New Interface package for X-ray linear detectors

The TH 951 2 interface package from Thomson Tubes Electroniques is a PC/AT board and provides all necessary hardware and software to connect Thomson X-ray linear detectors to the main PC/AT imaging boards. Used in nondestructive testing, for instance, it enables the line-by-line output data from the company's X-ray detector assemblies to be processed by the imaging board in real time.

Direct image acquisition through a PC bus is also possible, but is slower than when using a frame grabber. Functions include a detector control and a testing module, which checks the operation of the detector assembly and drives the detector's external synchronization and offset and gain calibration sequenGes.

The package is configured using jumpers and software to match the imaging board being used.

Thomson Tubes Electroniques, 40 G Commerce Way, PO Box 540, Totowa, NJ 07511, USA

Small-bore crawler for pipeline inspection

Development of AEA Sonomatic's new small-bore, tethered crawler has reached the performance demonstration stage. The crawler is being developed by AEA Sonomatic in a programme co-sponsored by ESSO, Shell and Vicon-Groner, and the prototype has already demonstrated the success of the innovative propulsion and articulation unit.

The aim of the development programme has been to produce an internal inspection

Interface package from Thomson Tubes Electroniques for X-ray linear detectors

crawler suitable for pipes from 4 inch to 10 inch bore across a range of wall thicknesses, capable of negotiating multiple bends of radius 1.5D. The crawler provides the capability to satisfy a gap in the pipeline inspection field between long-range pigs and the current generation of short- and medium-range tethered units, which tend to

have only limited facilities and articulation.

The key to the design is the 'peristaltic' propulsion unit, coupled with modular engineering, to provide a site usable tool. The short-stroke, high-speed pneumatic drive unit comprises two rubber bladders which alternately inflate and deflate, at the same

The small-bore tethered pipe crawler from AEA Sonomatic can pass through multiple bends of 1.5 x the pipe diameter

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-New equipment time axially extending and retracting, thus providing forward or reverse motion. The system is powered by compressed air controlled by microvalves located in a separate pod.

A single umbilical, designed to minimize weight and drag and to maximize flexibility, carries all pneumatic and electrical power lines, as well as control and inspection signal wires.

Mechanical performance evaluation and trials of the on-board CCD video camera and lighting module are under way, and work is advanced on the development of an ultrasonic inspection pod which will use special miniaturized, phased-array, PVDF transducers for bore and wall thickness measurement and condition assessment.

The crawler will be interfaced to MicroPlus for drive control and ultrasonic imaging of corrosion/erosion maps of pipe walls. Composite B, C and D scans, colour-graphically quantized, will allow full through-wall evaluation to be executed.

AEA Sonomatic Ltd, 20 Rivington Court, Hardwick Grange, Woolston, Warrington, WA 1 4RT, UK

Portable instrumentation recorder StorePlus VL is a portable instrumentation recorder capable of recording up to 24 channels of DC to 100 kHz analogue signals, or 600 kb s -1 digital bit rate signals. The instrument is part of Racal's new generation of professional instrumentation recording equipment, and has applications in vibration, noise and performance monitoring, among others.

StorePlus VL, the latest portable instrumentation recorder from Racal Recorders

To meet the widest range of applications, it uses industry-standard VHS cassettes and operates from AC or DC power supplies. Its light construction ensures reliable and accurate tape handling for a wide range of portable and laboratory applications.

To satisfy the needs of international users, the recorder's help functions are multi-lingual and ensure easy access to a range of powerful features and displays. These include a real-time clock/calendar/timer, automatic channel set-up, built-in track sequencing for extended record/replay times, dynamic bargraphs and dual waveform displays. The unit includes a voice channel and offers full remote control. As an option, for full system integration, a graphical user interface is available as an industry- standard package.

Racal Recorders Limited, Hardley Industrial Estate, Hythe, Southampton SO4 6ZH, UK

Ultrasonic piston inspection

The success of pistons made by the AI-Fin process depends on the integrity of the metallurgical bond between the

aluminium body and the austenitic iron ring carrier. During the quality control stages of manufacture the bond i s non-destructively tested, generally using ultrasonics, to detect defective areas below the surface.

The Trident system, from DeW Systems, has been developed to satisfy the needs of "cell production' circumstances, where a more expensive universal testing mechine with a full range of facilities could not be economically justified.

The unit has two testing channels, so that any two areas where there is the possibility of defects, for example the crown side bond and the skirt side bond of the insert, may be tested simultaneously. Any aluminium/cast iron interface, including the rear face of the insert, may be tested on proof turned pistons. On finished machined pistons, where there is the possibility of the bond being fractured by the machining process, bonds can be tested by the through transmission technique, using in-groove transducers.

The system is capable of detecting debonds with a resolution of 0.1% of the piston circumference, on one or both sides of the insert ring, and determining the total defective area around the ring.

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