Development of a Configurable Thermal Imaging System for Nondestructive Evaluation of Materials

本项目的目标是开发一种热成像系统，包括硬件和软件，以检测天然气管道的机械损伤。传感器将采用可配置的红外CCD摄像机阵列的形式，这将允许在检测仪器沿其长度移动时对管道进行完整的成像。其目标是对当前的检测工具设计进行最小程度的修改，使该系统对管道检测供应商具有吸引力。在现有磁性传感器的基础上增加一个热成像传感器，为融合这两个数据集提供了机会，以提高检查工具的精度和灵敏度。这项初步研究的结果将分发给天然气管道检测行业和研究界。拟议的项目解决了天然气管道检测中的一个关键问题--机械损坏造成的故障。正在开发的仪器系统有可能作为一种通用的无损评估工具使用，该工具可以用于任何材料，其中缺陷或损伤导致散体材料的热扩散率发生变化。该方法可适用于例如检测夹层复合材料中的分层。

The objective of this project is to develop a thermal imaging system, including both hardware and software, to detect mechanical damage in gas pipelines. The sensors will be in the form of a configurable array of infrared CCD cameras, which will permit the complete imaging of the pipeline as the inspection instrument travels its length. The goal is to arrive at a minimal modification of the current inspection tool design, making the system attractive to pipeline-inspection vendors. The addition of a thermal-imaging sensor to the existing magnetic sensor offers the opportunity for fusing the two data sets in order to improve the accuracy and sensitivity of the inspection tool. Results obtained from this initial study will be disseminated to the gas pipeline-inspection industry and research community.The proposed project addresses a critical problem in the inspection of gas pipelines - faults caused by mechanical damage. The instrument system being developed has the potential for application as a general nondestructive evaluation tool that can be used with any material in which a defect or damage introduces a variation in thermal diffusivity from the bulk material. This method may be applicable to detect, for example, delamination in sandwiched composite materials.