Automated method and system for ultrasonically inspecting components

A system for inspecting a component for an anomaly, the component having a first side surface and a second side surface, and wherein the first side surface is opposite the second side surface, the system comprising:

• an ultrasonic transmitter;
• an ultrasonic receiver;
• a controller in communication with the ultrasonic transmitter, the ultrasonic receiver, and a non-transitory memory storing instructions, wherein the controller is configured to execute the instructions and the executed instructions cause the controller to:
• control the ultrasonic transmitter to produce first ultrasonic signals incident to the first side surface;
• control the ultrasonic receiver to receive second ultrasonic signals emitted from the second side surface, which second ultrasonic signals result from the incident first ultrasonic signals, and produce response signals representative of the second ultrasonic signals that have traversed the component from the first side surface to the second side surface;
• produce a C-scan map based on the response signals;
• perform an initial quality assessment of the C-scan map to determine if the C-scan map is acceptable or unacceptable;
• if the C-scan map is determined to be acceptable, perform a secondary quality assessment of the C-scan map that includes registering the C-scan map with a computer-aided design file representing the component;
• produce a registered C-scan image using the C-scan map and a stencil image generated from a computer-aided design file;
• analyze the registered C-scan image to determine the presence of a potential anomaly in the component;
• for a potential anomaly determined as being present, classify the potential anomaly as a relevant anomaly or an irrelevant anomaly;
• and
• report any said relevant anomaly present in the component.