Our approach to systems
NDT systems are often designed for a particular inspection requirement using bespoke mechanics, electronics and software components which are specific to the installation. Although these designs may draw upon historical experience, they are manufactured in very low volumes and are costly to maintain. Full positional accuracy validation is difficult to perform, and will be application dependent.
Simple traditional systems are limited to the inspection of uniform part geometries such as plate, tube and bar. However even these simple inspections rely upon accurate sensor orientation in order to achieve consistent results. More advanced multi-axis inspection systems often employ distributed mechanical assemblies for contour following, comprising a motorised manipulator attached to the Z-Axis and sometimes rollers or turn tables.
Industrial robots combine the requirements for area coverage with sensor orientation within one calibrated mechanism. Available in families of reach and payload, they are designed for manufacture in high volume, with high duty cycle, minimum down time and maintenance overheads; bringing significant savings in the cost of ownership. We design inspection systems choosing the most appropriate robotic components to suit demands for cycle time, number and type of part to inspect, surface geometry and detection requirements.
We create robotic inspection systems through careful consideration of the requirements for NDT inspection optimisation, coupled with efficient part manipulation and mechanical design. At each stage from concept through to installation we make extensive use of simulation tools, FEA analysis and prototyping to de-risk the project.