System and method of non-destructive inspection with a visual scanning guide

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10156548-B2
Application number	US-201313955399-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 31, 2013
Priority date	Jul 31, 2013
Publication date	Dec 18, 2018
Grant date	Dec 18, 2018

Abstract

Disclosed is an inspection device and method of guiding an inspection probe according to a predetermined inspection plan. The device is couple with a probe which is to be moved according to the inspection plan on the test object, the device including an inspection guide unit having a guide control unit, a position encoding such as a 3-D camera and visual feedback eyewear. The method including facilitating a virtual display of the inspection plan onto the visual feedback eyewear, moving the probe following the virtual display of the inspection plan, sensing sensed probe positions in real time of the inspection using the 3-D camera and validating the sensed probe position against the inspection plan using the control module. Then the information of the step of validating, such as those spots at which the probe is moved out of the tolerance of the inspection plan, is displayed on the feedback eyewear.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-destructive inspection and testing system configured for inspecting or measuring a test object according to a predetermined inspection plan during an inspection operation conducted by an operator, the system comprising:
a probe configured to emit ultrasonic energy, the ultrasonic energy is configured to have at least one beam with electronically steered ultrasonic beam angle, to the test object and receive corresponding response signals from the test object,
a data acquisition unit configured to control the beam angles and to receive response signals from the probe,
a data processor, which further comprises
an inspection preparation module configured to receive geometric information regarding the test object and to provide the predetermined inspection plan, and
an inspection guide control module configured to receive the predetermined inspection plan,

a position encoding unit sensing and providing the probe's sensed position during the inspection operation to the control module,
a visual feedback viewing unit configured to display information including the predetermined inspection plan to the operator, and to allow the operator to visualize and hence to position the probe according to the predetermined inspection plan, wherein the control module is configured to validate the probe's sensed position in respect to the predetermined inspection plan and to validate if the corresponding steered beam angle is within a predetermined beam orientation tolerance, and if not, to calculate a corrected steering angle based on the probe's sensed position, and communicate to the data acquisition unit to automatically correct the beam angle with the corrected steering angle.

2. The inspection and testing system of claim 1 , wherein the inspection preparation module is executed by the data processor.

3. The inspection and testing system of claim 1 , wherein the inspection preparation module includes off-line or manual computation.

4. The inspection and testing system of claim 1 , wherein the control module is further configured to receive inspection tolerance of the deviation from the predetermined inspection plan and to validate the sensed probe position in respect to the tolerance.

5. The inspection and testing system of claim 4 , wherein the control module is further configured to instruct the visual feedback unit to display a warning of when the sensed probe position is out of the inspection tolerance.

6. The inspection and testing system of claim 4 , wherein the control module is further configured to instruct the visual feedback viewing unit to display a portion of the predetermined inspection plan for which the probe's position is out of the tolerance indicating the inspection has been missed.

7. The inspection and testing system of claim 4 , wherein the control module is further configured to instruct the visual feedback viewing unit to erase portions of the predetermined inspection plan for which the inspection is deemed properly done.

8. The inspection and testing system of claim 1 , wherein the inspection plan is a trajectory along which the probe should be moved, and the position encoding unit is configured to sense and provide real time information to the control module regarding the probe's sensed location in respect to the test object.

9. The inspection and testing system of claim 1 , wherein the inspection plan is a plot of orientations according to which the probe should be positioned, and the position encoding unit is configured to sense and provide real time information to the control module regarding the probe's sensed orientations of the probe.

10. The inspection and testing system of claim 1 , wherein the inspection plan includes a trajectory and a plot of orientations according to which the probe should be positioned and the position encoding unit is configured to sense and provide real time information to the control module regarding the probe's sensed positions in respect to the test object.

11. The inspection and testing system of claim 1 , wherein the data acquisition module is configured to receive the inspection signals from the probe and to transmit probe setup information from the control module to the probe.

12. The inspection and testing system of claim 1 , wherein the control module further includes a circuitry and/or at least one module for processing inspection data samples based on the inspection signals.

13. The inspection and testing system of claim 12 , the control module is further configured to produce a warning or alert if an anomaly is found, and instruct the visual feedback viewing unit to display such warning or alert.

14. The inspection and testing system of claim 1 , wherein the position encoding unit is a 3 dimensional camera.

15. The inspection and testing system of claim 1 , wherein the visual feedback viewing unit is an augmented reality eyewear.

16. The inspection and testing system of claim 1 , wherein the system is an ultrasonic phased array system.

17. The inspection and testing system of claim 1 , wherein the system is an ultrasonic inspection instrument.

18. The inspection and testing system of claim 1 , wherein the system is an eddy current inspection device.

19. The inspection and testing system of claim 1 , wherein the system is an X-ray analytical device.

20. A method of conducting an inspection on a test object with a predetermined inspection plan by using an ultrasonic inspection device, the method comprising the steps of:
coupling the device with an ultrasonic probe which is configured to beam energy at predetermined steering angles, and the probe is configured to be movable according to the inspection plan on the test object,
providing an inspection plan by receiving a geometric definition regarding the test object,
providing the predetermined inspection plan on the test object to a control module,
facilitating a virtual display of the inspection plan onto a visual feedback viewing unit,
moving the probe following the virtual display of the inspection plan,
sensing sensed probe positions in real time of the inspection,
validating the sensed probe position against the inspection plan,
calculating a corrected ultrasonic steering angle based on the sensed probe positions, and electronically correcting the steering angles with the corrected steering angle if the sensed probe position is not within a predetermined tolerance of the inspection plan,
displaying information including of the step of validating on the visual feedback viewing unit.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the visual feedback viewing unit further includes a position encoding unit.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the step of sensing sensed probe positions is conducted by the position encoding unit, and the sensed positions are provided to the control module which performs the step of validating and further providing alert information to be displayed on the visual feedback viewing unit.

23. The method of claim 21 , wherein the inspection plan includes a trajectory line of probe locations and a plot of probe orientations and the step of validating includes validating both the sensed probe locations and probe orientations.

Assignees

• Langlois Pierre
• Lepage Benoit
• St Laurent Martin
• Habermehl Jason
• Olympus Scient Solutions Americas Inc

Inventors

• Langlois Pierre
• Lepage Benoit
• St-Laurent Martin
• Habermehl Jason

Classifications

• G01N2291/267

  Welds · CPC title

• G01N2291/2638

  Complex surfaces · CPC title

• G01N29/043 Primary

  in the interior, e.g. by shear waves · CPC title

• G01N29/262

  by electronic orientation or focusing, e.g. with phased arrays (phased arrays per se G10K11/34) · CPC title

• G01N29/24

  Probes {(transducers for acoustic waves B06B, G10K; for measuring G01H)} · CPC title