An automated method, computer program product and device for determining a thickness of an object at a specific location, such as the determination of a wall thickness of a blade or a vane of a gas turbine. The method includes performing a plurality of ultrasonic measurements around the specific location with an ultrasonic probe of the ultrasonic measurement device, recording and storing the measurement signals, determining at least one apparent thickness of the object for each measurement, sorting the apparent thicknesses in a histogram, and determining the thickness of the object by selecting the most frequently occurring apparent thickness in the histogram.

A method for repairing an electric generator having a rotor that rotates about a vertical axis, the rotor including a spider having a number of spider arms extending radially away from the axis, and a rim surrounding the spider. The weight of the rim is normally carried at least in part by rim support ledges of the spider arms. The method for repair includes supporting the rim from the top of the spider and thereby relieving some or all of the weight of the rim being supported by the rim support ledges

A test robot for testing slot breech wedges, which are provided on the outer periphery of a rotor of a generator, the rotor being surrounded by a stator, with a chassis, which receives a drive system, a position detection device, a controller, which controls the drive system based on data captured by the position detection device, magnets attached to the chassis, which are positioned and designed such that the magnets adherently hold the chassis to a magnetic substrate, at least one ultrasound test head, which is freely accessible from the underside of the chassis and is movable upward and downward, and at least one couplant application component, which is provided on the chassis and is associated with the ultrasound test head.

In a wedge looseness diagnosis which is performed by striking wedges of a rotary electric machine, a variation of a wave form of a strike sound is reduced with respect to a variation of an amount of looseness of the wedges, and it is difficult that a slight difference of the amount of the looseness of the wedges is discriminated, so that the wedges are struck by a strike portion in a state where the wedges are pressed by a pressure portion which presses the wedges, and a strike sound at a high frequency is reduced, whereby an amount of a variation of magnitude of the strike sound is enlarged with respect to a valuation of the amount of the looseness of the wedges, and the amount of the looseness of the wedges is judged in accordance with the strike sound which is obtained by a strike sound measuring portion.

The current disclosure determines if structural faults exist and extracts geometric features of the structural faults from acoustic emission waveforms, such as crack length and orientation, and can evaluate the structural faults online, during normal operation conditions.

The present disclosure provides methods and systems for the characterization of a microtexture of a sample, component, or the like. The methods may include methods of determining a service life limiting region of a component, determining a treatment method for a component, and/or selecting components from a batch of components for use in production. The characterization may include calculating a microtexture level indicator from ultrasonic C-scan images for various samples, regions, components, or the like. The microtexture level indicator may include at least one of an average peak factor, a standard deviation of peak amplitude, and/or a baseband bandwidth.

A method for testing a component non-destructively, particularly for internal defects, includes the following steps: a) providing a rotationally symmetrical component having a plurality of preferably cylindrical recesses, which are arranged at one or more hole circles, b) arranging a transmitter probe serving as an ultrasound transmitter and a receiver probe serving as an ultrasound receiver spaced apart from each other outside the component such that ultrasound waves can be irradiated into a shaded area located behind one of the recesses in the component by the transmitter probe and ultrasound waves which are diffracted at least at one defect present in the shaded area can be received by the receiver probe, and c) using time of flight to determine whether one or more faults are present in the shaded area. An apparatus carries out such a method.

An apparatus for ultrasonically inspecting a component of a gas turbine engine at a centre frequency required for ultrasonic inspection of the component. The apparatus comprises an ultrasonic transducer and a waveguide. The ultrasonic transducer and the waveguide are mounted in a holder, the holder is movably mounted in a carrier, and the carrier is movably mounted in a frame. The waveguide has a first end, a second end and a surface. The waveguide is circular in cross-section, the surface of the waveguide between the first end and the second end is concave, and the waveguide reduces in diameter from the first end to the second end. The length of the waveguide is equal to or greater than 0.5 times and equal to or less than 3 times the wavelength of an ultrasonic signal at the centre frequency required for the ultrasonic inspection.

A method for controlling a wind power plant is described. The method comprises measuring a sound emission by means of at least one pressure sensor secured to the rotor blade; detecting a characteristic aeroacoustic sound for at least one stall based on the sound emission; and controlling or regulating one or several components of the wind power plant based on the detection of the characteristic aeroacoustic sound of the stall.

A motorized rolling maintenance cart that utilizes the angled trailing edge geometry of an airfoil-shaped body (such as a wind turbine blade or rotor blade) to traverse the length of the airfoil-shaped body. The trailing edge-following maintenance cart may be used to carry personnel doing maintenance activities on the blades, such as local repairs or re-painting. In accordance with one aspect, the maintenance cart carries non-destructive inspection sensor units or other maintenance hardware over the surface of the airfoil-shaped body (e.g., in a spanwise direction). In accordance with another aspect, the trailing edge-following maintenance cart is configured to also provide fall protection to one or more independently movable crawler vehicles by means of cables. Alternative embodiments may include only one of the two aspects.