Waygate Krautkramer USM 36 Ultrasonic Flaw Detector

Overview

The Krautkramer USM 36 is the universal portable ultrasonic flaw detector from Waygate Technologies, a Baker Hughes business. It combines the rugged hardware of the long-established Krautkrämer portable flaw detector line with a modern operating platform and the largest display screen in its class. The instrument is designed to be the everyday workhorse of NDT inspectors, covering weld inspection, corrosion and thickness measurement, castings and forgings, and the inspection of special materials with one familiar tool.

Seven Star LLC supplies the Krautkramer USM 36 to inspection companies, refinery and pipeline maintenance teams, fabrication yards and power plants in Oman and across the GCC. We provide engineering support in Muscat, helping customers choose the right version, probes and accessories for their inspection codes and sites in Sohar, Duqm, Salalah and the interior oil and gas fields.

Measurement Principle

Like all pulse-echo flaw detectors, the Krautkramer USM 36 excites an ultrasonic probe with a short electrical pulse. The probe sends a sound wave into the test piece, and reflections from flaws, back walls and geometry return to the probe and are displayed as an A-scan. The position of an echo along the time base, combined with the material velocity (adjustable from 250 to 16,000 m/s), gives the sound path, depth and surface distance to the reflector, while the echo height relative to a reference indicates its reflectivity. A standard spike pulser is fitted, and an optional square-wave pulser, adjustable from 120 to 300 V and 30 to 500 ns, improves penetration in attenuating materials.

Evaluation methods on the Krautkramer USM 36 depend on the version. The most advanced version works in DAC, AWS and DGS modes, supports the patented trueDGS probe technology for flaw sizing with the DGS method and includes Phantom Echo Detection. Phantom-PRF identifies false echoes caused by multiple reflections in low-attenuation materials, which is particularly useful when inspecting long, fine-grained forgings where ghost echoes can otherwise be mistaken for defects.

Engineering Design of the Krautkramer USM 36

The Krautkramer USM 36 has a 7-inch screen with 800 × 480 pixel resolution, and the whole active area of 152.4 × 91.44 mm is available for the A-scan, so signals remain readable in bright sunlight. Operation keeps the rotary knobs of previous Krautkrämer models, while the function keys have been reduced to a simple six-key keyboard. The user interface is shared with the USM Go and USM Go+, and set-up data from those instruments can be transferred directly, so technicians move between instruments with very little retraining.

The housing of the Krautkramer USM 36 measures 255 × 177 × 100 mm, weighs 2.2 kg including battery and is protected to IP66 according to IEC 60529. The Li-ion battery provides about 13 hours of operation with an internal charger, and the unit can also run from the 100 to 240 VAC power adapter. Probe connections are two LEMO-1 or two BNC sockets, and data is stored on a removable SD card, with USB and VGA connections for transfer and external display.

Key Features

The Krautkramer USM 36 provides the following capabilities for field and workshop inspection:

• A 7-inch, 800 × 480 pixel colour display that is the largest viewable A-scan in its class.
• Familiar rotary knobs and a simplified six-key keyboard for fast, intuitive adjustment of gain and range.
• Set-up files that can be transferred directly from USM Go and USM Go+ instruments with the same user interface.
• Three versions, with the most advanced offering DAC, AWS and DGS modes, trueDGS probe support and Phantom Echo Detection.
• Gates A and B as standard, with an optional third gate C triggered by gate A or B.
• Peak, flank, J-flank and first peak measurement modes for precise sound path readings.
• Reports as JPG or BMP screen shots and A-scan video recording on an SD card, plus USB and VGA connectivity.
• IP66 protection, operation from -10 to +55 °C and a 2.2 kg weight for use in deserts, offshore and humid tropics.

Industrial Applications

The Krautkramer USM 36 is used for weld inspection and corrosion measurement in power generation and petrochemical plants, for castings and forgings in the metals and automotive industries, and for special materials in aerospace. In weld inspection, colour-coded gates, curves and patented colour coding of the legs for angle beam testing make the location of indications clear, with sound path, surface distance, depth and leg number shown on screen. For corrosion work with dual element probes, the screen shows both the thickness value and the A-scan, while minimum capture and auto-freeze help on scans and hot surfaces.

In Oman the Krautkramer USM 36 suits third-party inspection companies, pipeline and tank inspection crews, refinery turnarounds in Sohar, gas plants in the interior, desalination and power stations along the coast, and fabrication shops working to ASME, AWS and EN codes. Seven Star LLC supplies the Krautkramer USM 36 together with related Waygate Technologies and Dakota NDT equipment, such as the Waygate USM Go+ ultrasonic flaw detector, the Dakota FX80-DL bench-top flaw detector and the Waygate DM5E ultrasonic thickness gauge.

Technical Specifications

The Krautkramer USM 36 values below are taken from the Waygate Technologies USM 36 brochure.

How to Order

To order the Krautkramer USM 36, send Seven Star LLC an RFQ with the version you need, your connector preference (LEMO or BNC), the evaluation options required by your inspection codes and any probes or calibration blocks. Our team in Muscat will confirm the configuration, availability and lead time, and you can download the USM 36 brochure from this page. Seven Star LLC supplies Waygate Technologies inspection equipment across Oman and the GCC with engineering support in Muscat.