Systems and methods for collaborating in a non-destructive testing system using location information

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9641569-B2
Application number	US-201313747456-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 22, 2013
Priority date	Jan 22, 2013
Publication date	May 2, 2017
Grant date	May 2, 2017

Abstract

A collaboration system for sharing data in a non-destructive testing (NDT) system may include a first computing device that may receive data that has been acquired using one or more NDT inspection devices. The first computing device may then establish a communication connection between itself and some other computing device such that the communication connection may enable the first computing device to share data with the other computing device. After establishing the communication connection, the first computing device may determine location information that corresponds to the data. Using the location information, the first computing device may then determine one or more assets that correspond to the data. The first computing device may then identify information associated with the assets and display the information.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A collaboration system, comprising:
a first computing device configured to communicate with at least one other computing device via a computing network, wherein the computing network is configured to communicatively couple a plurality of computing devices and wherein the first computing device is configured to:
receive data that has been acquired using one or more non-destructive testing (NDT) inspection devices;
establish a communication connection between the first computing device and the at least one other computing device, wherein the communication connection is configured to share data depicted on the first computing device with the at least one other computing device;
determine a first amount of time since an inspection process started;
compare the first amount of time with a second amount of time, wherein the second amount of time is determined based on empirical data associated with a previously performed inspection process;
estimate location information of the one or more NDT inspection devices based on the comparison;
determine a type of one or more assets that correspond to the data based on the location information, wherein the one or more assets comprise parts within one or more turbomachinery components being inspected using the one or more NDT inspection devices;
identify information associated with the assets; and
display the information.

2. The collaboration system of claim 1 , wherein the data comprises a live video feed that corresponds to the one or more NDT inspection devices.

3. The collaboration system of claim 1 , wherein the first computing device is configured to identify a portion of the inspection process.

4. The collaboration system of claim 3 , wherein the information related to the inspection process comprises an amount of time in which the inspection process has been in progress, workflow information or other empirical data related to the inspection process employed by the respective user, or any combination thereof.

5. The collaboration system of claim 1 , comprising one or more location determining devices configured to determine the location information.

6. The collaboration system of claim 1 , wherein the assets comprise one or more components of equipment in a NDT system, wherein the components are inspected using the one or more NDT inspection devices.

7. The collaboration system of claim 1 , wherein the first computing device is configured to display one or more data fields associated with the assets, wherein the one or more data fields are configured to receive one or more entries by a user of the computing device or the at least one other computing device.

8. The collaboration system of claim 1 , wherein the information related to the assets comprise previous inspection data for the assets, inspection data for other assets substantially similar to the assets, measurement information for the assets, measurement limits for the assets, service bulletins or updates for the assets, technical manuals or updated technical manuals for the assets, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) recommendations for the assets, or any combination thereof.

9. The collaboration system of claim 1 , wherein the information related to the assets is stored on a database that is configured to be communicatively coupled to the computing network.

10. A computing device comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions configured to be executed by a processor, wherein the program instructions are configured to:
receive, via the processor, data that has been acquired using one or more non-destructive testing (NDT) inspection devices;
establish, via the processor, a communication connection between the computing device and at least one other computing device in a computing network, wherein the communication connection is configured to share data depicted on the computing device with the at least one other computing device;
determine a first amount of time since an inspection process started;
compare the first amount of time with a second amount of time, wherein the second amount of time is determined based on empirical data associated with a previously performed inspection process;
estimate location information of the one or more NDT inspection devices based on the comparison;
determine, via the processor, a type of one or more assets that correspond to the data based on the location information, wherein the one or more assets are associated with one or more parts within one or more turbomachinery components being inspected using the one or more NDT inspection devices; and
retrieve, via the processor, information associated with the assets from a database based on the type of the one or more assets, wherein the database is configured to be communicatively coupled to the computing network.

11. The computing device of claim 10 , wherein the program instructions are configured to retrieve the information by:
displaying, via the processor, one or more graphical user interface (GUI) graphics configured to receive an input, wherein the GUI graphics indicate that the information associated with the assets is available; and
displaying, via the processor, the information when the input is received.

12. The computing device of claim 11 , wherein the information is stored, via the processor, on the computing device, the at least one other computing device, the database, or any combination thereof.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions configured to:
receive data that has been acquired using one or more non-destructive testing (NDT) inspection devices;
establish a communication connection with at least one other computing device in a computing network, wherein the communication connection is configured to share the data with the at least one other computing device;
recognize one or more parts within one or more turbomachinery components being inspected by the NDT inspection devices based on one or more images from the one or more NDT inspection devices using image recognition;
determine location information within the one or more turbomachinery components based on the one or more parts; and
identify asset information associated with the assets, wherein the information comprises one or more service bulletins for the assets, one or more updates for the assets, one or more technical manuals for the assets, one or more updated technical manuals for the assets, one or more original equipment manufacturer (OEM) recommendations for the assets, or any combination thereof; and
display the location information and the asset information.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 , wherein instructions configured to determine the location information comprises comparing the data and information related to an inspection process that corresponds to the data.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein comparing the data and the information related to the inspection process comprises:
determining an amount of time since the inspection process started;
comparing the amount of time with empirical data associated with the inspection process; and
estimating the location information based on the comparison.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the empirical data corresponds to one or more previous inspections performed on equipment associated with the data using the one or more NDT inspection devices.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the data comprises a live video

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Domke Michael Christopher
• Soorianarayanan Sekhar
• Lambdin Thomas Eldred
• Ward Robert Carroll
• Sbihli Scott Leo

Classifications

• H04L65/403 Primary

  Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences (data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15) · CPC title

• G01N29/44

  Processing the detected response signal {, e.g. electronic circuits specially adapted therefor (digital signal processing per se G06F17/00)} · CPC title

• G06Q10/06 Primary

  Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling · CPC title

• G01N23/04

  and forming images of the material · CPC title

• G01N27/9046

  by analysing electrical signals · CPC title