Handheld Ultrasound Inspection System for Position Resolved 3D Imaging on Arbitrary Surfaces

Handheld ultrasonic testing of complexly shaped or hard-to-reach components is frequently limited by the inability to accurately and rapidly acquire spatial representation of the component geometry and combine it with ultrasonic images during the scan. Our approach addresses this challenge with a novel ultrasound solution: a hand-guided, ultrasound glove that integrates flexible ultrasonic transducers, inertial position sensors, and fast reconstruction algorithms. By coupling local ultrasound signals with real-time positional information, the system delivers spatial ultrasound images across arbitrarily curved surfaces, directly on-site, without disassembly or invasive procedures. With ultrasonic transducers on several fingers, various measurement modes are possible, e.g., reflective and transmissive measurements.