Automated ultrasonic inspection of adhesively-bonded joints and inspection method therefor

US10782268B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• General Electric Company · US

Inventors

• Frank Kahmann · Hürth, DE
• Daniel Koers · Hürth, DE
• Norbert Ewald Steinhoff · Lechenich, DE
• Weiwei Zhang · Lo Wu, CN

Key dates

• Filing date: Feb 12, 2018
• Grant date: Sep 22, 2020
• Expiry date: May 12, 2038

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01N2291/267
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

An inspection system for determining the efficacy and veracity of a bond-line, comprising: a robotic arm assembly providing a gimbal mount for enabling linear and rotary translation about multiple axes; an ultrasonic transducer affixed to the gimbal mount of the robotic arm assembly and comprising a planar array of transducer elements, each transducer element capable of transmitting and receiving reflected ultrasonic energy indicative of changes in acoustic impedance within the bond-line. The reflected energy of each transducer element provides acquired bond-line data indicative of the efficacy of the bond-line while select transducer elements produce orientation data indicative of the orientation of the planar array relative to the contour of the bonded joint. The bond-line and orientation data are combined to determine whether the direction of the transmitted pulse should be altered to validate the bond-line data.