General Electric Company

Lockheed Martin Corporation

Harry Israel Ringermacher

Donald Robert Howard

Bryon Edward Knight

Thomas E Drake

Marc Dubois

Waseem Ibrahim Faidi

Harry Kirk Mathews, Jr

Peter William Lorraine

Robert John Filkins

Thomas James Batzinger

Andrew Philip Shapiro

David Michael Davenport

Ravindra Kumar Pandey

Timothy Gerard Richter

Paul Kenneth Houpt

Yuri Alexeyevich Plotnikov

Walter Vincent Dixon, Iii

Francis Howard Little

Clifford Bueno

Richard S Zhang

William George Patterson

Robert August Kaucic

Nilesh Tralshawala

Patrick Joseph Howard

Armin H Pfoh

Yanyan Wu

Xiaodong Tao

Daguang Zheng

Elena Rozier

Jian Ying Li

Haiyan Sun

Thomas E Bantel

Stephane Renou

Zhaohui Harry Sun

Andrzej Michal May

Matthew Edward Dragovich

Jian Li

Yury Alexeyevich Plotnikov

Jiunn-Ru Jeffrey Huang

Mark John Osterlitz

Eric Scott Foster

Jeffry Lynn Thompson

Gulperi Nuzhet Aksel

Thomas Edward Bantel

A method and system for inspecting an object is provided. In accordance with embodiments of the method, a thermal excitation pulse is applied to an object undergoing evaluation. A transient thermal signal from the object is detected in response to the thermal excitation pulse. Two or more orthogonal functions are applied to the transient thermal signal based on a defined time interval to generate two or more orthogonal components. The object is assessed for defects at different depths using the two or more orthogonal components.

Flaw detection using transient thermography

A thermographic nondestructive evaluation system includes a lamp assembly having a lamp. The lamp is configured to be positioned within an internal cavity of a target object and to emit an energy pulse toward an interior surface of the internal cavity. The lamp includes at least one curved portion, the at least one curved portion is curved relative to a longitudinal axis of the lamp, and a first curvature of the curved portion is selected to substantially correspond to a second curvature of the internal cavity.

Lamp assembly for a thermographic nondestructive evaluation system

A method for thermographic imaging is described. The method captures a plurality of thermal images of a surface of an object, at non-linear intervals over a period of time, each of the thermal images being associated with temporal data. The method then processes the plurality of thermal images and the temporal data, and identifies features within the object based on the processing.

System and method for thermographic inspection

An apparatus is provided for determining variable thickness of a coating on a surface of a substrate using in part a flash-lamp source, capable of generating a thermal pulse at the coating surface, and a image capture and processing device capable of capture sequential image frames of the coating surface, whereas each sequential image frame corresponds to an elapsed time and comprises a pixel array, and wherein each pixel of the array corresponds to a location on the coating surface. A method of calculating coating thickness is also provided.

Thermal imaging method and apparatus for evaluating coatings

A method for identifying types of flaws in a composite object includes: a) rapidly heating the surface of the object; b) recording pixel intensities in a sequence of IR images; c) determining temperature-versus-time data for each of the pixels from the IR images; and d) determining what type of flaw if any corresponds to each of the pixels using the temperature-versus-time data determined in step (c). A contrast curve derived from the temperature-versus-time data may be used in determining what type of flaws if any corresponds to each of the pixels. The contrast curve may be determined by subtracting a synthetic reference curve from a temperature time curve from the temperature-versus-time data. The types of flaws may be determined from size and/or shapes of peaks in the contrast curves. Some flaws are delaminations, layers of porosity, and uniformly distributed porosity.

Characterization of flaws in composites identified by thermography

A method for determining 3D distances on a 2D pixelized image of a part or object includes acquiring a real 2D pixelized image of the object, creating a simulated image of the object using the 3D CAD model and the 2D pixelized image, determining a specified cost function comparing the simulated image with the real 2D pixilated image and repositioning the simulated image in accordance with iterated adjustments of a relative position between the CAD model and the 2D pixilated image to change the simulated image until the specified cost function is below a specified value. Then, the workstation is used to generate a 3D distance scale matrix using the repositioned simulated image, and to measure and display distances between selected pixels on a surface of the real image using 2D distances on the 2D pixelized image of the object and the 3D distance scale matrix.

