System and Method for Detecting Aberrations in a Conduit

• US 20130091927A1
• Filed: 10/10/2012
• Published: 04/18/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thermal Wave Imaging, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Thermal Wave Imaging, Inc.
• Inventors: Shepard, Steven M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,157,878 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 73/25.01
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 15/14 Testing gas-turbine engines or jet-propulsion engines
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 19/08 Detecting presence of flaws or irregularities
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 25/72 Investigating presence of flaws

Abstract

A system for detecting aberrations within a workpiece having a conduit with an input end and an output end is disclosed. The system comprises a fluid delivery device arranged proximate to input end of conduit to pass fluid into input end of the conduit, the fluid delivery device having one or more fluid controllers that control one or more conditions of the fluid passed thereby, a sensor having an input and an output, the input arranged proximate to output end of conduit to measure one or more conditions of the fluid experienced by input, a workpiece exciter situated to excite workpiece and a processor having an input connected to the output of sensor, the processor having a correlator to correlate any changed of the one or more conditions of the fluid experienced by input of sensor with an excitement of workpiece by sensor.

Claims

1. A system for detecting a presence of aberrations within a workpiece having interval walls that define a conduit, the conduit having a first end and a second end, the system comprising:

a fluid movement device arranged proximate to said conduit to pass fluid through the conduit;

a sensor arranged proximate to the fluid movement to detect one or more conditions of the fluid;

a workpiece exciter coupled to the workpiece for exciting the workpiece; and

a detecting device having an input connected to the sensor, the detecting device for detecting fluctuations in the one or more conditions of the fluid detected by the sensor.

2. A system for detecting a presence of aberrations as set forth in claim 1, wherein the detecting device includes at least one of a processor or a correlator device, wherein at least one of said processor or said correlator device correlates a change of the one or more conditions of the fluid experienced by said sensor with an excitement of workpiece the exciter.

3. A system for detecting a presence of aberrations as set forth in claim 1, wherein the one or more conditions of the fluid passed from fluid movement device include at least one of a fluid temperature condition and a velocity condition.

4. A system for detecting a presence of aberrations as set forth in claim 1, wherein the one or more conditions of the fluid passed through said conduit by said fluid movement device includes a velocity condition and wherein the velocity condition is maintained at a steady state.

5. A system for detecting a presence of aberrations as set forth in claim 4, wherein the one or more conditions measured by the sensor is a fluid temperature condition.

6. A system for detecting a presence of aberrations as set forth in claim 1, wherein the one or more conditions measured by the sensor is a fluid temperature condition.

7. A system for detecting a presence of aberrations as set forth in claim 1, wherein the exciter is provided to excite the workpiece at temporally defined intervals.

8. A system for detecting a presence of aberrations as set forth in claim 1, wherein the exciter is selected from the group consisting of an acoustic horn, an ultrasonic horn or a combination thereof.

9. A system for detecting a presence of aberrations as set forth in claim 1, wherein the detecting device includes one of a processor and a lock-in amplifier.

10. A method for detecting a presence of aberrations within a workpiece having internal walls that define an interval conduit of the workpiece, the method comprising:

delivering fluid through the conduit;

equalizing the temperature of workpiece with the temperature of the delivered fluid and maintaining the temperature of the workpiece and the delivered fluid in a steady state condition;

measuring one or more conditions of the fluid as it traverses at least a portion of the conduit;

mechanically exciting workpiece causing an excitement event; and

identifying whether an aberration is present within conduit or conduit walls based on the one or more measured conditions of the fluid.

11. A method for detecting a presence of aberrations in a conduit of a workpiece as set forth in claim 10, wherein the one or more conditions of the delivered fluid includes a temperature condition and the one or more conditions of the measured fluid includes a temperature condition, wherein the method further includes:

providing a processor having inputs for receiving data reflective of the temperature condition of the measured fluid and data reflective of the excitement condition of workpiece, and wherein the identifying step further includes;

correlating changes in the temperature condition of the measured fluid with the excitement condition of workpiece.

12. A method for detecting a presence of aberrations in a conduit of a workpiece as set forth in claim 11, wherein the correlating step further comprises:

if the change in temperature is greater than a predefined temperature change, identifying that an aberration is present within the conduit.

13. A method for detecting a presence of aberrations in a conduit of a workpiece as set forth in claim 11, wherein the correlating step further comprises:

if the change in temperature is greater than a predefined temperature change and the change in temperature occurs within a predetermined time after the onset of the excitement event, identifying that an aberration is present.

14. A method for detecting a presence of aberrations in a conduit of a workpiece as set forth in claim 10, wherein the step of mechanically exciting the workpiece is repeated.

15. A method for detecting a presence of aberrations in a conduit of a workpiece as set forth in claim 10, further comprising:

providing a processor having inputs for receiving electronic data reflective of the temperature condition of the delivered fluid, the temperature condition of the measured fluid and the excitement condition of workpiece, and wherein the identifying step further includes;

correlating any changes in the temperature condition of the measured fluid data with the excitement event.

16. A method for detecting a presence of aberrations associated with a conduit of a workpiece, the conduit having an input end and an output end, the method comprising:

delivering fluid through the input end of the conduit at a generally constant temperature and at a generally constant velocity;

equalizing a temperature of the workpiece with the generally constant temperature of the passing fluid;

measuring the temperature of the fluid at the output end of the conduit;

exciting the workpiece using an exciter; and

identifying whether an aberration is present within the internal conduit based on the measured temperature in view of the excitement of the workpiece.