text:
|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|Jun 10, 2008
|Filing date
|May 23, 2002
|Priority date
|Nov 13, 2000
|Fee status
|Also published as
|Publication number
|Darrell E. Schlicker, Neil J. Goldfine, Eric L. Miller
|Original Assignee
|Jentek Sensors, Inc.
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (23), Referenced by (26), Classifications (9), Legal Events (3)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
This application is a continuation-in part of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/010,062, filed Nov. 13, 2001 now abandoned, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/248,104, filed Nov. 13, 2000.
The entire teachings of the above applications are incorporated herein by reference.
Nondestructive measurements of materials can be performed with a variety of sensors operating on different physical principles, such as electromagnetic, acoustic, or thermal sensors, where the properties of the material influence the response of the sensor. Electrical measurements at the sensor terminal, such as the electrical impedance or admittance, are then used to determine the material properties. These material properties may reflect characteristics of the bulk material condition such as heat treatment, state of cure, fatigue damage, or porosity, surface conditions such as roughness, shot peen intensity, coating thickness, and coating condition, or the presence of defects such as cracks, inclusions, or service-related aging.
In many inspection applications, large surface areas of a material need to be tested. This inspection can be accomplished with a single sensor and a two-dimensional scanner over the material surface. However, use of a single sensor has disadvantages in that the scanning can take an excessively long time and care must be taken when registering the measured values together to form a map or image of the properties. These shortcomings can be overcome by using an array of sensors or an array of elements within a single sensor, as described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,793,206, since the material can be scanned in a shorter period of time and the measured responses from each array element are spatially correlated. However, the use of arrays complicates the instrumentation used to determine the response of each array element. For example, in one conventional method, as described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,182,513, the response from each element of an array is processed sequentially by using a multiplexer for each element of the array. While this is generally faster than scanning a single sensor element, there is still a significant time delay as the electrical signal settles for each element and there is the potential for signal contamination from previously measured channels. An alternative is to use a separate impedance instrument for each array element. However, this can significantly add to the cost of the system, since the impedance instrumentation tends to be expensive compared to the sensors or array elements.
For nondestructive testing of conducting and/or magnetic materials over wide areas, eddy current sensor arrays may be used. These eddy current sensors excite a conducting winding, the primary, with an electrical current source of a prescribed frequency. This produces a time-varying magnetic field at the same frequency, which in turn is detected with a sensing winding, the secondary. The spatial distribution of the magnetic field and the field measured by the secondary is influenced by the proximity and physical properties (electrical conductivity and magnetic permeability) of nearby materials. When the sensor is intentionally placed in close proximity to a test material, the physical properties of the material can be deduced from measurements of the impedance between the primary and secondary windings. Traditionally, scanning of eddy-current sensors across the material surface is then used to detect flaws, such as cracks. When scanning over wide areas, these arrays may include several individual sensors, but each sensor must be driven sequentially in order to prevent cross-talk or cross-contamination between the sensing elements. Another approach is to use a single drive winding and an array of sense elements, described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,793,206.
There is also a need for methods that make calibration and measurement procedures self-consistent so that the resulting measurements are robust and reproducible to justify implementation in production or field inspection applications. Conventional eddy current "pencil probes" used for inspection of engine components, for example, are often calibrated using crack standards. For example, the signal from a typical crack might be recorded and then the range on the instrument might be set so that the crack response is at 80% of the total scale. Then, a threshold might be set so that some minimum crack size is detectable on the standard. This is a useful method if the crack standard well represents the actual component that is being inspected for cracks. Unfortunately, standards that are flat and contain simulated flaws (e.g., fatigue cracks grown from EDM notches with the notches later broached and then the surface etched to "reveal" the cracks) are generally used to determine the POD (probability of detection) for a given flaw size. This is a useful method only when the component is well represented by the standard. If, for example, the probe scanning the actual component is at a higher lift-off (e.g., proximity of the sensor to the surface is not as close) than it was on the standard when the thresholds were set, then the actual detectable crack size would be larger (and perhaps much larger) than assumed.
This invention relates to instrumentation and apparatus for the nondestructive measurements of materials. In one embodiment, the instrumentation architecture has multiple microcontroller-based measurement channels that perform the data acquisition. Each measurement channel has the same basic structure so that more channels can be added by plugging in new boards, without changing the architecture so that the instrument is scalable. A master microcontroller provides general control to the instrument while the microcontroller for each measurement channel controls data acquisition for each channel. The measurements are then stored, processed, and displayed on a central processor such as a host computer. In another embodiment, the host computer is connected to the master microcontroller with a serial line for data communication and each channel microcontroller passes data to the host computer through the master microcontroller. In another embodiment, separate data communication lines are used for each microcontroller on the instrument. The master microcontroller and the channel microcontrollers may also share the same communication lines. In another embodiment, the data channel measures the terminal impedance in parallel, at basically the same time, as any other data acquisition channels. In another embodiment, the instrument is connected to at least one probe element for measurements. These measurements may be performed with test circuits of eddy current sensing elements or capacitive sensing elements.
In another embodiment, eddy current sensing element array test circuit designs are disclosed that permit the creation of images when scanned over a material surface. In one form, a linear array of sensing elements is placed between a pair of linear drive winding segments. In another form, a second linear array of elements is placed parallel to the first array. This second array can also be offset in a direction parallel to the linear array by a portion of the dimension of a sensing element to facilitate complete coverage of the test material when the sensing array is scanned. In a preferred embodiment, all of the sensing elements have the same sensing area dimensions and the offset distance is one-half the length of the sensing element. Individual connections to each sensing element make rapid imaging possible. In another embodiment, the second linear array of elements is placed next to the first array within the same pair of drive winding segments, with both sets of sensing elements having the same distance to the nearest drive winding. With the sensing elements aligned in the scan direction, perpendicular to the array direction, the differential response between aligned sensing elements can be performed. Alternatively, the second array can be offset in a direction parallel to the linear array by a portion of the dimension of a sensing element. In another embodiment, two arrays are located on opposite sides of a linear drive. The elements of each array are aligned, with no offset, the signals from elements on opposite sides are both recorded, and filters are used to improve sensitivity to flaws using both element responses. In one embodiment, the signal from sensing elements on opposite sides are compared so that the response to small anomalies should be the same as sensing elements on opposite sides of the drive. In another embodiment, multiple frequencies are used to improve sensitivity.
