Ultrasonic measurement and testing

Calibration for ultrasound equipment

NPL provides a comprehensive range of calibration, measurement and consultancy services for hydrophones, radiation force balances and medical ultrasonic equipment. This equipment needs to meet the stringent requirements of testing for compliance with regulatory, safety and quality standards, and to provide manufacturers and users with tailored solutions for measuring acoustic output parameters at all stages of product development and manufacture.

Our unique range of hydrophones and beam-plotting tanks enable us to characterise ultrasound fields and materials in the frequency range 500 kHz to 60 MHz.

We provide industries, hospitals and research groups with calibration services for ultrasound power measurement devices and the measurement of ultrasonic output power itself, generated by customer systems ranging from prototype transducers to reference sources. Power measurement and calibration capability is provided covering the frequency range 0.5 to 20 MHz, and power levels 10 mW to 20 W.

Acoustic holography 

• For characterising medical ultrasound sources and the three-dimensional fields they radiate
  
  

 Acoustic output measurement 

• Testing of diagnostic and therapeutic devices for FDA approval and CE marking
• 3D field mapping, Mechanical and thermal indices, and Pressure / intensity / power parameters
• Check source calibration, including pulsed and continuous wave, hydrophone waveform deconvolution and radiation force balance power measurement
• According to IEC 60601-2-37, IEC 62359, FDA 510k, IEC 62127-1:2007+AMD1:2013, IEC 61161:2013, 60601-2-62:2015, TS_62556_2014 and IEC 62555:2013

Ultrasound exposure testing

• For active implantable medical devices
• Following BS EN 45502-1:2015 and ISO 14708-1:2014

Characterisation of material properties

• Measurement of attenuation, reflection coefficient and frequency dependent speed of sound in solids, gels and liquids
• According to IEC TS 63081.

Publications

K. A. Wear, A. Shah, A. M. Ivory and C. Baker, "Hydrophone Spatial Averaging Correction for Acoustic Exposure Measurements From Arrays—Part II: Validation for ARFI and Pulsed Doppler Waveforms," in IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, vol. 68, no. 3, pp. 376-388, March 2021.

K. A. Wear, A. Shah and C. Baker, "Correction for Hydrophone Spatial Averaging Artifacts for Circular Sources," in IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, vol. 67, no. 12, pp. 2674-2691, Dec. 2020.

Wear KA, Baker C, Miloro P. Directivity and Frequency-Dependent Effective Sensitive Element Size of Membrane Hydrophones: Theory Versus Experiment. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2019;66(11):1723-1730. 
Baêsso RM, Costa-Felix RPB, Miloro P, Zeqiri B. Ultrasonic parameter measurement as a means of assessing the quality of biodiesel production. Fuel 2019;241

A. M. Hurrell and S. Rajagopal, "The Practicalities of Obtaining and Using Hydrophone Calibration Data to Derive Pressure Waveforms," in IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, vol. 64, no. 1, pp. 126-140, Jan. 2017.

Don’t see what you are looking for? Our diverse skill set enables us to provide bespoke solutions. Please contact us to discuss your requirements.

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Find out more about NPL's research ultrasound

Find out more about NPL's ultrasound services