A tool centre point calibration method of a dual-robot NDT system for semi-enclosed workpiece testing

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Canzhi Guo ◽  
Chunguang Xu ◽  
Dingguo Xiao ◽  
Hanming Zhang ◽  
Juan Hao
Keyword(s):  
Materials Science ◽  
Ultrasonic Transducer ◽  
Calibration Method ◽  
Coordinate Frame ◽  
Destructive Testing ◽  
Ultrasonic Probe ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Tool Centre Point ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Non Destructive

Purpose With the development of materials science and technology, composite workpieces are increasingly used. This paper aims to discuss a non-destructive testing (NDT) solution for semi-enclosed composite workpieces. A dual-robot system with one robot that grips an irregular-shaped ultrasonic probe (tool) is established. Design/methodology/approach According to robotics, this paper defines the orientations of the discrete points coordinate frames in trajectory and proposes an orientation constraint rule between the tool coordinate frame and the scanning trajectory. A four-posture calibration method for calibrating the transformation relationship of the irregular-shaped tool frame relative to the robot flange frame is presented in detail. Findings Calibration and verification experiments were performed, and good-quality C-scan images were obtained by applying the constraint rule and the calibration method. Experimental results show that the calibration method used to determine the tool centre point (TCP) position is correct, effective and efficient; the TCP orientation constraint rule can ensure the extension pole of the irregular-shaped ultrasonic probe is parallel to the axis of the semi-enclosed cylindrical workpieces; and the ultrasonic transducer axis is perpendicular to the surface of the workpiece. Originality/value This paper proposes a constraint method for the posture of an irregular-shaped tool in this scheme. Theoretical foundations for the four-posture calibration method of the irregular-shaped tool for dual-robot-assisted ultrasonic NDT are presented in detail. This strategy has been successfully applied in the NDT experiment of semi-enclosed composite workpieces.

A solution to the hand-eye calibration in the manner of the absolute orientation problem

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cengiz Deniz ◽  
Mustafa Cakir
Keyword(s):  
Calibration Method ◽  
Non Destructive Testing ◽  
Destructive Testing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Absolute Orientation ◽  
Projection Error ◽  
Quaternion Representation ◽  
Non Destructive ◽  
Calibration Equations ◽  
Mathematical Error

Purpose This paper aims to introduce a simple hand-eye calibration method that can be easily applied with different objective functions. Design/methodology/approach The hand-eye calibration is solved by using the closed form absolute orientation equations. Instead of processing all samples together, the proposed method goes through all minimal solution sets. Final result is chosen after evaluating the solution set for arbitrary objectives. In this stage, outliers can be excluded optionally if more accuracy is desired. Findings The proposed method is very flexible and gives more accurate and convenient results than the existing solutions. The mathematical error expression defined by the calibration equations may not be valid in practice, where especially systematic distortions are present. It is shown in the simulations that the solution which results the least mathematical error in systems may have incorrect, incompatible results in the presence of practical demands. Research limitations/implications The performance of the calibration performed with the proposed method is compared with the reference methods in the literature. When the back-projection error is benchmarked, which corresponds to the point repeatability, the proposed approach is considered as the most successful method among all others. Due to its robustness, it is decided to make tooling-sensor calibrations by the recommended method, in the robotic non-destructive testing station in Ford-OTOSAN Kocaeli Plant Body Shop Department. Originality/value Arranging the well-known AX = XB calibration equation in quaternion representation as Q_A = Q_x × Q_B × Q_x reveals another common spatial rotation equation. In this way, absolute orientation solution satisfies the hand-eye calibration equations. The proposed solution is not presented in the literature as a standalone hand-eye calibration method, although some researchers drop a hint to the relative formulations.

Capability of non-destructive techniques in evaluating damage to composite sandwich structures

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 356-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petr Bělský ◽  
Martin Kadlec
Keyword(s):  
Service Use ◽  
Sandwich Structures ◽  
Impact Damage ◽  
Lower Sensitivity ◽  
Destructive Testing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Aerospace Applications ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
The Many ◽  
Non Destructive