In another embodiment, eddy current sensing element array test circuit designs are disclosed that provide sensitivity to multiple penetration depths into the test material. This is accomplished by placing the sensing elements at different distances to the linear drive winding segments. In one embodiment, all of the sensing elements are placed between a single pair of drive segments. In another embodiment, at least one sensing element is placed between a different pair of drive segments. A portion of the sensing elements can also comprise two linear arrays of elements that are placed on either side of a single large element at the center between the drive segments. Differential measurements can be performed with the linear arrays of elements and absolute measurements can be performed.
In another embodiment, methods are disclosed for processing the measurements to extract desired information. In one embodiment, images or one dimensional scans of the measured properties are filtered by matching the measured response to a characteristic shape for a defect, or anomaly. In another embodiment, the thresholds for detection are set by determining the signal-to-noise ratio based on the background material properties and the response to anomalies of interest. In another embodiment, varying the orientation of the sensor relative to the orientation of the defect can increase or decrease the sensitivity to the defect.
The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of preferred embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention.
A description of preferred embodiments of the invention follows.
The architecture of
In one embodiment, the microcontroller 28 controls each of the microcontrollers on the instrument boards 19 through the signals on line 15. In another embodiment, which further promotes the scalability of the architecture, the master microcontroller 28 only directly controls the first microcontroller 17 on each instrument board. The first microcontroller on each board then controls the communication between each of the microcontrollers on an instrument board and the host computer. This first microcontroller determines the number of serial ports being used and determines if the board works with its own serial port or if the serial port from a previous board is to be used. In another embodiment, portions of this instrumentation might be combined into an ASIC format. Also, in place of the computer 2, the microcontroller 28 can operate as a master or host processor or computer which controls the operation of the multi-channel impedance measurement apparatus. The microcontroller 28 can also serve as the local microcontrollers for the measurement channels, and/or can provide data storage.
There are several advantages of this design for the instrumentation architecture. One is the scalability or flexibility to include numerous data acquisition boards without requiring redesign of the instrumentation. For measurements with a single channel or small numbers of array elements, less than approximately eight, a single instrument board can be used. For measurements with larger arrays, greater than eight, additional boards can be stacked onto the first board. A second advantage is the distribution of the microcontrollers between the various signal generation and data acquisition boards. Distributing the microcontrollers allows one to take advantage of relatively fast digital communications between microcontrollers. This is analogous to a distributed computer network where numerous computers or microprocessors can be linked. The use of digital serial bus 4 also allows the distance between the central processing unit (2) and the measurement instrumentation (6 and 18) to be relatively long, up to hundreds of feet. A third advantage is the use of a separate measurement channel for each element of the probe array. This greatly improves the rate with which data can be acquired as multiplexing between the elements is not required. Conventional instrumentation multiplexes between the probe elements, which is a relatively slow process. Multiplexing also raises the issue of signal contamination from previously measured channels.
Another advantage for this instrumentation architecture is that modest control is passed to the local microcontrollers for each measurement channel. When power is first applied, the master microcontroller sends signals to each of the measurement channel microcontrollers giving them a unique channel number and providing the number of measurements and frequencies that will be required. Each measurement channel microcontroller performs zeroing operations to remove nominal offsets and then performs the required number of measurements. Each measurement channel microcontroller is then triggered sequentially for transmission of data back to the host computer and sends a handshake signal back to the master microcontroller when the operation is complete. The microcontroller in the first position on each of the instrument boards provides further control for board level functions. This microcontroller determines if the board needs to respond to the master microcontroller signals and in essence provides a modular plug and play capability.
Utilizing distributed processing for each or for a subset of measurement channels optimizes physical distances for high bandwidth data paths while scaling processing power to maintain a true parallel architecture especially with increasing channel counts.
Although the configuration in
The microcontroller 38 controls the generation of the drive signal, sending a common frequency select signal to a master oscillator 40, a reference oscillator 42, and a trigger 43. The frequency select signal steps-down the signal from a common high frequency oscillator 39. For measurements from 1 Hz to 30 MHz, a high frequency oscillator signal of 120 MHz is adequate. The output of the oscillators is a differential sinusoid signal because more drive current can be obtained with lower voltage levels and it helps to reduce common mode (capacitive) coupling of noise signals to the sensing elements. For the master or drive signal, both components of the signal are amplified with a variable gain amplifier 31 and passed through a circuit 49 for measuring the signal level. This is accomplished through current measuring circuits 51 that are then summed 53, with the resultant signal sent through one of the measurement channels. This direct measurement of the drive signal 8 helps improve the quality of the impedance measurement as drive signal levels vary, particularly over broad frequency ranges. For the reference signal, the signal from the microcontroller passes through a variable phase element 41, which shifts the reference signal phase relative to the drive. This allows measurement of both the in-phase and quadrature phase signals with a single measurement channel, as described below. The differential output of the reference oscillator 42 is then buffered 33 and passed 20 to each data acquisition board. The trigger is used to enable the analog-to-digital conversions on each measurement channel and is passed down to each data acquisition board. The trigger signal is also passed back to the master microcontroller 38 and counted so that the master microcontroller can keep track of the number of measurements that have been performed. Both of the oscillators and the trigger are direct digital synthesizers (DDS's) which allow all of the generated signals to be synchronized and phase-locked with respect to each other.
