Systems and methods for inspecting the outer skin of a honeycomb body are provided. The inspection system comprises a rotational sub-assembly configured to rotate the honeycomb body, a camera sub-assembly configured to image at least a portion of the outer skin of the honeycomb body as it rotates, a three-dimensional (3D) line sensor sub-assembly configured to obtain height information from the outer skin of the honeycomb body; and an edge sensor sub-assembly configured to obtain edge data from the circumferential edges of the honeycomb body. In some examples, the inspection system utilizes a universal coordinate system to synchronize or align the data obtain from each of these sources to prevent redundant or duplicative detection of one or more defects on the outer skin of the honeycomb body.

A turbine blade or vane inspection apparatus comprising a controller, mounting for holding a turbine blade or vane, a source of illumination, and a camera. At least two of the source of illumination, the camera, and the mounting are moveable components. The controller is configured to control the moveable components to (a) position the turbine blade or vane mounted thereon relative to the illumination source so as to provide a contrast of illumination between a feature of the turbine blade or vane and an adjacent surface of the turbine blade or vane and (b), position the camera so that the optical axis of the camera is directed towards the feature. The controller is further configured to determine a dimension and/or shape of the feature based on an image obtained by the camera.

A method for assessing the quality of a multi-channel micro- and/or subwavelength-optical projection unit is disclosed. The method comprises the following steps: At least a predefined portion of the optical projection unit is illuminated so that an image is generated by at least two channels of the predefined portion of the multi-channel optical projection unit. At least one characteristic quantity is determined based on the analysis of the image, wherein a value of the characteristic quantity is associated with a characteristic feature of the projection unit, a defect of the projection unit and/or a defect class of the projection unit. The quality of the projection unit is assessed based on the at least one characteristic quantity. Moreover, a test system for assessing the quality of a multi-channel micro- and/or subwavelength-optical projection unit and a computer program are disclosed.

An inspection method for a pillar-shaped honeycomb filter having a honeycomb-shaped first end face and a honeycomb-shaped second end face, including: allowing gas containing fine particles to flow into the first end face; imaging the entire second end face covered with the sheet-like light using a camera while the gas that has flowed into the first end face flows out of the second end face through the filter, and generating an image of the entire second end face covered with the sheet-like light; selecting an inspection area of the second end face and measuring information concerning a sum of luminance of all pixels in the inspection area; and determining quality of the filter based on at least the information concerning the concentration of the fine particles in the gas before the gas flows into the first end face and the information concerning the sum of luminance.

In-line inspection and control system to in-situ monitor an extrudate during extrusion. A light beam illuminates a line on the outside circumference of the extrudate skin recording the curvature. A master profile of the illuminated defect-free skin is recorded and compared to successive monitoring of the illuminated skin. Differences from the comparison indicate skin and/or shape defects. A real-time feedback to automatically adjust process control hardware reduces or eliminates the skin and shape defects based on the monitoring and comparison.

An inspection apparatus and method to automatically inspect ceramic honeycomb bodies during the manufacturing thereof. The apparatus includes a light source to shine light through channels of the ceramic honeycomb body, a lens to receive at least a portion of the light transmitted through channels of the ceramic honeycomb body, a camera to capture images of the transmitted light, a support chuck to support the honeycomb body, and a controller to receive the captured images, to analyze each captured image, to adjust the support chuck and/or the lens based on the analysis, and to align the ceramic honeycomb body channels and the lens optical axis.

A plurality of illumination elements obliquely irradiating an inspection target region in irradiation directions different from each other and equiangularly spaced around an image capturing part in a state where each of a low-angle, intermediate-angle, and high-angle illumination parts has a different irradiation angle are sequentially turned on and off. An image of the image captured region is captured every time each of the plurality of illumination elements is turned on. A determination image generation part specifies an inspection-excluded region based on at least one of maximum luminance image data and minimum luminance image data of three types of captured image data each corresponding to an irradiation angle of each illumination part and generates determination image data for the image captured region other than the inspection-excluded region. A defect determination part determines existence of a defect based on the determination image data.

The methods herein utilize polarized light for detecting through holes in substrates. A light source directs light through a first polarization filter having a first polarization axis, wherein polarized light travels from the first polarization filter and toward a substrate. The orientation of the polarized light is changed while traveling through substrate material, and is scattered. However, polarized light traveling through a hole in the substrate remains unscattered. A second polarization filter receives unscattered light and scattered light traveling away from the substrate. The second polarization filter includes a second polarization axis angularly offset from and not parallel with the first polarization axis. As such, the second polarization filter blocks the advancement of unscattered light while the scattered light is not blocked by the second polarization filter. The hole is detected based on an absence of unscattered light surrounded by light traveling from the second polarization filter.

A method of machining a nickel containing alloy gas turbine engine component (34) comprises applying a material removal gas comprising gaseous carbon monoxide at a nickel carbonyl gas forming temperature such as 50 to 60° C. to a surface of the component to form a nickel carbonyl gas, and thereby remove a surface layer from at least part of the component.

A method for inspecting a pillar-shaped honeycomb formed body before firing includes a step a1 of capturing at least one of a first end surface and a second end surface of a pillar-shaped honeycomb formed body before firing with a camera to generate an image of the at least one of the first end surface and the second end surface; a step b1 of measuring a size of an opening of a plurality of cells in the image generated by step a1; and a step c1 of identifying abnormal cells with the opening having a size deviating from a predetermined allowable range from the cells based on a measurement result of step b1, and measuring a number of the abnormal cells.