Internal inspection of machinery by stitched surface imaging
First Claim
1. A method of inspecting an interior surface of a component of a gas turbine engine comprising:
- inserting a scope into an inner portion of the component without removing the component from the engine;
obtaining a first set of circumferential photographs around a circumference of the interior surface at a given axial reference position therein with a camera on a distal end of the scope; and
digitally stitching the first set of photographs to form a stitched view of the interior surface at the given axial reference position.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of generating a comprehensive image (87) of interior surfaces (78, 80) of machine components such as a gas turbine combustor basket (59) and transition duct (34) by digitally stitching together multiple photographs (82) thereof, and analyzing the comprehensive image by contouring (91, 95A-B) of colors and shadings thereon, and quantifying and tracking aspects of the contours (A, B, C) over time for indications of degradation (89) of the interior surfaces. A scope (58) may be inserted into a port (56) in the combustor with a camera (72, 74) in a rotatable end (70) of the scope for obtaining a circumferential set (84) of photos at each axial position along a length of the combustor and transition duct. A 3D surface scanning device (76) in the scope may define the geometry of the interior surface for 3D photographic modeling thereof providing a virtual walk-through inspection.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method of inspecting an interior surface of a component of a gas turbine engine comprising:
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inserting a scope into an inner portion of the component without removing the component from the engine; obtaining a first set of circumferential photographs around a circumference of the interior surface at a given axial reference position therein with a camera on a distal end of the scope; and digitally stitching the first set of photographs to form a stitched view of the interior surface at the given axial reference position. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of evaluating a condition of an interior surface of a gas turbine combustor and transition duct, comprising:
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creating a sequence of comprehensive images of the interior surface over a respective time sequence of successive digital camera inspections of the gas turbine combustor; generating by computer a set of color and shading intensity contours on each of the comprehensive images; identifying and tracking by computer ones of the contours over successive ones of the comprehensive images; plotting a time series of a size of each tracked contour; and evaluating by computer the time series for indications of degradation of the interior surface. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for evaluating a condition of an interior surface of a component in a gas flow path of a gas turbine, comprising:
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forming a comprehensive image of the interior surface over a circumference and a length thereof by digitally stitching a plurality of individual images of the interior surface obtained from a device on a scope inserted into the component; and determining the condition of the interior surface by creating contours of colors in the comprehensive image and analyzing the contours thereof for indicators of the condition of the interior surface. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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Specification