The drive signal 8 is passed through the probe electronics 10 before entering the probe array 14. The probe array in these cases consists of a series of primary or drive inductive windings or coils 44 with sensing secondary windings or coils 48 distributed within the footprint of the primary windings. An example sensing array would be a Meandering Winding Magnetometer (MWM™), which has a spatially periodic primary winding pattern with secondary windings distributed throughout the primary winding meanders or an array of MWMs. The voltage induced on each secondary winding 48 is then amplified and buffered 57 to drive the signal lines to the data acquisition boards 18. This voltage can be measured as the differential voltage across each secondary element or, if one side of the secondary elements is grounded, as a single sided measurement. The induced voltage depends upon the properties of and proximity to the MUT. The signals from the secondary elements are then amplified with a variable gain amplifier 50 at the input to the data acquisition board 18 prior to processing. The variable gain setting can be controlled individually or set at the same time by either the master microcontroller 38 or the microcontroller 19 for each channel. Processing could include mixing 52 with the reference signal 20 to determine the components of the signal in phase and in quadrature. This can be accomplished with a four quadrant multiplier circuit. In the presently preferred embodiment in-phase detection is employed, quadrature component detection being achieved by shifting the reference signal to be in quadrature with the drive signal. Alternatives considered include multiple driving frequencies and/or use of both in-phase and quadrature detection simultaneously by dedicating two channels to each signal. The signal is also filtered 54, with analog active filters or passive filters (such as a fifth order elliptical active filter using a voltage controlled voltage source topology) to remove high frequency signal variations. This signal is then sampled and held for conversion from analog to digital form and being buffered in the A/D converters 56. Internal buffers in the A/D converters 56 provide storage for the signals prior to being accessed by the microcontrollers 58 for transmission back to the computer 2.
The drive signal is also passed back through to the data acquisition board 18. This allows for a precise measurement of the drive signal, along with the signals induced on the secondary elements 48. Comparing each secondary signal to the drive signal then provides an accurate method for determining the impedance between each secondary element and the drive. As a result, for a given board with N channels or M boards of N channels each, one channel is reserved for the drive signal and the remaining channels can be allocated for the measurement of signals from each secondary element. In
Each data acquisition board 18 has several common elements, in addition to the modular measurement channels. A buffer 45 is used for maintaining the trigger signal magnitude. A buffer for the differential reference signal 47 maintains the reference signal magnitude. The communication line 23 allows the master microcontroller 38 to communicate and trigger each channel microcontroller 19. In addition, each channel microcontroller can send handshaking signals back to the master microcontroller to keep each microcontroller synchronized. The transmission line 24 sends data form each microcontroller back through the serial bus 4 to the host computer 2.
A typical measurement cycle starts with the master microcontroller setting the frequency and creating drive and reference signals. The variable phase for the reference signal is initially set to zero degrees. After waiting for the output of the filter 54 to settle, a measurement is taken of the DC component of the filtered signal. The channel microcontroller then receives the data from the analog-to-digital converter, averages it and signals the master microcontroller that it is ready for the next measurements. This is repeated until a preset number of measurements (set by the host computer) have been performed. The reference signal phase is then shifted by 90 degrees and the measurement procedure repeated to get the quadrature phase information. For data transmission, the master microcontroller signals each board or bank of measurement channels to begin transmitting data simultaneously and the data is transmitted from each channel on a board sequentially.
An enabling feature of this instrumentation architecture is that the components such as the analog-to-digital converters and the microcontrollers can now be made into a small and compact size. This allows the instrumentation data acquisition boards to be fabricated into a reasonable size and at a reasonable expense. Furthermore, the phase of the reference oscillator can be set in real-time for measuring the in-phase and quadrature-phase signal levels. Thus, no transients in the drive and sense lines of the probe electronics and probe array will be created as the reference phase is shifted. Furthermore, both components of the signal are measured with the same circuit components, eliminating the effects of any slight variations between measurement channels when two different circuits are used to determine the in-phase and quadrature phase signal components. In one embodiment, the footprint of the instrumentation can be further reduced using either ASICs or chip sets.
When operating at frequencies below the cutoff frequency for the filter 54, which is typically 20 kHz, other measurement procedures can be performed to provide high quality signal measurements. For frequencies slightly below cutoff frequency, the reference and measured signals can be synchronized so that measurements can be performed over an integer number of excitation signal cycles. For very low frequencies, measurements can be performed at reasonable fixed intervals throughout the signal period. Multiplication of the signal levels with function tables for determining the in-phase and quadrature phase components can then be performed in software, rather than hardware, when there is sufficient time between measurements. Averaging of the signal can also be performed while the multiplication is being performed. The oscillator frequency can also be set to zero frequency and the phase adjusted so that the DC signal level from the filter falls within a nominal magnitude for the analog-to-digital conversion boards.
In alternative embodiments, the drive signal 8 can be further amplified in the probe electronics module 10, prior to being sent into the probe array 14. The buffers 57 in the probe electronics 10 can also be converted into variable gain amplifiers for additional control over the signal levels from the various array elements.
In one embodiment, the master microcontroller 28 configures the frequency and output level of a drive current, which is applied to a drive winding of array 14. Voltages induced on sensing elements 46 are buffered and amplified by probe electronics 10 and provided to instrument channel 6 as signal 16. At excitation frequencies greater than twice the cut-off frequency of low-pass filter 54 the signal is mixed (multiplied) by a reference signal 20. This reference signal 20 is configured with a frequency matching the excitation signal and a phase, which can be changed by 90 degrees. The mixed signal is then filtered by low-pass filter 54 leaving a DC components which is related to the in-phase or quadrature component of signal 16 depending on the configuration of reference 20. A/D converter 56 then converts the analog signal to digital signal, which is read by channel microcontroller 58. Channel microcontroller 58 provides noise filtering on data from A/D converter 56, which results in a reduction in the quantity of data, for example, through averaging or a more complex filter. Channel microcontroller 58 provides the capability to read data from its A/D converter 56 and provides filtering in parallel simultaneously with other measurement channels. The reduction in data during the filtering operation reduces the bandwidth requirement of data paths routing the data back to a central location, such as host computer 2. At excitation frequencies below cut-off frequency of filter 54, the reference 20 is set with a DC signal and additional correlation techniques provided by microcontroller 58 recover in-phase and quadrature components of signal 16. The master microcontroller 28 coordinates A/D converter measurements, data transmission and frequency selection.