Purpose Defects can be caused by a number of factors, such as maintenance damage, ground handling and foreign objects thrown up from runways during an in-service use of composite aerospace structures. Sandwich structures are capable of absorbing large amounts of energy under impact loads, resulting in high structural crashworthiness. This situation is one of the many reasons why sandwich structures are extensively used in many aerospace applications nowadays. Their non-destructive inspection is often more complex. Hence, the choice of a suitable non-destructive testing (NDT) method can play a key role in successful damage detection. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach A comparison of detection capabilities of selected C-scan NDT methods applicable for inspections of sandwich structures was performed using water-squirt, air-coupled and pitch-catch (PC) ultrasonic techniques, supplemented by laser shearography (LS). Findings Test results showed that the water-squirt and PC techniques are the most suitable methods for core damage evaluation. Meanwhile, the air-coupled method showed lower sensitivity for the detection of several artificial defects and impact damage in honeycomb sandwiches when unfocussed transducers were used. LS can detect most of the defects in the panels, but it has lower sensitivity and resolution for honeycomb core-type sandwiches. Originality/value This study quantitatively compared the damage size indication capabilities of sandwich structures by using various NDT techniques. Results of the realised tests can be used for successful selection of a suitable NDT method. Combinations of the presented methods revealed most defects.

The Development of an Automatic Ultrasonic Non-Destructive Testing System

2014 ◽  
Vol 599-601 ◽  
pp. 1120-1123
Author(s):  
Xiang Ming Zheng ◽  
Jie Hu ◽  
Yao Sheng Chen
Keyword(s):  
Control System ◽  
Data Acquisition ◽  
Work Piece ◽  
Testing System ◽  
Non Destructive Testing ◽  
Destructive Testing ◽  
Ultrasonic Detection ◽  
Ultrasonic Probe ◽  
Data Acquisition Card ◽  
Non Destructive

The testing principle of metal ultrasonic is using ultrasonic probe to scan in the work-piece surface, and acquire the probe of reflection signal which is sent to computer to analysis by the ultrasonic data acquisition card so as to detect and locate defects in surface of the parts. This system designed a unique scanning structure using the principle of ultrasonic detection and scans the hardware and software control system to realize internal shape detection for different shape of work-piece.

Ultrasonic Transducer Employing a ZnO-film/Al-foil Composite Structure for Non-Destructive Testing

1990 ◽  
Vol 29 (S1) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Mitsuru Yamamoto ◽  
Ken-ya Hashimoto ◽  
Velayutham Rajendran ◽  
Masatsune Yamaguchi
Keyword(s):  
Composite Structure ◽  
Ultrasonic Transducer ◽  
Non Destructive Testing ◽  
Zno Film ◽  
Destructive Testing ◽  
Non Destructive

Detection Resolution Analysis of Scanning Acoustic Microscopy Used in Electronic Packaging

2014 ◽  
Vol 536-537 ◽  
pp. 272-275
Author(s):  
Xiang Hui Guo ◽  
Chun Guang Xu ◽  
Liu Yang ◽  
Kai Peng
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Packaging ◽  
Ultrasonic Transducer ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Acoustic Microscopy ◽  
Center Frequency ◽  
Detection Accuracy ◽  
Scanning Acoustic Microscopy ◽  
Non Destructive Testing ◽  
Destructive Testing ◽  
Non Destructive

Scanning Acoustic Microscopy (SAM) has been a powerful non-destructive testing tool used in electronic packaging and material characterization. With the development of 3D electronic packaging, internal dimensions of electronic packaging are getting more and more smaller, and the detection accuracy of existing non-destructive testing technology is far behind the requirements of manufacturing technology. In this study, a set of practical SAM system was developed independently by our Lab. And its detection resolution was analyzed using high frequency focused transducers with center frequency ranging from 20 MHz to 100MHz. The experimental results show that the lateral resolution of the ultrasonic transducer with 100MHz central frequency can reach about 40 microns, which is consistent with calculated resolution. Comparing with Sparrow criteria, Rayleigh criteria is more coherent with the experimental results.

Optimizing Boiler Generating Bank Tube Reliability Through the Use of IRIS Non Destructive Testing

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic Marra
Keyword(s):  
Dade County ◽  
Destructive Testing ◽  
Ultrasonic Probe ◽  
Optimization Program ◽  
Root Cause ◽  
Testing Method ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
Tube Plugging ◽  
Nondestructive Testing Method ◽  
Non Destructive

The boilers’ generating bank (convective) section began suffering repeated random failures at the Miami-Dade County Resources Recovery Facility. The plant embarked on an optimization program to better identify and target the failures using non destructive ultrasonic Internal Rotary Inspection Services (IRIS) testing. Through the use of the IRIS nondestructive testing method, the plant was able to identify 3 major contributors to tube failures by mapping out the locations of the tube wastage across all 4 boilers at the facility. The testing allowed optimizing the use of resources allocated to this area of the boiler and resulted in a considerable drop of unscheduled downtime and increase in generating bank tube reliability. The IRIS testing method involves an ultrasonic probe that is lowered down the inside of the tubes. The tubes are flooded with water in order to get a full 360-degree thickness survey of the tubes from top to bottom, (steam drum to mud drum). The data for over 4.7 miles (7.5 Km) of linear tube per boiler is recorded digitally and presented on a CD. By pinpointing the location and severity of tube wastage across the entire generating bank section, the root cause of the failures could be identified. An integrated solution was developed involving a combination of tube replacements, shielding, tube plugging, and soot blower optimization. This paper summarizes the results of the testing and optimization program.

