Past Projects
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Perth, Western Australia. Ph/Fax (int): +61 8 9367 1578 For more information, contact: ntsu@amnet.net.au
Past Projects
The following list of past projects provides an indication of the capabilities of N.T.S. Ultrasonics Pty Ltd. Our list of past projects includes: 
Ultrasonic cleaners. 
Our client needs to run several ultrasonic cleaners 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This application is very demanding on ultrasonic cleaning equipment, and a number of systemsfrom other manufacturers failed. With poor reliability and inadequate backup there was ongoing frustration for our client, who asked N.T.S. Ultrasonics Pty Ltd for a new cleaner designed specifically to handle the workload. They now run several heavy duty 25 litre ultrasonic cleaning systems designed, supplied, and serviced by N.T.S. Ultrasonics Pty Ltd.
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25 litre heavy duty ultrasonic cleaner
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Acoustic emission for controlling drying timber. 
Our client wanted to put acoustic emission counting instruments into timber drying kilns to provide data for controlling the drying rate of the timber. We were asked to design equipment that could detect acoustic emissions that occurred in the timber during the drying process. Several different versions of this instrument were designed and supplied over several years. The photograph shows one of these: a dual channel acoustic emission system.
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2 channel AE event monitor
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These acoustic emission systems required the design of a transducer with integrated preamplifier electronics that could withstand the aggressive environment found in the timber drying kilns: an outcome NTS Ultrasonics successfully achieved for the client. The preamplifier received power and transmitted its output signal through a single coaxial cable. The photograph shows the transducer face and the internal layout.
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AE sensor with integrated electronics
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Zooplankton size determination. 
Our client in Japan was engaged in a project to estimate the biomass of zooplankton in the ocean. For this work they required an ultrasonic instrument that allowed seawater to pass through a test cell where the size of individual zooplankton could be estimated and the numbers of zooplankton in different size categories counted. A prototype instrument was developed that employed an innovative measurement technique developed by N.T.S. Ultrasonics to extract the relevant size information. The photograph shows the electronics module of the prototype.
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Prototype ultrasonic zooplankton analyzer electronics module
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Doppler flow meter. 
Our client was a manufacturer of environmental monitoring instrumentation who wanted to add an ultrasonic flow meter to their catalogue. We developed an ultrasonic Doppler flow measurement circuit and transducer design that our client incorporated with their own datalogger design. This flow meter and subsequent upgrades have been sold all around the world.
Longitudinal stress measurement in rail. 
The photograph shows a prototype ultrasonic system designed and built for use by an organization based in the USA that was engaged in research into longitudinal stress measurement (LSM) in rail. This organisation had developed an innovative approach to longitudinal stress measurement, and this instrument was designed and built to meet their particular requirements.
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Prototype ultrasonic LSM system
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Ultrasonic tube inspection. 
We have worked extensively with ultrasonic tube inspection systems including designing new probe assemblies and electronics. The photograph shows a modification we made to the popular IRIS style of ultrasonic tube inspection system to allow a true B-scan of the tube wall to be displayed.
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Electronics for an ultrasonic tube inspection system
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The photograph shows an add-on module requested by another client for their conventional analog IRIS system. N.T.S. Ultrasonics designed and supplied the module that provides a digital readout of minimum tube wall thickness and allows alarms to be set.
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Tube inspection add-on module
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Ultrasonic rail flaw detection. 
N.T.S. Ultrasonics works extensively with clients engaged in ultrasonic rail flaw detection. To meet various clients' needs, we have: designed the electronic hardware for a new DSP based ultrasonic rail flaw detection system, investigated improvements to the wheel probe design, designed an automatic wheel probe alignment system that automatically tracks the position of the rail relative to the probe system and adjusts the position of the probes, designed several automatic gain control circuits, and designed a chart recorder interface for the compact ultrasonic rail flaw detection system shown in the photograph to the right.
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One of the RFD systems worked on by N.T.S. Ultrasonics Pty Ltd
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Ultrasonic tyre inspection. 
We have built several ultrasonic C scan systems for the inspection of used truck tyres prior to retreading. These systems identify delaminations, holes, and other damage. The photograph shows one of the systems.
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Ultrasonic tyre inspection system
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The image on the right shows the main menu from the software for one version of the tyre inspection machine.
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Main menu from the ultrasonic tyre inspection system
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Multi-channel computer controlled ultrasonic system. 
An NDT company wanted a computer controlled multi-channel ultrasonic non-destructive testing instrument that they could write their own software for. N.T.S. Ultrasonics supplied the four ultrasonic/two encoder channel system shown in the photograph, along with a shell program written in Borland Builder C++ that they could use as the starting point for their own software development. The instrument is suitable for a wide range of applications including corrosion mapping, weld inspection, TOFD, B scan, and C scan.
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Multi-channel computer controlled ultrasonic system
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Remote pulser/preamplifier 
This remote pulser/preamplier module was designed for a client invloved with remote underwater ultrasonic inspection. The circuit sits in an underwater instrumentation pod connected to the topside electronics by an umbilical cord that can be over 100 metres long. It conditions the ultrasonic transmit and receive signals for TOFD applications. The circuit results in a significantly improved signal to noise ratio which improves the inspection results.
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Remote ultrasonic pulser preamplifier
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