This distributed processing and buffering for the individual data channels allows for greatly increased data acquisition rates over multiplexed measurement systems. Separation of the signal sampling operation from the signal transmission allows measurement data to be obtained while the earlier (buffered) signals are being transmitted back to the computer 2. Furthermore, the individual buffers for each channel, as opposed to a single buffer or storage element for all channel, allows large numbers of channels to be added to the instruments without compromising the data acquisition rate. As long as the measurement time is greater than the transmission time for the data, the measurement time is the limiting factor. This is especially useful when trying to obtain real-time high resolution images of material properties; for imaging applications numerous sensing elements (greater than 10 or 20) across the sample are needed to provide high quality images and the rate with which the sensor is scanned across the surface needs to be fast enough to provide an image in real-time. With this parallel data acquisition architecture, wider areas can be scanned with the rapid generation of images.
To fully utilize the high data-rate measurement capability across numerous channels provided by this instrumentation requires the use of arrays of sensing elements. In particular, for imaging applications it is important for each sensing element to provide a response to the material under test, independent of the other sensing elements. One sensing array design for eddy current sensing applications on conducting and/or magnetic materials that minimizes this cross-talk between sensing element is the MWM™ geometry.
The MWM structure can be produced using micro-fabrication techniques typically employed in integrated circuit and flexible circuit manufacture. This results in highly reliable and highly repeatable (i.e., essentially identical) sensors, which has inherent advantages over the coils used in conventional eddy-current sensors. As indicated by Auld and Moulder, for conventional eddy-current sensors "nominally identical probes have been found to give signals that differ by as much as 35%, even though the probe inductances were identical to better than 2%" [Auld, 1999]. This lack of reproducibility with conventional coils introduces severe requirements for calibration of the sensors (e.g., matched sensor/calibration block sets). In contrast, duplicate MWM sensor tips have nearly identical magnetic field distributions around the windings as standard micro-fabrication (etching) techniques have both high spatial reproducibility and resolution. As the sensor was also designed to produce a spatially periodic magnetic field in the MUT, the sensor response can be accurately modeled which dramatically reduces calibration requirements. For example, in some situations an "air calibration" can be used where the response of the sensor in proximity to a test material referenced to the response of the sensor in air, distant from any conducting or magnetic materials. This calibration in air can be used to measure an absolute electrical conductivity without calibration standards, which makes the MWM sensor geometry well-suited to surface mounted or embedded applications where calibration requirements will be necessarily relaxed.
An efficient method for converting the response of the MWM sensor into material or geometric properties is to use grid measurement methods. These methods map the magnitude and phase of the sensor impedance into the properties to be determined and provide for a real-time measurement capability. The measurement grids are two-dimensional databases that can be visualized as "grids" that relate two measured parameters to two unknowns, such as the conductivity and lift-off (where lift-off is defined as the proximity of the MUT to the plane of the MWM windings). For the characterization of coatings, cracks, or surface layer properties, three-dimensional versions of the measurement grids can be used for more than two unknowns, multiple frequencies, or multiple spatial wavelengths, or multiple lift-offs, or multiple states (such as temperature) or combinations of these can be used. Alternatively, the surface layer parameters can be determined from numerical algorithms that minimize the least squares error between the measurements and the predicted responses from the sensor.
An advantage of the measurement grid method is that it allows for real-time measurements of the absolute electrical properties of the material. The database of the sensor responses can be generated prior to the data acquisition on the part itself, so that only table lookup operation, which is relatively fast, needs to be performed. Furthermore, grids can be generated for the individual elements in an array so that each individual element can be lift-off compensated to provide absolute property measurements, such as the electrical conductivity. This again reduces the need for extensive calibration standards. In contrast, conventional eddy-current methods that use empirical correlation tables that relate the amplitude and phase of a lift-off compensated signal to parameters or properties of interest, such as crack size or hardness, require extensive calibrations and instrument preparation.
To provide complete coverage when the sensor is scanned across a part or when a crack propagates across the sensor, perpendicular to the extended portions of the primary winding, secondary elements 76 in a primary winding loop adjacent to the first array of sense elements 72 are offset along the length of the primary loop. Additional primary winding meander loops, which only contain dummy elements, are placed at the edges of the sensor to help maintain the periodicity of the magnetic field. The connection leads 76 to the secondary elements are perpendicular to the extended portions of the primary winding, which necessitates the use of a multi-layer structure in fabricating the sensor. The layers that contain the primary and secondary winding conductors are separated by a layer of insulation. Layers of insulation are generally also applied to the top and bottom surfaces of the sensor to electrically insulate the primary and secondary windings from the MUT.
These leads to the primary and secondary elements are kept close together to minimize fringing field coupling. The leads for the primary winding 82 are kept close together to minimize the creation of fringing fields. The leads for the secondary elements 84 are kept close together to minimize the linkage of stray magnetic flux. The bond pads 86 provide the capability for connecting the sensor to a mounting fixture. The trace widths for the primary winding can also be increased to minimize ohmic heating, particularly for large penetration depths that require low frequency and high current amplitude excitations.