Texture and Microstructure Imaging by the Moving Area Detector Method

2005 ◽  
Vol 105 ◽  
pp. 3-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Preusser ◽  
Helmut Klein ◽  
Hans Joachim Bunge
Keyword(s):  
Materials Science ◽  
Volume Element ◽  
X Rays ◽  
Non Destructive Testing ◽  
Structural Components ◽  
Destructive Testing ◽  
Area Detector ◽  
Detector Method ◽  
Complex Structural ◽  
Non Destructive

Additional to the position of any volume element of a (poly)-crystalline material its crystal orientation must also be known. Both together are described in the six-dimensional orientation-location space. The paper describes the most frequent structures of materials in this space and how these can be imaged with the "Moving Area Detector Method" using hard synchrotron X-rays. This technique is equally well suited for basic reseach in materials science as well as for non-destructive testing of technological parts or even complex structural components.

scholarly journals Trajectory planning method for improving alignment accuracy of probes for dual-robot air-coupled ultrasonic testing system

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 172988141984271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Canzhi Guo ◽  
Chunguang Xu ◽  
Dingguo Xiao ◽  
Juan Hao ◽  
Hanming Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Ultrasonic Testing ◽  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Calibration Method ◽  
Testing System ◽  
Non Destructive Testing ◽  
Destructive Testing ◽  
Testing Scheme ◽  
Inspection Process ◽  
Non Destructive ◽  
Constraint Method

Composite workpieces, especially the complex-curved surfaces composite workpieces, have been increasingly used in different industries. Non-destructive testing of these parts has become an urgent problem to be addressed. To solve the problem, this article presents a dual-robot air-coupled ultrasonic non-destructive testing scheme and introduces the structure of the system and a general calibration method for the workpiece frame of a dual-robot system in detail. Importantly, this article proposes a tangential constraint method, which makes the probes completely aligned during the inspection process. Verification experiments and ultrasonic testing experiments for a glued multilayered composite workpiece were performed using the dual-robot air-coupled ultrasonic non-destructive testing system. A comparative experiment was also performed using a dual-robot water jet-coupling ultrasonic testing system. Experimental results show that the dual-robot non-destructive testing scheme and the tangential constraint method function well, and all the artificial defects on the sample can be detected by both kinds of testing methods. Vivid 3-D C-scan image based on the test result is provided for convenience of observation. In other words, a kind of flexible versatile testing platform with multiple degrees of freedom is established.

scholarly journals Fully Non-Contact Hybrid NDT Inspection for 3D Defect Reconstruction Using an Improved SAFT Algorithm

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hossam Selim ◽  
José Trull ◽  
Miguel Delgado Prieto ◽  
Rubén Picó ◽  
Luis Romeral ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
3D Reconstruction ◽  
Ultrasonic Transducer ◽  
Contact Method ◽  
Volume Data ◽  
Destructive Testing ◽  
Ultrasound Waves ◽  
Reconstruction Image ◽  
Filtering Technique ◽  
Synthetic Aperture Focusing ◽  
Non Destructive

Non-destructive testing of metallic objects that may contain embedded defects of different sizes is an important application in many industrial branches for quality control. Most of these techniques allow defect detection and its approximate localization, but very few give enough information for its 3D reconstruction. Here we present a hybrid laser – transducer system that combines remote laser-generated ultrasound excitation and non-contact ultrasonic transducer detection. This fully non-contact method gives access to separating scan areas on different object’s faces and defect details from different angles/perspectives can be analysed. This hybrid system can analyse the whole object’s volume data and allow a 3D reconstruction image of the embedded defects. As a novelty for the signal processing improvement, we use a 2D apodization window filtering technique, applied along with the synthetic aperture focusing algorithm in order to remove the undesired effects of side lobes and wide-angle reflections of propagating ultrasound waves, thus, enhancing the resulting 3D image of the defect. We provide both qualitative and quantitative volumetric results with high accuracy and resolution compared with conventional techniques.

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