Objective
The prototype system based on a time delay quadrate interferometer has shown positive results on an unprepared steel surface. The quadrature section is designed to provide two separate outputs with a 90° phase lag, one channel should always have high sensitivity. However, the shot-shot variation in sensitivity was large due to an imbalance in the two channels. For true balance equal amounts of light must fall on all four-avalanche photo diodes (APD) and there must be a 90° phase difference. It was found that it was impossible to achieve this balance so that the quadrate system would never operate as intended.
In order to work reliably this problem would have to be overcome. Either by a total redesign or by using active stabilisation to ensure that the interferometer is always operating at the most sensitive point.
The other main limitation is in fact the small depth of focus, 0.5 mm. In principal this can be overcome using the X-Y table designed by SAGEM. However, there is a big question if an X-Y bench sensitive enough could be able to work in an industrial environment. SAGEM designed an X-Y bench capable of tracking the movements of the steel tubes on line so that the Optic Head was always in the optimum position above the hot tube. SAGEM also designed control and synchronisation system (CSS) to control the on-line system.
The main industrial objective for the program, to develop a high speed on line non contact wall thickness measurement with an accuracy according to the end users constraints, has not been fulfilled.
Objectives and content
Manufacturing companies producing steel tubes with closely controlled dimensional tolerances have a strong requirement for a high speed on line non contact wall
thickness measurement system, to inspect their product as early as possible in the production line. In the case of SETVAL and SANDVIK STEEL, two tube manufacturers, (SETVAL represents the steel manufacturer VALLOUREC) it is
essential to analyse the eccentricity and nominal wall thickness during hot production, where the temperature can be up to 1250 C. At present there is no adequate inspection system for direct measurement of eccentricity in a steel mill at the required temperatures. The only systems available are multiple beam ray systems which compute the eccentricity from double wall thickness measurements. Inspection of
surfaces and wall thickness is therefore still done manually on cold tubes. However, this type of inspection is normally done on a sample of tube ends, rather than
along the entire length of all tubes. The industry would like to improve the quality control by testing every tube resulting in better products and minimising the consumption of steel while ensuring an optimal wall thickness of the tube.
The ultimate target for this program, is to measure the wall thickness directly during hot production by a non contact method with an accuracy of better than 0.05 mm.
The new laser based ultrasonic wall eccentricity monitoring system will consist of a low maintenance, high repetition rate laser generator and a low cost rough surface interferometer. It will be integrated with dedicated computer hardware and software which will enable rapid on line inspection with real time signal processing to improve the signal to noise ratio.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences computer and information sciences software
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering signal processing
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering computer hardware
- natural sciences physical sciences optics laser physics
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Coordinator
811 81 Sandviken
Sweden
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.