The size of the sensing elements can be adjusted to improve sensitivity to the flaw or property that needs to be detected. For example, to minimize coupling of short spatial wavelength magnetic field modes, the distance 80 between the sensing elements and the primary (drive) winding is made relatively large. As a result, the sensing element response is primarily sensitive to the dominant periodic mode. This produces improved depth of sensitivity to the properties of an MUT. The length of the secondary elements should be as small as possible to create a high resolution image when scanned over the surface of a part but also large enough so that a reasonable number of channels are used when scanning wide areas and the signal-to-noise is large enough to obtain reliable data. In one embodiment, an array of 19 one-eighth inch long elements was suitable for scanning over a more than two-inch wide area inspecting for subsurface inclusions tens of mils in size.
Two additional configurations for MWM-Arrays are shown in
Multiple sensing elements can also be placed across the distance between the extended portions of a primary winding to provide sensitivity to different depths into a test material.
The capability to measure multiple depths of penetration or spatial wavelengths simultaneously is particularly useful for the detection of flaws or anomalies in materials with significant microstructural variations.
These segmented field eddy current arrays that contain multiple sensing elements within the footprint of a single primary operate in three modes. In the first mode, the array of sensing elements is a single linear array at a fixed distance from the drive winding as in either row of
The use of high resolution absolute conductivity mapping arrays, such as the MWM-Array, introduce the new capability to measure absolute electrical conductivity or to estimate the size and depth of an anomaly in a metal, or to estimate the size and depth of a surface breaking crack. To accomplish this the calibration and measurement procedures must be self-consistent, and the resulting measurements must be robust and reproducible to justify implementation in production or field inspection applications.
Conventional eddy current "pencil probes" used for inspection of engine components, for example, are often calibrated using crack standards. For example, the signal from a typical crack might be recorded and then the range on the instrument might be set so that the crack response is at 80% of the total scale. Then, a threshold might be set so that some minimum crack size is detectable on the standard. This is a useful method if the crack standard well represents the actual component that is being inspected for cracks. Unfortunately, standards that are flat and contain simulated flaws (e.g., fatigue cracks grown from EDM notches with the notches later broached and then the surface etched to "reveal" the cracks) are generally used to determine the POD (probability of detection) for a given flaw size. This is a useful method only when the component is well represented by the standard. If for example, the probe scanning the actual component is at a higher lift-off (e.g., proximity of the sensor to the surface is not as close) than it was on the standard when the thresholds were set, then the actual detectable crack size would be larger (and perhaps much larger) than assumed.
One advantage of using an absolute sensor, such as the MWM-Array with grid methods is that the lift-off can be measured at each data point during a scan and at each individual sensing element. Thus, in one preferred embodiment the MWM-Array is first scanned across a reference crack standard at several different lift-offs, and the crack detection threshold on the effective electrical conductivity measured by the MWM at each sensing element is determined at each lift-off. Then depending on the lift-off the detection threshold is now automatically adjusted to the appropriate level. The true probability of detection may then be known for the lift-off in a production or field inspection. This is not possible with a lift-off compensated differential eddy current probe that does not accurately measure the lift-off independently.
The method described above still relies on crack standards. In a second preferred embodiment the detection of cracks and the calibration procedure is performed without calibrating on the crack standards. First, the sensor is calibrated in air or on a reference part (with and without a lift-off shim to vary the lift-off by a known amount). Then the sensor is scanned across the actual part surface to determine the background "noise" level. Then the crack (or other anomaly) detection threshold is set based on the signal to noise level for discrete anomalies in the case of discrete cracks. In one preferred embodiment the sensor can be scanned in an orientation that is insensitive to cracks first and then in the orientation that is sensitive to cracks. Any crack-like signals are then removed to establish the noise level and set the signal to noise based crack detection threshold. This method is important for detection of cracks on relatively rough surfaces such as in fretting regions or shot peened surfaces.
Along with the capability to measure images of the material properties, processing of these images can play a critical role in providing a meaningful inspection technique. For the detection of flaws or fatigue damage, matched filters can be used to extract the characteristic signal from a feature from a noisy signal. As an example, consider the images illustrated in
Although a simple match filter works well for features of a specific size, the match becomes poor and results in artifacts in the response if a feature is detected that is substantially larger or smaller than the feature used to create the match filter. To improve the performance, multiple passes can be used with matched filters of a specific feature size, or adaptive filters can be applied to the data. As an example of an adaptive filter, for well-separated indications after scanning across the plate and filtering with the match filter, one can take a window around the spot on the plate where a strong match was detected and fit a two humped Gaussian distribution to the data. There are four parameters per hump in the distribution, describing the amplitude, location, and shape, which results in eight parameters that can describe the properties of each indication. These results can then be used to determine the symmetry of the response and possibly the size and depth of the feature. In addition, filtering can also be applied across each of the element rows at a given location, as is done in conventional image processing.
In some measurement applications, such as the monitoring of permanently mounted sensors distributed across an aircraft structure, the sensors and sensor array must be located at a distance from the host computer. For these remote inspection applications, it is not always practical to run individual communication lines between the computer and the impedance measuring instrumentation or the sensor arrays. Instead, it is more practical to use communication lines and protocols that permit multiple transmit and receive devices to be connected to the same line, such as RS-485 or wireless communication techniques based, for example on 8.0211b or Bluetooth™ standards.
A wireless or remotely distributed instrument architecture has different design constraints than a local parallel channel instrumentation architecture. For example, a wireless instrument that incorporates an independent power source, such as a battery, should shut down components when not they are not in use between measurements. A local wired system with access to a power source does not necessarily need these power saving features and may have additional functionality for the monitoring of embedded sensors, such as audio/visual cues, encoder support, automatic probe and sensor tip identification, and multiple trigger sources.
