Automated Inspection of Challenging Components using Novel Kelpie Designs

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This project will explore the alignment of this emerging technology with automated inspection of challenging industrial inspections. This can take the form of components with complex geometries or restricted access to the entire component surface. Importantly, in many such scenarios, radiography is used for inspection, necessitating clearance of personnel from the vicinity and radiation exposure risks to the inspector. Hence, a move towards ultrasonic techniques would be advantageous from a health and safety perspective. However, such inspection conditions are challenging for standard ultrasonic inspection techniques and the Kelpie sensor approach offers a potential solution for such industrial inspection needs.The project will consider customised Kelpie array configurations for a number of appropriate industrial components. Simulation will be used to investigate a range of array designs, with close collaboration with Novosound required to align with manufacturing constraints. Extensive characterisation and evaluation of the arrays will be undertaken at the University of Strathclyde to ensure the sensor performance is applicable for NDE inspection applications.A key objective of the project will be to integrate the Kelpie designs into an automated inspection system capable of operating in areas of restricted access. This task will develop bespoke mechanical systems to manipulate the sensor to ensure full area coverage and subsequently acquire high fidelity ultrasonic data from the component. The final stage will be to investigate post-processing algorithms to produce 3D images of the component under inspection, which will fuse data from the scanning and ultrasonic systems.The researcher working on this project will gain expertise across a wide range of transferrable skills including system modelling, sensor fabrication, mechanical system design and signal/image processing. In addition to the core technical skills development, the successful FUSE researcher working on this project will collaborate with an emerging and ambitious company, with opportunities to develop appropriate business and marketing skills.