Robotic scanning technology for laser pulse-echo inspection

• Published in: Electronics letters 2020-09, Vol.56 (19), p.1027-1029
• Main Authors: Lee, S, Hyun, J.-M, Ahmed, H, Lee, J.-R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: condition monitoring; curved specimen; curved specimens; flat specimen; flat specimens; full‐field pulse‐echo ultrasonic propagation imaging system; glass fibre reinforced plastics; glass‐fibre‐reinforced polymer specimen; honeycomb structures; inspection; laser pulse‐echo inspection; mobile robots; nondestructive evaluation; nondestructive testing; nonflat objects; plates (structures); polymers; robotic PE UPI system; robotic scanning algorithm; robotic scanning technique; robotic scanning technology; sandwich structures; six‐axis robot arm; Special Issue: Non-Destructive Testing; structural engineering; two‐axis linear stage; two‐axis linear system; ultrasonic materials testing; ultrasonic propagation
• ISSN: 0013-5194; 1350-911X; 1350-911X
• DOI: 10.1049/el.2020.1444

The full-field pulse-echo ultrasonic propagation imaging (PE UPI) system using a two-axis linear stage has been successfully used to perform a non-destructive evaluation of flat specimens. This study used a six-axis robot arm to develop a robotic scanning algorithm that can be applied to the laser pulse-echo inspection of non-flat objects. The robotic PE UPI system was constructed and verified for both flat and curved specimens. The internal structures and defects of a honeycomb sandwich plate and a glass-fibre-reinforced polymer specimen were visualised by the robotic PE UPI system. The quality of the evaluation of the flat specimen was equivalent to that of a two-axis linear system, and the result of the curved specimen showed improvement compared to that of the linear system. The ability of the robotic scanning technique to evaluate the structural health performance of arbitrarily shaped surfaces was validated.