For making the wireless device as small and compact as possible there are also tradeoffs that can be made in terms of the excitation frequency range for the instrument. For example, a desktop instrument may have a relatively broad excitation frequency range of 6 kHz to 32 MHz. For the lower excitation frequencies, more power is generally used to drive larger currents in the sensor in order to achieve reasonable measurement sensitivity with an eddy current sensor. Consequently, raising the lower limit for the excitation frequency up to, for example 100 kHz, reduces the measurement capabilities of the instrument but has a lower power requirement and provides a longer battery life-time. In addition, a higher excitation frequency also reduces the complexity of the filter used to isolate the dc component of the signal obtained after mixing the measurement signal with the reference signal. Sharp filters, such as fifth order filters, are needed when the excitation frequency is near the filter cutoff frequency; when the excitation frequency is relatively high compared to the filter cutoff frequency, simpler filters, such as first order filters, can be used. Longer integration times could also be used to perform measurements at the lower frequencies, but there would still be constraints on the power that could be consumed. On the high frequency end of the range, a simpler frequency synthesizer can be used if lower excitation frequencies are used. This also permits longer lead lengths between the sensor and the local electronics for performing the measurements. An example limited frequency range for a wireless instrument is 100 kHz to 10 MHz. In an even simpler embodiment, a single measurement frequency would be used.
Other design constraints for a wireless instrument involve the data acquisition speed, the number of channels available for processing, and the ranging capabilities of for the sensing signal. One basic tradeoff is between higher data acquisition rates and the additional size, weight, power consumption, and circuit complexity of the instrument. For example, a desktop instrument may have a sharp fifth order filter and a separate measurement channel for each sensing signal input with acquisition of the data in parallel. This permits relatively rapid data acquisition rates, such as 6 msec for acquisition from all channels. In contrast, a simplified instrument for wireless operation may use a simple first order filter so that the data acquisition time is 50 msec per channel. This device may also use a multiplexer so that a single measurement channel can be used and cycled through each sensing input. In one embodiment, separate measurement channels are used for the reference signal and the sensing input signal. This allows parallel measurements of the reference with each sensing input signal, and accurate compensates for any drift in the reference or drive signal. In this configuration, the data acquisition time then simply increases with the number of sensing inputs being multiplexed together. For example, for a seven sensing input device, the data acquisition time is seven times longer than for a single sensing input device. In another embodiment, the same measurement channel is used for the reference signal and the sensing input signal so that the reference signal is also multiplexed into the measurement channel. For a single sensing input, the data acquisition time is twice as long as the time required when the reference is measured in parallel with the sensing input. The reference signal can be measured prior to (or after) all of the measurements of the sensing inputs if the drive signal is stable and does not drift. However, a more stable measurement is obtained when the reference signal is measured immediately prior to (or after) each sensing input measurement at the expense of slower data acquisition. A desktop instrument may also including automatic ranging features that allow the current amplification or gain settings to be set dynamically. For a wireless device, these range levels or gain settings should be fixed at a constant value.
Several levels of multiplexing can be performed. In the simplest configuration, a single multiplexer is connected to a single multiple element sensor array, multiple single element sensors, or a combination of the two. Preferably, the drive signal to each sensor primary winding would be multiplexed, along with sensor element signals, to conserve power. Large multiplexers can be used to connect several multiple element sensor arrays to a single instrument, such as two or more seven-channel sensors, however this also causes an increase in the power requirement as each channel of the multiplexer generally has a quiescent power requirement. Preferably, the disable mode of multiplexer operational amplifiers is use to limit any quiescent current requirements and the components are shut down until needed.
Depending upon the measurement application, the resolution of the impedance measurement may also be limited for a wireless instrument. The wireless instrument can be designed to have the equivalent resolution of a desktop instrument, such as complex (real and imaginary parts) of the impedance with 16 bits for each part. However, if permitted in the application, a more simple impedance magnitude measurement with a 12 or 16 bit representation may be performed. The resolution of the impedance information also affects the requirements for any buffering of the data. In one configuration, no buffering is performed in the wireless device and data is uploaded as necessary. In another configuration, the data is stored in static memory at predetermined intervals or when triggered.
The method of calibration of the sensing arrays also has an impact on the quality of the measurement image obtained.
One method for reducing this variability in the response between elements is to perform a reference calibration on a defect-free portion of the test material or a material having a known conductivity. The disadvantages of this approach include that it requires knowledge of the reference material conductivity and properties, such as a uniform conductivity with depth and this approach is sensitive to ambient temperature variations since the conductivity or most materials varies with temperature. An alternative method for reducing the element-to-element variability is to calibrate in air and to also use measurements of the response of a shunt array to determine parasitic responses (e.g., capacitances and inductances). A comparison of the average conductivity across all of elements at several frequencies, using both an air calibration alone and an air plus shunt calibration, are shown in
The inventions described here relate to methods and apparatus for the nondestructive measurements of materials using sensors that apply electromagnetic fields to a test material and detect changes in the electromagnetic fields due to the proximity and properties of the test material. Although the discussion focused on magnetoquasistatic sensors, many of the concepts extend directly to electroquasistatic sensors as well.
While the inventions has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood to those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
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|U.S. Classification
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Owner name: JENTEK SENSORS, INC., MASSACHUSETTS
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:SCHLICKER, DARRELL E.;GOLDFINE, NEIL J.;MILLER, ERIC L.;REEL/FRAME:013086/0174
Effective date: 20020620
|Nov 4, 2011
|Fee payment
Year of fee payment: 4
|Nov 9, 2015
|Fee payment
Year of fee payment: 8


text:
URDANETA CITY - Various government line agencies and private corporations convened on Thursday to present the updates of their concerted efforts on their programs pertaining to the sustainable livelihood program (SLP) of the government.
Regional Director Marcelo Nicomedes Castillo of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD , said the government is focused on uplifting the lives of the Filipino family, thus the need to pool the help and resources of all concerned agencies.
"The sustainable livelihood program is one of the millennium development goals of the country not just for the Filipinos but also for our commitment to the international community," Castillo said during the quarterly inter-agency meeting held at the Urdaneta City hall.
Castillo further explained that the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) is the main focus of the SLP because it is the face of poverty and the sector that needs the most assistance.
Of the 10 million Filipinos listed in the 'Listahanan' survey, at least five million are identified poor, he said.
