclusion, voids or air inclusion, short stab, excess penetration or excess bead.

• Journal of Applied Reliability
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.224-235
• /
• 2017

Purpose: Reliability is the most important factor to detect defects as wind turbines are deployed in large blades. The methods of detecting defects are various, such as non-destructive inspection and thermal imaging inspection. We propose the phased array ultrasonic testing method of non-destructive testing. Methods: We propose the active pressure mechanism for wind power blade. The phase array ultrasonic inspection method is used for fault detection inner blade surface. Controlled pressure of mechanism with respect to z-axis is important for guarantee the result of phase array ultrasonic inspection. The model based control and proposed mechanism are utilized for overall system stability and effectiveness of system. Result: The result of proposed pressure mechanism B is more stable than A. Convergence speed is also faster than A. Conclusion: We confirmed the performance of the proposed constant pressure mechanism through experiments. Non-destructive testing was applied to the specimen to confirm the reliability of detecting defects.

• Biomedical Engineering Letters
• /
• v.8 no.4
• /
• pp.355-364
• /
• 2018

When focusing using an ultrasonic transducer array, a main lobe is formed in the focal region of an ultrasound field, but side lobes also arise around the focal region due to the leakage. Since the side lobes cannot be completely eliminated in the focusing process, they are responsible for subsequent ultrasound image quality degradation. To improve ultrasound image quality, a signal processing strategy to reduce side lobes is definitely in demand. To this end, quantitative determination of main and side lobes is necessary. We propose a theoretically and actually error-free method of exactly discriminating and separately computing the main lobe and side lobe parts in ultrasound image by computer simulation. We refer to images constructed using the main and side lobe signals as the main and side lobe images, respectively. Since the main and side lobe images exactly represent their main and side lobe components, respectively, they can be used to evaluate ultrasound image quality. Defining the average brightness of the main and side lobe images, the conventional to side lobe image ratio, and the main to side lobe image ratio as image quality metrics, we can evaluate image characteristics in speckle images. The proposed method is also applied in assessing the performance of side lobe suppression filtering. We show that the proposed method may greatly aid in the evaluation of medical ultrasonic images using computer simulations, albeit lacking the use of actual experimental data.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
• /
• v.29 no.6
• /
• pp.355-364
• /
• 2010

Considering biological safety, it is very important to measure acoustic power from ultrasonic array probe for diagnostic ultrasound imaging applications. In this paper, to measure acoustic power from each element on array probe for ultrasonic diagnostic equipment, we reconstruct and automate the acoustic power measurement system. The acoustic power from linear, phased and curved array were measured and analyzed. As a result of measurement, the effects caused by directivity of sound beam from curved array were founded. To remove these effects, we developed and applied the correction model. The proposed system is useful to evaluate characteristics of the acoustical output power of array probe.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.27 no.5
• /
• pp.426-431
• /
• 2007

When a high-energy ultrasound propagates through a solid body that contains a crack or a delamination, the two faces of the defect do not ordinarily vibrate in unison, and dissipative phenomena such as friction, rubbing and clapping between the faces will convert some of the vibrational energy to heat. By combining this heating effect with infrared imaging, one can detect a subsurface defect in material in real time. In this paper a realtime detection of the brazing defect of thin Inconel plates using the UIR (ultrasonic infrared imaging) technology is described. A low frequency (23 kHz) ultrasonic transducer was used to infuse the welded Inconel plates with a short pulse of sound for 280 ms. The ultrasonic source has a maximum power of 2 kW. The surface temperature of the area under inspection is imaged by an infrared camera that is coupled to a fast frame grabber in a computer. The hot spots, which are a small area around the bound between the two faces of the Inconel plates near the defective brazing point and heated up highly, are observed. And the weak thermal signal is observed at the defect position of brazed plate also. Using the image processing technology such as background subtraction average and image enhancement using histogram equalization, the position of defective brazing regions in the thin Inconel plates can be located certainly.

• PNF and Movement
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.9-19
• /
• 2011

Purpose : To provide the understanding of abdominal hollowing exercise, this study reviewed literatures related with TrA and AHE. Methods : We reviewed the prior studies related with TrA and AHE. Results : Crook lying is easier to facilitate isolated contraction of TrA from EO than the others. The contraction of the TrA is shown to be the highest muscle activity in prone lying. Additionally, wall support standing(or standing) is shown a higher contraction of entire abdominal muscle than the others. However, learning and teaching correct AHE have innate difficulties in four positions. Conclusion : We have to consider that Rehabilitative Ultrasonic Imaging(RUSI) can facilitate accurate AHE. In the country, physical therapists will be necessary more training and efforts to use ultrasound because very few use ultrasound in clinical field. It will be necessary to study the effects of RUSI feedback and examine effects of exercises in combination with AHE.

• Biomedical Science Letters
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.23-29
• /
• 2005

Molecular imaging with targeted contrast agents enables tissues to be distinguished by detecting specific cell-surface receptors. In the present study, a ligand-targeted acoustic nanoparticle system is used to identify angioplasty-induced expression of tissue factor by smooth muscle cell within carotid arteries. Pig carotid arteries were overstretched with balloon catheters, treated with tissue factor-targeted or a control nanoparticle system, and imaged with intravascular ultrasound before and after treatment. Tissue factor-targeted emulsion bound and increased the echogenicity and gray-scale levels of overstretched smooth muscle cell within the tunica media, versus no change in contralateral control arteries. Expression of stretch-induced tissue factor in carotid artery media was confirmed by immunohistochemistry. The potential for abnormal thrombogenicity of balloon-injured arteries, as reflected by smooth muscle expression of tissue factor, was imaged using a novel, targeted, nanoparticulate ultrasonic contrast agent.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
• /
• v.27 no.3E
• /
• pp.84-94
• /
• 2008

Displacement estimation is a crucial step in ultrasonic strain imaging. The displacement between a pre- and postcompression signal in the current data window is estimated by first shifting the postcompression signal by the displacement obtained in the previous data window to reduce their decorrelation and then determining the remaining part of the displacement through autocorrelation and conversion of phase difference into time delay. However, since strain image quality tends to vary with the amount of compression applied, we propose two new methods for enhancing strain image quality, i.e., displacement normalization and adaptive persistence. Both in vitro and in vivo experiments are carried out to acquire ultrasound data and produce strain images in real time under the application of quasi static compression. The experimental results demonstrate that the methods are quite effective in improving strain image quality and thus can be applied to implementing an ultrasound elasticity imaging system that operates in real time.