Shearographic imaging machine with archive memory for animation data and air handling system

An apparatus for performing electronic shearography on a test object, the apparatus comprising:

• a shearography camera for taking an interference image of the test object,
• an image processor coupled to the shearography camera, the image processor being adapted to receive a plurality of sequential interference images from the shearography camera, produce a set of a plurality of sequential shearogram images of the test object from the interference images and produce an animation from the set of sequential shearogram images to represent dynamically changing stress states on the test object,
• a display coupled to the image processor for providing visualization of the animation of the set of sequential shearogram images, and
• archive memory for retaining data corresponding to the animation, the retained animation data being compressed in such a manner that the retained animation data includes only preselected individual shearogram images from the set of sequential shearogram images and less than all of the image data associated with each preselected individual shearogram image.

An apparatus for performing electronic shearography on a test object, the apparatus comprising:

• a shearography camera for taking an interference image of the test object,
• an image processor coupled to the shearography camera, the image processor being adapted to receive a plurality of sequential interference images from the shearography camera, produce a set of a plurality of sequential shearogram images of the test object from the interference images wherein each shearogram image comprises a plurality of individual pieces of image data and produce an animation from the set of sequential shearogram images to represent dynamically changing stress states on the test object,
• a display coupled to the image processor for providing visualization of the animation of the set of sequential shearogram images, and
• archive memory for retaining data corresponding to the animation, the retained animation data being compressed in such a manner that it only includes individual pieces of image data which have changed by more than a predetermined amount from the preceding shearogram image in the set of sequential shearogram images.

A method for analyzing a test object comprising:

• (a) taking an interference image of a test object,
• (b) comparing the interference image with a baseline interference image to produce a shearogram image,
• (c) repeating steps (a) and (b) at varying stress levels to produce set of a plurality of sequential shearogram images
• (d) selecting individual shearogram images from the set of sequential shearogram images to produce an archive set of sequential shearogram images, each of the selected shearogram images comprising a set of individual pieces of image data;
• (e) compressing the image data associated with each of the selected individual images to produce an animated graphics file, the animated graphics file being compressed in such a manner that individual pieces of image data which have changed less than a predetermined amount from the preceding shearogram image in the archive set of sequential shearogram images are discarded;
• (f) storing the animated graphics file.