In Region I, a total of 203,550 poor families are beneficiaries of the 4Ps as of the second quarter of 2015 with 19,602 in Ilocos Norte; 26,434 in Ilocos Sur; 31,039 in La Union and 126,475 in Pangasinan.
Castillo revealed that the program has doubled its target of 4Ps beneficiaries in the country. From the initial target of 2.3 million poor families, the program has served 4.5 million for the first half of 2015. DSWD is confident it could reach the five- million mark by 2016.
With DSWD as the lead agency, the Regional Inter-Agency Committee has the following members: DOLE, BFAR, DPWH, DA, DAR, DTI, DENR, DOST, DOH, DOT,PIA,TESDA, DMMSU-MLUC, private corporation SRPC, religious sector and local government units. (VHS/PIA-1, Pangasinan)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Grand Central
This cozy little restaurant is located down an alleyway on Masonic Place, right across from the Atlantic House. Grand Central serves seafood, pasta dishes, steaks, and nightly specials at reasonable prices. Come as you are. Dine inside, outside on the deck, enjoying the night air, or upstairs in the bar area. A fun and relaxed atmosphere. 5 Masonic Place 508.487.7599 Read more ›


text:
What You Can Learn From A Bimbo In A Bakery
The doctrine of inevitable disclosure, which has its source in trade secret law, holds that in rare circumstances an individual possesses such critical knowledge of a company's trade secrets that she can be temporarily or even permanently banned from working in a specific job, because performing the job itself would inevitably lead to disclosure...
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text:
The Lakers ended a winless Week 8 with Kobe Bryant considering taking time off after the team's Sunday-night loss to the Sacramento Kings.
Week 9 proved to be only slightly more productive with one win in four tries.
Coach Byron Scott mulled over resting Bryant, ultimately choosing to sit his All-Star guard on Tuesday when the Lakers hosted the Golden State Warriors.
Surprisingly, the Lakers dominated the Warriors, finishing with a 115-105 victory. Wayne Ellington filled in well for Bryant in the starting lineup. The game wasn't as close as the final score.
The Lakers traveled to Chicago to play the Bulls and Pau Gasol on Christmas Day. Gasol said it would feel "weird" to face his former team.
Bryant, who sat out the holiday game to get additional rest, said he was not surprised by Gasol's resurgence with the Bulls. The Lakers kept the game close but faded late in a 113-93 loss.
The next night Scott gave Bryant another day off, and the Lakers fell on Friday to the Mavericks in Dallas, 102-98. A late run gave the Lakers a chance, but they ultimately ran out of time.
Bryant returned to the lineup Sunday, as the Lakers returned home to host the Phoenix Suns, ultimately falling short in a close battle, 116-107.
Meanwhile, the Lakers had interest in Josh Smith, cut by the Detroit Pistons, but he chose to join the Houston Rockets.
To make room for Smith, the Rockets waived Tarik Black -- whom the Lakers claimed off waivers Sunday, cutting injured swingman Xavier Henry to create a roster spot.
Finally, Magic Johnson and Scott remain close friends, even if they have different views on the idea of the Lakers tanking to secure a high draft pick.
Email Eric Pincus at firstname.lastname@example.com and follow him on Twitter @EricPincus.


text:
2016 was such a bad year for famous deaths and incredible (in my opinion) political decisions and some are still grating now, months after they occurred – but I see that as a plus point in some respects, as it means that I still have passion and energy about some things. Long may that continue. […]
My Thoughts and Updates
Get in touch


text:
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Boasting a unique smoothing formula containing extracts of the softening Camellia Flower, the Matrix Biolage SmoothProof Shampoo works to tame flyaways and eliminate frizz for a super sleek finish. Formulated with self-adjusting humidity blocking technology, this shampoo not only deeply cleanses the hair but it reduces the chance of frizz, giving you a smooth, salon perfect 'do!
Complete with a 1000ml pump for easy dispersion! K.D.
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Dr. Alan C Stuto has a medical practice at 701 South Zarzamora Street, San Antonio, TX 78207. Currently, Dr. Alan C Stuto specializes in podiatry in San Antonio area and has over 4 years of experience in the field of medicine. He graduated from his medical school with his medical degree in 2014. Dr. Stuto is accepting new patients at his medical office and center location and available for appointments, preventative care, medical care as well as ongoing patient care. To learn more, or to make an appointment with Dr. Alan C Stuto in San Antonio TX, please call (210) 358 7717 for more information.
Check locations where Dr. Alan practices near San Antonio TX and make an appointment.
Primary specialty: Podiatry
Doctors can have one or more medical licenses for different specialities in the same state or different states. He received medical licensing as follows:
The following information about the taxonomy information of the doctor is available:
An affiliated hospital is a hospital where a doctor can practice and admit patients. Dr. Alan C Stuto is professionally affiliated with multiple hospitals in San Antonio area and more.
Appointments may be made for routine visits or new problems that you may be experiencing. Knowing what questions to ask before, during and after appointments is vital to better understand, and therefore manage, an illness. Please call to Dr. Alan to schedule your appointment today: (210) 358 7717.
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text: I have read through a lot of threads in my short time here on BrownCafe and have read some very creative posts some in fact that I have found very funny. In one such post Indecision stated something the lines of "At UPS we never stop learning. We learn each day what we did wrong." At the time and in context to what Indecision was responding to this really cracked me up and I never forgot it. What are some quotes from this site you have liked, funny or not? Indecision, feel free to reference that quote if you can remember what thread you posted it in or what is was in response to.


text:
The Weeping Wood
1943 · Garden City, NY
by BAUM, Vicki
Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1943. Very Good. Very good/POOR Book bumped at spine ends, corners, and along bottom of back cover. Top and bottom edges lightly browned. Dustwrapper chipped along top and bottom edges. Please Note: This book has been transferred to Between the Covers from another database and might not be described to our usual standards. Please inquire for more detailed condition information. (Inventory #: 228026)


text:
Stay cool in the kitchen this summer with these slow cooked baked beans. They are sweet, spicy and super easy to make.
