Sonatest Wheel Probes

Unique Patented Wheelprobe™

Sonatest unique patented Wheelprobe™

Rolling in Innovation

Leading the way in ultrasonic transducer innovation, the new Wheelprobe™ series has been launched by Sonatest Ltd. Developed in conjunction with leaders in aerospace technology, whilst focussing on the increased use of composite materials, these probes enable rapid and intuitive scanning in the testing environment, producing outstanding quantitative data on material integrity.

Corrosion Wheel Probe The new Corrosion Wheelprobe, which has been specifically designed for Pipeline Corrosion Mapping applications. Continuing the proven success of Sonatest's WheelProbe range, this new model is proving to be unrivalled in the field of corrosion mapping in terms of speed and ease of use, in addition to achieving excellent results. Ergonomically designed, the Corrosion Wheel Probe offers smooth handling, good control and comfortable grip positions, for scanning around pipes and for easy overhead work. Circumferential and Longitudinal scanning are both completed rapidly and can be performed on pipes with diameters between 3 and 32 inches. Fast and easy configuration for different pipe diameters is adjsutable in the field, thanks to the Pipe Diameter Scale on the instrument itself, which enables quick adjustments and fine tuning.
Single Element Wheel Probes The single element wheel probe uses Sonatest NDTS rubber technology, for near-dry Ultrasonic coupling. Using a single element 15mm immersion probe, the Single Element Wheel Probe is designed to operate between 1MHz and 10MHz and is available with a low pressure 38mm tyre (shown) and a higher pressure 25mm tyre. It is complete with an optical position encoder and can be connected to any conventional flaw detector such as the Sonatest MasterScan.
Array Wheel Probe 50mm array Our famous patented array wheel probe is the result of many years of research and careful design, in consultancy with our RapidScan2 customers in the aerospace market. It features a wide conformable rubber tyre, which is acoustically matched to water, providing low loss coupling into the test part for high quality results, without the need for gel or large quantities of water. It is ideally suited to hand scanning of large flat or slightly curved parts, covering large areas quickly and efficiently. A central spring loaded roller, ensures consistent coupling pressure across the sensor, even when scanning narrow parts. Incorporating a 64 element phased array with 0.8mm resolution and a high resolution position encoder, the Array Wheel Probe provides high quality, high resolution data.
Array Wheel Probe 100mm array For applications where very larger area coverage is required, the 100mm Array Wheel Probe is available. Due to its larger size it is best suited to flat horizontal components, but will scan curved parts too, with a simple adjustment of the array angle. Employing a larger, wider tyre made from the same Sonatest NDTS rubber as our 50mm Wheel Probe, excellent coupling and data quality is achieved. This RapidScan2 sensor uses a 128 element phased array with 0.8mm resolution and a position encoder, providing twice the area coverage as the 50mm Wheel Probe, but with the same resolution.
Sliding Bubbler Probe 50mm array The Sliding Bubbler Probe is designed to work with the RapidScan3D and the FaroArm scanner and is used for rapid coverage of areas that are inaccessible to the Wheel Probe such as webs, T-sections and confined regions. Using a 50mm array with 64 elements, it produces excellent data quality and coupling is helped by two spring loaded rollers, which ensure that the sensor is properly positioned on the surface of the part. A water feed is used, which supplies a bubbler to produce a small pool of coupling water around the active area of the sensor.
Miniature Bubbler Probe 40mm array Scanning surfaces with curvatures is often a challenge for Ultrasonic NDT. The trade-off between large area coverage and surface profile means that sometimes physically smaller sensors produce the best results. The 40mm Bubbler Probe has been designed for difficult to access areas and for curved components. It requires a water feed and this provides exceptionally smooth operation on most metallic and composite surfaces. A spring loaded encoder wheel ensures that scan data is registered in the correct location and the lightweight design minimizes operator fatigue.
Radius Probe Many composite structures have radii which pose inspection challenges for Ultrasonic NDT. The radius probe shown here is designed to scan 5mm radii and uses four single element focused transducers, to cover the radius to inspect for detection of defects >1mm. A water irrigation system is included in the body of the sensor and ensures that each transducer is optimally coupled to the radius. This solution avoids the use of expensive curved arrays, by combining conventional immersion probes with innovative mechanical design. Sonatest NDTS will develop its range of radius probes, to provide a solution for different radius geometries and defect size.
Stringer Inspection Probe The stringer inspection probe has been developed in consultation with aerospace manufacturers, for scanning long stringer components where access to the stringer radius is critical. This sensor can be supplied with a standard 50mm array and a large 100mm array. The sensor can be supplied with one or two high resolution spring loaded encoders, to ensure that 100% coverage at each end of the part to inspect. Using a solid hard-wearing rubber shoe and moulded plastic hand grip, this probe is also suited to scanning curved parts.

Description	Part #	Saved	Price	Select Option	Add to
Sonatest Wheel Probes	UT-ST-WHEELPROBES		Request Pricing