Thermographic inspection techniques

• US 9,341,586 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2014
• Issued: 05/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rolls-Royce Corporation (Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc)
• Original Assignee: Rolls-Royce Corporation (Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc)
• Inventors: Henderkott, Joseph Peter, Ma, Kong
• Primary Examiner(s): Li, Ruiping
• Application Number:
  US14/559,601
• Publication Number:
  US 20150161778A1
• Time in Patent Office: 531 Days
• Field of Search: 348/129
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 17/02 Arrangement of sensing elements
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 17/10 Final actuators valves in general F16K ; blades with variable camber F01D5/148
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 17/12 arranged in stator parts
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 17/14 varying effective cross-sectional area of nozzles or guide conduits
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 17/20 Devices dealing with sensing elements or final actuators or transmitting means between them, e.g. power-assisted sensing elements alone F01D17/02; final actuators alone F01D17/10
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 17/24 electrical
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 21/10 responsive to unwanted deposits on blades, in working-fluid conduits or the like
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 25/002 Cleaning of turbomachines
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 5/00 Blades; Blade-carrying members nozzle boxes F01D9/02; Heating, heat-insulating, cooling or antivibration means on the blades or the members special arrangements in rotors dealing with breaking off of part thereof F01D21/045
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 5/14 Form or construction selecting particular materials, measures against erosion or corrosion F01D5/28
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 5/147 Construction, i.e. structural features, e.g. of weight-saving hollow blades F01D5/148, F01D5/16 and F01D5/20 take precedence; blade shape F01D5/141; blades with cooling or heating channels or cavities F01D5/18; heating, heat-insulating or cooling means on blades F01D5/18
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 5/186 Film cooling F01D5/187 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 5/187 Convection cooling
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 9/041 using blades F01D5/148 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F05D 2260/83 Testing, e.g. methods, components or tools therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 1/00 Measuring the volume flow or mass flow of fluid or fluent solid material wherein the fluid passes through a meter in a continuous flow measuring a proportion of the volume flow G01F5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/03 Arrangements for indicating or recording specially adapted for radiation pyrometers
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/48 Thermography; Techniques using wholly visual means
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 13/02 for measuring temperature of moving fluids or granular materials capable of flow
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 25/72 Investigating presence of flaws
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10048 : Infrared image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20076 : Probabilistic image processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30164 : Workpiece; Machine component
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/14 : Transformations for image registration, e.g. adjusting or mapping for alignment of images
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0008 : checking presence/absence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/001 : using an image reference approach
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/32 : using correlation-based methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/344 : involving models
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/33 : Transforming infrared radiation cameras or camera modules for generating image signals from infrared radiation H04N23/20; circuitry of SSIS for transforming infrared radiation into image signals H04N25/20

Abstract

A system may include a source of dry ice, a thermal camera, and a computing device. The computing device may be configured to control the source of dry ice to cause dry ice to be introduced into an internal passage of a tested component. The tested component may include debris within the internal passage, and the dry ice may remove at least some of the debris from the internal passage. The computing device also may be configured to receive, from the thermal camera, thermographic image data representative of the thermal response of the tested component and output a representation based on the thermographic image data.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a source of dry ice;

a thermal camera; and

a computing device configured to;

control the source of dry ice to cause dry ice to be introduced into an internal passage of a tested component to remove at least some debris from the internal passage;

receive, from the thermal camera, thermographic image data representative of the thermal response of the tested component to the dry ice; and

output a representation based on the thermographic image data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the thermographic image data comprises data representative of thermal response to the dry ice of each respective location of a plurality of locations of the tested component, and wherein the computing device is configured to determine a respective single value representative of the thermal response of the component for each respective location.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the computing device is configured to output the representation based on the thermographic image data by at least outputting a representation based on the respective single values.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to:

receive master image data including three-dimensional image data representative of a geometry and a thermal response of at least one of a theoretical component, a fabricated gold standard component, or an average of a plurality of components;

morph the thermographic image data to substantially align with the three-dimensional image data and produce morphed thermographic image data; and

wherein the computing device is configured to output the representation based on the thermographic image data by at least outputting a representation based on the morphed thermographic image data for display.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one flow meter and a plenum, wherein the computing device is further configured to:

receive flow rate values from the at least one flow meter relating to flow testing of a first component fluidically coupled to plenum, wherein the first component and the tested component have substantially similar geometry; and

associate the flow rate values with the thermographic image data to produce quantitative flowing thermographic image data.

6. A method comprising:

controlling, by a computing device, a source of dry ice to cause dry ice to be introduced into an internal passage of a tested component to remove at least some debris from the internal passage;

receiving, by the computing device, from a thermal camera, thermographic image data representative of the thermal response of the tested component to the dry ice; and

outputting, by the computing device, a representation based on the thermographic image data.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the thermographic image data comprises data representative of thermal response to the dry ice of each respective location of a plurality of locations of the tested component, and further comprising determining, by the computing device, a respective single value representative of the thermal response of the component for each respective location.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein outputting the representation based on the thermographic image data comprises outputting a representation based on the respective single values.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving, by the computing device, master image data including three-dimensional image data representative of a geometry and a thermal response of at least one of a theoretical component, a fabricated gold standard component, or an average of a plurality of components;

morphing, by the computing device, the thermographic image data to substantially align with the three-dimensional image data and produce morphed thermographic image data; and

wherein outputting the representation based on the thermographic image data comprises outputting a representation based on the morphed thermographic image data for display.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving, by the computing device, flow rate values from at least one flow meter relating to flow testing of a first component fluidically coupled to a plenum, wherein the first component and the tested component have substantially similar geometry; and

associating, by the computing device, the flow rate values with the thermographic image data to produce quantitative flowing thermographic image data.

11. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to:

control a source of dry ice to cause dry ice to be introduced into an internal passage of a tested component to remove at least some debris from the internal passage;

receive, from a thermal camera, thermographic image data representative of the thermal response of the tested component to the dry ice; and

output a representation based on the thermographic image data.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the thermographic image data comprises data representative of thermal response to the dry ice of each respective location of a plurality of locations of the tested component, and further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one processor to determine a respective single value representative of the thermal response of the component for each respective location.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one processor to:

receive master image data including three-dimensional image data representative of a geometry and a thermal response of at least one of a theoretical component, a fabricated gold standard component, or an average of a plurality of components;

morph the thermographic image data to substantially align with the three-dimensional image data and produce morphed thermographic image data; and

wherein the instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one processor to output the representation based on the thermographic image data comprise instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one processor to output a representation based on the morphed thermographic image data for display.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one processor to:

receive flow rate values from at least one flow meter relating to flow testing of a first component fluidically coupled to a plenum, wherein the first component and the tested component have substantially similar geometry; and

associate the flow rate values with the thermographic image data to produce quantitative flowing thermographic image data.