Some people put their slow cookers away for the summer but not me, I use mine all year long. It's a great way to prep a meal early in the day and forget about it until it's time to eat. One of our favorite summer slow cooked dishes is baked beans. The beans cook nice and slow allowing the flavors to do their thing while they cook, and the kitchen stays nice and cool without the oven on.
This recipe is made with simple and wholesome ingredients and can be put together in no time. Serve these slow cooked beans as a main dish with a side salad or serve them with your favorite burger. Either way you have a super simple dinner so you can enjoy your summer!
Baked beans are traditionally made with navy beans, but you can use just about any kind of bean you want. I like a variety of beans which makes the texture a little more interesting. This is a perfect dish to serve at your next barbecue with your favorite burger. You can use dried beans that have been soaked and cooked or organic canned beans.
- 1½ cups black beans
- 1½ cups white beans
- 1½ cups kidney beans
- 1 medium diced onion
- 1 clove garlic
- ¾ cup organic tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1 1 /2 tablespoons real maple syrup
- 1½ cups vegetable broth or your favorite light craft beer
- 2 tablespoons chipotle chili powder - use less for less heat
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- Place all ingredients into a slow cooker and mix well
- cook on low heat for 5 to 6 hours
My Ingredient Picks. . .
Please note that these are affiliate links which means that if you click on one of them and make a purchase I will receive a small commission. I only recommend products that I use myself. Thanks for supporting Simple and Savory!
- Eden Organic Black Beans
- Eden Organic Navy Beans
- Eden Organic Kidney Beans
- Bionature Organic Tomato Paste
- Simply Organic Chili Powder
- Simply Organic Cumin
- Coombs Family Farms Organic Maple Syrup
Be sure to check out how the Recipe Reduxers use their slow cookers during the summer by clicking below. . .
***Please note that there are affiliate links on this page. This means that if you follow one of the links and make a purchase we will receive a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you. This helps us to continue to bring you good content. Thank you for your support! Simple and Savory is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.***


text:
If you are following my blog, I bet most of you have already assumed this. However, I am taking a complete break from all detoxing until everything else can be either ruled out or diagnosed. A little part of me is "missing" the detox, but my body needs a long break. I'll never know if the mild neutropenia was caused by the DMSA.
I now recommend everyone to get a full blood workup before starting the Cutler detox. You should have kidney, liver, thyroid and adrenal function checked, and a CBC with differential. Adrenal function is usually better tested with a saliva test. This way you have a good starting point. If you never get these done and then 3 months into the detox, your liver starts acting up, you won't know what caused what and may quit the detox indefinitely. Sometimes the liver, kidneys are working at just enough pace that they don't cause you problems until it is stressed more than normal. Detox is stress no matter how "gentle" of an approach you take.
This week I will be calling my doctor (today actually) to see what the results of the blood work were and where we go from here. I will definitely get them faxed over to me as well. I'd like to see an ENT to have him/her check my lymph nodes out. This is what they do on a regular basis, so they will have a better feel (pun intended) of what the lymph nodes should look like. I would like to have my groin lymph nodes examined too, but I don't think an ENT would do that.
All of this is so frustrating!
This blog is a collection of triumphs and stumbles for what has become a journey in achieving peace with my life. In July 2012 God called me out of the natural health communities and he told me to seek Him for healing. I listened and stopped all the research that I was doing to follow Him. I am believing that Jesus Christ is a healer TODAY and that I will be supernaturally healed of all my conditions. Jesus is the only hope I have because science and natural health has failed me.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Complete Break From Detoxing
Labels: blood work, detox, ENT
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Archive by Author
New Year's Revenge
Posted on 07. Jan, 2015 by admin.
Every year, Evolution Personal Training runs the New Year's Revenge program, a 6 week body transformation program to help people make the right kind of resolutions – none. Instead, the focus is on fast, fun and permanent fat loss. This year, it's a whole new game. We have the New Year's Revenge 5.0 BODY TRANSFORMATION […]
Continue Reading
A Resolution, A Revolution, or Sweet Revenge?
Posted on 31. Dec, 2014 by admin.
Apparently the post from a couple days ago hit some with several people, because I got a good number emails from folks thanking me for sharing my position on the whole New Year resolution weight loss thing. Anyway, like I said in that post. I hate resolutions. I believe you and I can accomplish anything […]
Continue Reading
Yes, I Was Serious
Posted on 16. Dec, 2014 by admin.
Just a quick note since yesterday's was so text heavy… I was very serious when I was saying make NO resolutions if you want to succeed. I'd noticed the trend about 5 years ago when I started to aggregate notes from about 250 consultations. My idea was confirmed in 2010, and again in '13 by […]


text:
The Marvel Juice company is one of the largest producers of fruit mashed sauce and concentrates, juice and juice-containing drinks. The company was established in 1997 in the settlement Iskovat of the Yangikurgan region of the Namangan area. In 1998 Marvel Juice began production of juice under TIP-TOP brand. Marvel Juice Co – one of few companies supporting a full cycle of production of juice – conducts the following operations:
1. Preparation of fruit;
2. Processing of fruit;
3. Production of mashed sauce and fruit concentrates;
4. Production of juice and nectars.
The company structure is as follows:
1.Namangan plant(territory of 6 hectares)
• Equipment for production of fruit concentrates.
• Equipment for production of fruit mashed sauce.
2.Andizhan plant
• equipment for production of unspecified fruit concentrates(Alfa Laval, Suiss)
3.Tashkent plant
• equipment for pouring of drinks in PET
Our founders:
Freewar Investments Ltd. 50 percents of actions(Switzerland)
TOO «Шимкентпиво» 50 percents of actions(Kazakhstan)