Apparatus for Automated Non-Destructive Inspection of Airfoil-Shaped Bodies

摘要

An automated blade crawler capable of scanning a multiplicity of non-destructive inspection sensors over a surface of an airfoil-shaped body such as a blade component. The blade crawler is movable in a spanwise direction, thereby enabling a sensor array to inspect the surface area on one or both sides of the blade component in one pass. The sensors concurrently output scan imaging data which is multiplexed, the multiplexed being transmitted (via an electrical cable or wirelessly) to data collection and display hardware at an operations control center.

主权项

1. A blade crawler comprising:
a chassis comprising forward and rearward body parts, a first elongated support member spanning a space between said forward and rearward body parts, and a plurality of rolling elements; a first multiplicity of probe support assemblies coupled to and distributed along said first elongated support member; a first multiplicity of inspection probes coupled to said first multiplicity of probe support assemblies; and an actuator for driving rotation of at least one of said rolling element.