Turbine inspection system, computer program product and method of inspecting

• US 8,867,787 B2
• Filed: 11/15/2012
• Issued: 10/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Infrastructure Technology, LLC (General Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Singamsetti, Venkata Nagendra Sathi Raju, Dontula, Harish Kumar
• Primary Examiner(s): Tabatabai, Abolfazl
• Application Number:
  US13/677,751
• Publication Number:
  US 20140133697A1
• Time in Patent Office: 705 Days
• Field of Search: 382/103, 382/141, 382/152, 382/352, 348/92, 348/169, 348/170, 348/171, 348/172, 348/352
• US Class Current: 382/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30164 Workpiece; Machine component
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/001 using an image reference approach

Abstract

The disclosure includes a system, a computer program product, and a method for inspecting a turbine system. In one embodiment, the system includes at least one computing device configured to inspect a turbine system by performing actions including: obtaining a set of pre-maintenance digital images of the turbine system, obtaining a set of post-maintenance digital images of the turbine system, comparing the set of pre-maintenance digital images with the set of post-maintenance digital images to identify an anomaly in the set of post-maintenance digital images, and comparing the set of post-maintenance digital image with a set of computer modeled image of the turbine system to determine a type of the anomaly in response to identifying the anomaly. The post-maintenance digital images depict the turbine system after a maintenance process has been performed on the turbine system.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

at least one computing device configured to inspect a turbine system by performing actions including;

obtaining a set of pre-maintenance digital images of the turbine system;

obtaining a set of post-maintenance digital images of the turbine system, the post-maintenance digital images depicting the turbine system after a maintenance process has been performed on the turbine system;

comparing the set of pre-maintenance digital images with the set of post-maintenance digital images to identify an anomaly in the set of post-maintenance digital images; and

comparing the set of post-maintenance digital images with a set of computer modeled images of the turbine system to determine a type of the anomaly in response to identifying the anomaly.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the obtaining of the set of pre-maintenance digital images is performed by capturing the set of pre-maintenance digital images using an industrial camera, and

wherein the obtaining of the set of post-maintenance digital images is performed by capturing the set of post-maintenance digital images using the industrial camera.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one computing device further performs actions including:

retrieving the set of computer modeled images of the turbine system from a library of a plurality of computer modeled images for a plurality of distinct turbine systems.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of computer modeled images of the turbine system includes a computer modeled image for all components in the turbine system.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the determining of the type of the anomaly includes at least one of:

identifying an unknown component not included in the set of computer modeled images of the turbine system and included in the set of post-maintenance digital images,

identifying a displaced component included in the set of computer modeled images of the turbine system and missing from the set of post-maintenance digital images, or

identifying a misaligned component included in the set of computer modeled images of the turbine system in a first alignment and included in the set of post-maintenance digital images in a second alignment, distinct from the first alignment.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the type of the anomaly is associated with a pre-determined severity level.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the at least one computing device further performs actions including:

providing an indicator based on the pre-determined severity level in response to the determining of the type of the anomaly.

8. A program product stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium for inspecting a turbine system, the non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program code for causing the computer system to:

obtain a set of pre-maintenance digital images of the turbine system;

obtain a set of post-maintenance digital images of the turbine system, the post-maintenance digital images depicting the turbine system after a maintenance process has been performed on the turbine system;

compare the set of pre-maintenance digital images with the set of post-maintenance digital images to identify an anomaly in the set of post-maintenance digital images; and

compare the set of post-maintenance digital image with a set of computer modeled images of the turbine system to determine a type of the anomaly in response to identifying the anomaly.

9. The program product of claim 8, further comprising program code for causing the computer system to:

retrieve the set of computer modeled images of the turbine system from a library of a plurality of computer modeled images for a plurality of distinct turbine systems.

10. The program product of claim 8, wherein the set of computer modeled images of the turbine system includes a computer modeled image for all components in the turbine system.

11. The program product of claim 8, wherein the determining of the type of the anomaly includes at least one of:

identifying an unknown component not included in the set of computer modeled images of the turbine system and included in the set of post-maintenance digital images,

identifying a displaced component included in the set of computer modeled images of the turbine system and missing from the set of post-maintenance digital images, or

identifying a misaligned component included in the set of computer modeled images of the turbine system in a first alignment and included in the set of post-maintenance digital images in a second alignment, distinct from the first alignment.

12. The program product of claim 8, wherein the type of the anomaly is associated with a pre-determined severity level.

13. The program product of claim 12, further comprising program code for causing the computer system to:

provide an indicator based on the pre-determined severity level in response to the determining of the type of the anomaly.

14. A method of inspecting a turbine system, the method comprising:

obtaining a set of pre-maintenance digital images of the turbine system;

obtaining a set of post-maintenance digital images of the turbine system, the post-maintenance digital images depicting the turbine system after a maintenance process has been performed on the turbine system;

comparing the set of pre-maintenance digital images with the set of post-maintenance digital images to identify an anomaly in the set of post-maintenance digital images; and

comparing the set of post-maintenance digital image with a set of computer modeled images of the turbine system to determine a type of the anomaly in response to identifying the anomaly.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the obtaining of the set of pre-maintenance digital images is performed by capturing the set of pre-maintenance digital images using an industrial camera, and

wherein the obtaining of the set of post-maintenance digital images is performed by capturing the set of post-maintenance digital images using the industrial camera.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

retrieving the set of computer modeled images of the turbine system from a library of a plurality of computer modeled images for a plurality of distinct turbine systems.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the set of computer modeled images of the turbine system includes a computer modeled image for all components in the turbine system.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the determining of the type of the anomaly includes at least one of:

identifying an unknown component not included in the set of computer modeled images of the turbine system and included in the set of post-maintenance digital images,

identifying a displaced component included in the set of computer modeled images of the turbine system and missing from the set of post-maintenance digital images, or

identifying a misaligned component included in the set of computer modeled images of the turbine system in a first alignment and included in the set of post-maintenance digital images in a second alignment, distinct from the first alignment.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the type of the anomaly is associated with a pre-determined severity level.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

providing an indicator based on the pre-determined severity level in response to the determining of the type of the anomaly.