The Boeing Company

Elizabeth Ann Paton

Roger W Engelbart

Christopher Mark Vaccaro

Apparatus, systems, and methods for the inspection of holes in transparent materials, the apparatus including a processor, an illumination probe, and a detection probe. The illumination probe includes a laser light source and a reflective surface and is configured to be inserted into a first hole in the transparent material. The detection probe includes a second reflective surface and a photodetector and is configured to be inserted in a second hole in the transparent material. Laser light is directed onto the first reflective surface within the first hole and is reflected through a wall of the first hole, into the transparent material, and reflected by the second reflective surface to the photodetector. The photodetector transmits a measured light intensity value to the processor, which compares the light intensity value to a standard intensity value to determine whether or not a crazing condition exists in the second hole.

Apparatus, systems, and methods for the laser inspection of holes in transparent materials

Methods, systems, and apparatus for detection of a condition in a hole defined by a transparent material that is at least partially enclosed by one or more substantially opaque materials. The method may include positioning a light source in a first hole in the transparent material, directing light from the positioned light source through the transparent material and toward a second hole that is adjacent to the first hole. A prism may be positioned so that the light transmitted from the light source through the machined inner surface of the second hole is visible through a viewing face of the prism. By observing the transmitted light, a surface condition of the machined inner surface of the second hole may be determined.

Growing community of inventors

St. Louis, MO, United States of America

Elizabeth Ann Paton