Apparatus and method for visualizing periodic motions in mechanical components
AssigneeRdi Technologies, Inc.
InventorsJeffrey R. Hay, Mark William Slemp
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus for visualizing physical movements includes: a device for acquiring video image files; a data analysis system including processor and memory; a computer program operating in the processor to identify an area in the images where periodic motions associated with physical movement of an object may be detected and quantified, and compute a new image sequence in which the motions are visually amplified; and, a user interface that displays the motion-amplified video image of the mechanical component. An associated method for using the apparatus is also disclosed.
Claims14
A system for evaluating a degree of uniformity of a surface of an object, the surface having a finish, the system comprising:
- a video acquisition device that acquires, and a memory that receives, video image files of at least one surface of a component of the object, the video image files comprising at least a first image frame and a second image frame, each of which is divided into a plurality of pixels;
- and
- a data analysis system operating when the component, object or both are undergoing vibratory motion relative to the video acquisition device that acquires the video image files, and comprising the memory and a processor operating to calculate variations in intensity of the pixels composing at least a portion of the component, wherein the variations are caused by the vibratory motion;
- and
- wherein the data analysis system further operates to quantify a uniformity of the surface at each pixel based on variations in an amplitude during the vibratory motion and to construct a modified version of the video image files, and wherein when the surface contains both uniform portions and non-uniform portions characterized by at least one flaw, and the modified version of the video image files produces a representation of variations of pixel intensities between the uniform and non-uniform portions of the component thereby allowing the at least one flaw to be identified.
A system for evaluating a degree of uniformity of a surface of an object, the surface having a finish, the system comprising:
- a video acquisition device that acquires, and a memory that receives, video image files of at least one surface of a component of the object, the video image files comprising at least a first image frame and a second image frame, each of which is divided into a plurality of pixels;
- and
- a data analysis system operating when the component, object or both are undergoing vibratory motion relative to the video acquisition device, and comprising the memory and a processor operating to calculate variations in intensity of the pixels composing at least a portion of the component, wherein the variations are caused by the vibratory motion;
- wherein the processor further operates in the data analysis system to quantify a uniformity of the surface at each pixel based on variations in an amplitude during the vibratory motion and to construct a modified version of the video image files, which amplifies motion at a vibratory frequency thereby emphasizing a location of flaws in an otherwise uniform surface of the component to facilitate visualization of the flaws.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.