0000000000784827
AUTHOR
I. Cooper
Robotic non-destructive inspection
Automation of non-destructive testing (NDT) of engineering components and structures represents one of the strategic objectives of many industries. It enables increases in accuracy, precision and speed of inspection while reducing production time and associated labour costs in contrast to manual inspection. The use of robots can provide additional flexibility and autonomy to automated NDT. Automated robotic inspection can be beneficial in diverse industrial scenarios ranging from integration of NDT into the manufacturing process of components with very complex geometry, such as gears, to periodical in-service overhaul of large structures (for instance, in petrochemical and aerospace industr…
Robotic path planning for non-destructive testing through RoboNDT
The requirement to increase inspection speeds for non-destructive testing (NDT) is common to many manufacturers. The prevalence of complex curved surfaces in modern products provides motivation for the use of 6 axis robots in these inspections. The techniques and issues associated with conventional manual inspection techniques and automated systems for the inspection of large complex surfaces were reviewed. This paper presents a new MATLAB based software solution (RoboNDT), aiming to fulfil the requirements of robotized NDT inspection. RoboNDT enables flexible trajectory path planning to be accomplished for the inspection of complex curved surfaces. This newly developed software is capable …
PAUT inspection of complex shaped composite materials through 6 DOFs robotic manipulators
The requirement to increase inspection speeds for the non-destructive testing (NDT) of composite aerospace parts is common to many manufacturers. The prevalence of complex curved surfaces in the industry provides significant motivation for the use of six-axis robots for the deployment of NDT probes in these inspections. The IntACom project, developed by TWI Technology Centre (Wales) and supported by a number of major aerospace partners and the Welsh government, has produced a prototype robotic NDT system. The prototype system is capable of inspecting complex-geometry composite components with great time savings. Two six-axis robotic arms deploy end effectors carrying phased array ultrasonic…