Methods and apparatus for measuring 3D dimensions on 2D images

A non-destructive evaluation system and method is provided for detecting flaws in an object. The system includes a lamp for impinging the object with optical pulses and a focal plane array camera configured to capture the images corresponding to evolution of heat due to an impact of the optical pulses in the object. The system also includes an image acquisition system for capturing data corresponding to the images from the focal plane array camera. Both transmission mode imaging and reflection mode imaging techniques are used in an exemplary embodiment. A time of flight analysis system is also provided for analyzing the data from both transmission mode imaging technique and reflection mode imaging technique. The data from transmission mode imaging is used to determine thickness values at different points in the data and for determining location of flaws using the thickness values. The data from reflection mode imaging is used for determining depth of these flaws.

Method and apparatus for thermographic nondestructive evaluation of an object

An inspection system is provided to examine internal structures of a target material. This inspection system includes a generation laser, an ultrasonic detection system, a thermal imaging system, and a processor/control module. The generation laser produces a pulsed laser beam that is operable to induce ultrasonic displacements and thermal transients at the target material. The ultrasonic detection system detects ultrasonic surface displacements at the target material. The thermal imaging system detects thermal transients at the target material. The processor analyzes both detected ultrasonic displacements and thermal imagery of the target material to yield information about the target material's internal structure.

Non-destructive inspection using laser-ultrasound and infrared thermography

A method including receiving a first line and a second line to be joined at a junction location to provide a reference curve. A corresponding system and computer program product.

Two slope reference for synthetic thermal time of flight imaging

Systems and methods for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) surface analysis. Exemplary embodiments include systems and methods for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) surface analysis, including a SOFC having a ceramic surface, a scanner adjacent the ceramic surface for collecting data related to the ceramic surface, a structure for retaining the SOFC with respect to the scanner, a device for collecting a processing the ceramic surface data and a process residing on the device, the process for analyzing and presenting the ceramic surface data.

Systems and methods for solid oxide fuel cell surface analysis

An inspection system is provided to examine internal structures of a target material. This inspection system combines an ultrasonic inspection system and a thermographic inspection system. The thermographic inspection system is attached to ultrasonic inspection and modified to enable thermographic inspection of target materials at distances compatible with laser ultrasonic inspection. Quantitative information is obtained using depth infrared (IR) imaging on the target material. The IR imaging and laser-ultrasound results are combined and projected on a 3D projection of complex shape composites. The thermographic results complement the laser-ultrasound results and yield information about the target material's internal structure that is more complete and more reliable, especially when the target materials are thin composite parts.

Laser-ultrasound inspection using infrared thermography

A method and system for determining thermal diffusivity and porosity of an article are provided. The method comprises heating a surface of the article, capturing image data corresponding to an evolution of lateral heat flow from the surface of the article, applying a thermal time of flight analysis on the image data and determining thermal diffusivity and porosity values of the article using the thermal time of flight analysis for the lateral heat flow.

A system for locating a failure event in a sample is disclosed. The system includes at least one sensor configured to detect acoustic energy corresponding to the failure event in the sample. The system also includes an infrared camera configured to detect a thermal release of energy corresponding to the failure event in the sample.

Systems and method for locating failure events in samples under load

An apparatus is provided for determining thickness and thermal conductivity for an insulative coating disposed on a substrate in an object. The apparatus includes a source for rapidly applying a multiple optical pulses on a surface of the object, where the surface comprises the insulative coating. The system further includes a recording system configured to collect data representative of the propagation of the optical pulses in the object. The apparatus further includes a processor coupled to the recording system and configured to receive the data from the recording system and configured to determine a thickness value and a thermal conductivity value for the insulative coating.

Method and apparatus for nondestructive evaluation of insulative coating

A flexible imager, for imaging a subject illuminated by incident radiation, includes a flexible substrate, a photosensor array disposed on the flexible substrate, and a scintillator. The scintillator is disposed so as to receive and absorb the incident radiation, is configured to convert the incident radiation to optical photons, and is optically coupled to the photosensor array. The photosensor array is configured to receive the optical photons and to generate an electrical signal corresponding to the optical photons. A digital imaging method for imaging subject includes conforming flexible digital imager to subject, the subject being positioned between flexible digital imager and a radiation source. The method further includes activating radiation source to expose the subject to radiation and collecting an image with the flexible digital imager.

Imager

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Delanson, NY, United States of America

Harry Israel Ringermacher