Surface inspection of composite structures

摘要

Provided are methods and inspection systems for evaluating height deviations on surfaces of composite structures. The method is based on obtaining multiple linear height profiles of a surface and generating a three-dimensional representation of that surface. This representation is then analyzed to determine various height deviations, such as wrinkles. The three-dimensional surface representation is generated based on position of each linear height profile on the surface. The analysis may be performed along any direction, which may be different than the inspection directions of to the linear height profiles. As such, height information from multiple height profiles is analyzed at the same time. This approach increases the quality of inspection and ensures that different types of height variations can be identified, which may be missed with individual analysis of each linear height profile. Furthermore, this approach allows using high precision linear height detectors, such as laser profilers.

主权项

1. A method of evaluating height deviations on a surface of a composite structure, the method comprising:
obtaining a first linear height profile of the surface of the composite structure,
the first linear height profile extending along a field of measurement of a detector at a first position relative to the composite structure; obtaining a second linear height profile of the surface of the composite structure,
the second height profile extending along the field of measurement of the detector at a second position relative to the composite structure,the second position being different from the first position; and generating a three-dimensional surface representation of the surface of the composite structure based on the first linear height profile, the second linear height profile, the first position of the detector, and the second position of the detector; and analyzing the three-dimensional surface representation to determine the height deviations on the surface of the composite structure,
wherein analyzing the three-dimensional surface representation comprises generating an outlier representation of all positions on the surface of the composite structure having the height deviations outside of a tolerance.