Preliminary Design of the Portable Thermal Nondestructive Evaluation System
Abstract
The theoretical and experimental analysis in this Phase I work will be emphasized towards the design of a portable, high speed, TNDE mini-workstation. The specifications and characteristics of this portable thermographic equipment are very important for (TNDT) applications. The difference in temperature between the sound material and the damage areas are usually very small (i.e., tenths of a degree Kelvin), so the IR camera must have an excellent thermal sensitivity to locate and quantify such small contrast in the IR images. High spatial resolution is also required to resolve millimeter sized defects while imaging large areas. Once the required information is obtained, the infrared data must be processed to enhance the image quality and thus increase the probability of detection. The following calculations are performed to evaluate a preliminary design of a high speed IR system. This development specifies the required characteristics needed for the Phase I TNDE laboratory testbed system and examines the feasibility of the thermal technique. This analysis also produces the basis for the design of a portable prototype system that is to be fully developed as part of the Phase II effort.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA406782
Entities
People
- A. Daniels