Aviation NDT Technologies Seek Inspection Improvements

1. Shop Floor Detection

Company: 3D.aero

Product: While MRO companies are enjoying a boom in demand, they are still struggling to replace the large numbers of skilled personnel that left the industry during the pandemic. This places a premium on technologies that are easy to use, such as 3Daero’s HP-FX system. By integrating a 3D sensor with a collaborative robot and the system’s iX3software framework, 3D.aero says even untrained personnel can detect and measure surface defects with sub-micrometer accuracy in seconds. The company says its wide range of automated measurement functions enable objective and reproducible defect analysis, directly on the shop floor, which improves upon conventional inspection methods that often require defect replicas to be sent to external labs.

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2. Total Focus

Company: Eddyfi Technologies

Product: The use of total focusing method algorithms with phased array ultrasonic testing equipment can mean better resolution because energy is focused on every pixel of an area of interest. However, variations in a material and its acoustic properties mean that calibration is required to ensure uniform image intensity. Eddyfi’s M2M Gekko and Mantis ultrasonic flaw detectors incorporate time corrected gain (TCG) software, which the company says makes it easy and quick for operators to perform amplitude calibration for their inspections. TCG is done using a calibration block with a series of identical holes at different depths. The amplitude of each hole is recorded for each pixel along a horizontal line, over the complete width of area under inspection, by moving the probe over the holes. As the transducer moves, a persistence image is generated by retaining the maximum pixel amplitude for each pixel.

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3. Simpler Workflow

Company: Evident Scientific

Product: While automated detection techniques can free up engineers for other tasks, labor hours can also be saved by optimizing workflow. Evident Scientific’s AeroView inspection software is designed to improve productivity in this way by allowing analysis of inspection data simultaneously with a scan of a new area, with both instances open on one computer. The company says its software simplifies workflows and eliminates the need for time-consuming file transfers. Users can acquire ultrasonic testing data directly on a computer via an OmniScan X4 portable phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) unit. AeroView is designed to facilitate the analysis of this data for both manufacturing and maintenance applications, offering customizable layout and readings management and advanced analysis tools to ease interpretation of the acquired data.

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4. Camera Buddy

Company: Innerspec

Product: While large aerospace OEMs employ automated robotic arms for the inspection of large composite components, such systems are not economical for many MRO providers. Innerspec says its Camus 3D is a cost-effective alternative to multi-axis inspection robots and gantries, while also being quicker than manual inspections. The system integrates an array of 3D cameras that track the position of the probe with a PAUT instrument to provide what Innerspec says are accurate, high-resolution C-scans on parts with complex shapes. It permits direct detection of defects as small as three mm. in diameter in laminated composites. Scattered porosity is detected through back-wall attenuation, and it provides a full thickness map of the part. Users can also upgrade the system to fully automated robotic inspection should they wish.

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5. X-ray Specs

Company: North Star Imaging

Product: As more new aircraft enter the global fleet, composite inspection technologies will become increasingly important due to airframers’ increasing usage of carbon fiber in their airframes. However, traditional non-destructive testing methods like ultrasonics have limits in rendering the full gamut of inspection data with regards to delamination, porosity and fiber orientation. Computed tomography scans, in contrast, can represent a 3D model of the structure with relatively high resolution, allowing visualization of the different layers of the material. For example, North Star Imaging’s X5000 x-ray system allows for multiple virtual cross sections through small to large parts in multiple axes, and the company says the resolution often reveals individual composite fibers—and their orientation—that are only a few micrometers in size. Delaminations and wrinkles are also detectable, while porosities are quantifiable and measurable.

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6. Snakes On A Plane

Company: Rolls-Royce

Product: Removing engines for inspection or maintenance can lead to AOG situations, so research is welcome into any new technologies that allow on-wing repairs. Among these is Rolls-Royce’s project FLARE (Flame Spray Adder for in-situ Patch Repair of Aero-Engine Combustors), a futuristic solution that uses robots to detect and repair thermal coating damage, for instance to repair cracks before they lead to bigger problems. Specifically, a pair of ‘snake’ robots traverse and navigate, via external motors and control, the inside of an engine. One of these snakes is equipped with 3D imaging and an inspection and measurement tool that can locate and characterize damage. The surface is then cleaned and reprofiled before the second snake sprays on a new thermal coating, with the first snake providing the ignition. FLARE was initially demonstrated on the combustor of a Trent 900.

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7. AI Assistant

Company: Waygate Technologies

Product: High-pressure compressor (HPC) inspections are one of the most time-consuming tasks in engine maintenance, so Waygate Technologies and GE Aerospace have developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) solution to speed up the process and improve detection rates. The companies claim the AI- assisted borescope solution, which combines AI trained from GE customer data with Waygate’s Mentor Visual iQ+ video borescope, improves detection rates by 34%, while reducing false alerts by more than 13%. To ensure greater reliability in borescope inspections, the new AI-assisted features aim to improve inspection workflow by both significantly reducing the learning curve for new inspectors while simultaneously aiding existing inspectors by assisting in the detection of previously difficult-to-detect defects. Waygate expects users of this technology to benefit from increased probability of detection and a reduction in mental fatigue from inspection. The AI-enhanced version is made available to customers through a software update for the Mentor Visual iQ+, which GE is offering within its own MRO network for GEnx and CFM International Leap HPC inspections.

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8. Digital Image Correlation

Company: Zeiss

Product: Optical systems are a non-destructive testing technology that can provide non-contact measurement to acquire many data points without compromising the integrity of surfaces and specimens. First launched in 1997 and refined since then, Zeiss’ Aramis system delivers three-dimensional data via point-based photogrammetry analysis and full-field measurements through digital image correlation. It is designed to replace measurement instruments in certain testing scenarios, including linear variable differential transformers (LVDTs), strain gauges and accelerometers. For example, ground-based testing of landing gear systems encompasses various loading scenarios designed to simulate the stresses these components will encounter during braking, turning and towing maneuvers. Zeiss says Aramis can analyze complex trajectories alongside live data streaming, using reference point markers to significantly reduce setup time compared with traditional LVDT sensors.

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