The UltraGauge+™—LaserLinc's much-anticipated in-process, non-destructive, ultrasonic measurement device-is ready for shipment. The UltraGauge+ is a next-generation product based on the ultrasonic device, the UltraGage™, pioneered by On Line Controls (OLC) and has been developed in a joint-engineering effort with OLC's president, John Porter.

With ultrasonic devices, users can measure tubing walls during extrusion, enabling early detection of flaws and elimination of costly product waste. And, because the UltraGauge+ is designed to work with LaserLinc's line of laser micrometers and powerful Total Vu™ software package, users can view the dynamic UltraGauge+ waveform graphs and the product cross-section-on any standard Windows PC.

The UltraGauge+ system consists of a digital signal processor,  transducer block, and laser micrometer; the digital signal processor connects via Ethernet to a PC running Total Vu software.

In a typical UltraGauge+ setup, the transducers are placed in a product's cooling tank. To build a picture of a product, the transducers emit acoustic pulses (pings), receive the pulses' echoes, and convert them to measurements. As it has been doing for years with laser micrometers, Total Vu software takes the measurements and presents them in a graphical interface, giving users the data they need to monitor their product.

The UltraGauge+ can operate as a single-channel device supporting up to eight transducers, two encoders, and two water-bath temperature probes. The UltraGauge+ can also operate as a two-channel device, with each channel supporting four transducers, one encoder, and one water-bath temperature probe. The water-bath temperature option requires an external temperature probe and internal hardware.