Radiographic inspection system for pipes and other structures and material loss estimation
AssigneeVarex Imaging Corporation
InventorsDavid T Nisius, Clyde May, Rajashekar Venkatachalam
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Some embodiments include a radiographic inspection system, comprising: a drive mechanism configured to move along a structure; a detector attached to the drive mechanism; a radiation source attached to the drive mechanism and positionable relative to the detector such that a width of the structure casts a radiation shadow on an active area of the detector; and control logic coupled to the detector and configured to: receive an image from the detector; generate side wall loss information based on the image; and generate bottom wall loss information based on the image.
Claims20
A radiographic inspection system, comprising:
- a drive mechanism configured to move along a structure;
- a detector attached to the drive mechanism;
- a radiation source attached to the drive mechanism and positionable relative to the detector such that a width of the structure casts a radiation shadow on an active area of the detector;
- and
- control logic coupled to the detector and configured to:
- receive an image from the detector;
- generate side wall loss information based on the image;
- and
- generate bottom wall loss information based on the image.
A method of operating a radiographic inspection system, comprising:
- positioning a drive mechanism, detector, and radiation source around a structure;
- generating an image of a section of the structure using the detector and radiation source including at least a width of the structure;
- generating side wall loss information based on the image;
- and
- generating bottom wall loss information based on the image.
The method of claim 0, wherein:
- positioning the radiation source comprises positioning the radiation source from the structure further than two times a diameter of the structure.
The method of claim 0, further comprising:
- generating top wall loss information based on the image.
The method of claim 0, wherein:
- generating the image of the section of the structure comprises generating an image of the section of the structure and a calibrated object adjacent to the structure;
- and
- generating the side wall loss information based on the image comprises generating the side wall loss information based on a portion of the image based on the calibrated object adjacent to the structure.
The method of claim 0, further comprising:
- moving the detector and radiation source along the structure to a second section of the structure;
- generating an image of the second section of the structure using the detector and radiation source including at least a width of the structure in the second section;
- generating side wall loss information based on the image of the second section;
- and
- generating bottom wall loss information based on the image of the second section.
The method of claim 0, further comprising:
- rotating the detector and the radiation source around the structure.
The method of claim 0, further comprising:
- filtering at least part of the image of the structure to generate a filtered image;
- normalizing the at least part of the image based on the filtered image to generate a normalized image;
- scaling at least part of the normalized image based on a transfer function associated with the structure.
The method of claim 0, further comprising:
- adjusting a position of the radiation source.
A radiographic inspection system, comprising:
- means for generating radiation;
- means for generating an image based on the radiation coupled to the means for generating radiation;
- means for moving the means for generating radiation and means for generating the image based on the radiation;
- and
- means for generating side wall loss information and bottom wall loss information based on the image.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.