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I often hear the question, “what can I detect with ultrasound?”. The fact is, ultrasound is such a versatile condition monitoring technology we tend to ask it to do things beyond its capabilities. And that’s fine because I firmly believe every technology should be pushed beyond its limits. It’s how we get better.
But to help answer the question, “what can I detect?”, I ask a simple question in return. Is your application FIT?

Now you’re asking “what does he mean by is it FIT”?

Let me explain. FIT is an acronym for Friction, Impacting, and Turbulence. Basically, if the defect you are searching for generates any of these three phenomena, then ultrasound is a solution FIT to solve your problem.
Let’s try a super easy example. You are tasked with finding compressed air leaks in your factory. Air lines run every which way throughout your deafeningly noisy plant so you can’t hear the leaks. You could run your hand along all the pipes and anywhere you feel the cool air rushing out you’d know you found a leak. Or you could spray soapy water on the pipe joints and look for bubbles. A third solution could be to wait for a plant shutdown and listen for the turbulent flow of air leaks when everything is quiet.

The BEST solution is to ask, “do compressed air leaks produce Friction, Impacting, or Turbulence?”. That’s it! Due to the difference in pressure on either side of the compressed air line, anywhere there is a leak there is turbulent flow. Ultrasound detectors are really good at detecting turbulent flow in high noise environments. There’s no need to run your hand along the pipe, reach for the bubble solution, or wait for a shutdown. Go grab your SDT Detector and start tagging leaks today.

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by Allan Rienstra - SDT Ultrasound Solutions