Inspection systems and methods employing different wavelength directional light for enhanced imaging

An inspection system comprising:

• a guide tube;
• a borescope comprising an inspection camera, the borescope configured to pass through an interior of the guide tube to a distal end thereof;
• a plurality of light sources coupled to the distal end of the guide tube and positioned at different respective locations relative to the inspection camera so as to impart different directionality to directional light output from each of the plurality of light sources onto a surface of interest, the directional light from each of the plurality of light sources having a different respective range of light wavelengths;
• a controller electrically coupled to the inspection camera and the plurality of light sources, wherein the controller is configured to direct the plurality of light sources to simultaneously output the directional light and to activate the inspection camera to capture image data while the surface of interest is illuminated with the directional light;
• and
• a post processing system configured to receive the image data from the inspection camera, process portions of the image data into a plurality of distinct images corresponding to the different respective range of light wavelengths output by each of the plurality of light sources, normalize lighting data in each of the plurality of distinct images with respect to the different respective locations of the plurality of light sources;
• and generate an evenly lit color composite image from the lighting data as normalized,
• wherein the post processing system is further configured to generate difference images by comparing the evenly lit color composite image with individual ones of the plurality of distinct images and identify an abnormal region of the surface of interest using at least one of the evenly lit color composite image and the difference images;
• wherein the post processing system includes a display device for displaying the difference images.

An inspection system comprising:

• an inspection camera;
• and
• a plurality of light sources positioned at different respective locations relative to the inspection camera and emitting directional light onto a surface of interest, wherein at least two of the plurality of light sources have different respective range of light wavelengths;
• wherein the inspection camera is configured to activate so as to capture image data while the surface of interest is being simultaneously illuminated with the directional light from the plurality of light sources, wherein the inspection camera includes different sensor channels configured to capture different portions of the image data corresponding to the different respective ranges of light wavelengths;
• and
• further comprising a post processing system configured to receive the image data, process portions of the image data into a plurality of distinct images corresponding to each of the different respective ranges of light wavelengths, normalize the different sensor channels to generate an evenly lit color composite image, generate difference images by comparing the evenly lit color composite image with individual ones of the plurality of images, and identify an abnormal region of the surface of interest using at least one of the evenly lit color composite image and the difference images.