Thermal gas inspection of plugged honeycomb body
AssigneeCorning Incorporated
InventorsJoseph Henry Citriniti, Seungcheol Yang
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Abstract
Improved inspection techniques are described herein for identifying leaks in a plugged honeycomb body. The improved inspection techniques utilize a pore impediment and a test gas. The pore impediment is injected into the plugged honeycomb body, and the test gas is forced into the plugged honeycomb body. A thermal detector is used to collect thermal data from an inspection region of an outlet end of the plugged honeycomb body, and the thermal data is used to identify defects in the plugged honeycomb body.
Claims20
An apparatus to detect leaks in a plugged honeycomb body having a plurality of intersecting porous walls defining a first channel open at a first end of the honeycomb body and plugged at a second end opposite to the first end, and a second channel open at the second end and plugged at the first end, the apparatus comprising:
- a pore impediment injector configured to inject a pore impediment into a plurality of pores of the intersecting porous walls of the plugged honeycomb body, the pore impediment having an impediment size that is smaller than a mean pore size of the plurality of pores;
- a gas conditioning device configured to adjust a temperature of a gas to a second temperature;
- a gas supply configured to force gas from the gas conditioning device into an opening of the first channel at the first end of the plugged honeycomb body, the plugged honeycomb body being at a first temperature that is different from the second temperature of the gas being forced into the opening of the first channel at the first end of the honeycomb body by the gas supply;
- a thermal detector configured to collect thermal data from an inspection region of the second channel at the second end of the plugged honeycomb body;
- and
- one or more processors configured to calculate gradient data related to at least one of a temperature change over time or a temperature difference over space from the thermal data.
A method of detecting leaks in a plugged honeycomb body having a plurality of intersecting porous walls defining a first channel open at a first end of the honeycomb body and plugged at a second end opposite to the first end, and a second channel open at the second end and plugged at the first end, the method comprising:
- injecting a pore impediment into a plurality of pores of the intersecting porous walls of the plugged honeycomb body, the pore impediment having an impediment size that is smaller than a mean pore size of the plurality of pores;
- forcing gas into an opening of the first channel defined by the plugged honeycomb body, the plugged honeycomb body being at a first temperature and the gas being at a second temperature that is different from the first temperature;
- collecting thermal data from an inspection region of the second channel at the second end of the plugged honeycomb body using a thermal detector;
- and
- analyzing the thermal data to calculate gradient data related to at least one of a temperature change over time or a temperature difference over space of the inspection region to determine whether the plugged honeycomb body has one or more defects.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.