Within the field of ultrasound NDT, Phased Array technology has been introduced in late 90's of the previous century. Since then, NDT industry has embraced this advanced and flexible approach to ultrasound, with many benefits related to cost, performance, flexibility and technical capabilities.

For the internal inspection of pipelines, in the range of 6-10inch, Phased Array technology has not been avaialbe until recently. Several factors were involved in complicating the use of this technology in these environments:

High requirements on inspection speed and resolution resulted in system requirements that could not fit in the small tool bodies. However, recent advances in data processing chips enable us to further miniturize ultrasonic inspection systems, such that competitive inspection performance can now be acheived with Phased Array, bringing more flexibility to the market.

This presentation will update the audience on the latest developments in this field, show performance results, and will discuss the pitfalls and area's of interest on what to consider by selecting and configuring Phased Array inspection tool for the internal inspection of 6-10" diameter pipelines.