11 SIT: Steam/hot air leakage detection system (Cold inspection tool)
Leakage detection from door seals is a relevant problem for quality control of a variety of appliances which have a door, having implications on users’ safety and appliance’s efficiency.
This quality control system uses ultrasound (US) inspection for detecting leaks. An US emitter is placed inside the appliance internal cavity and switched on. The front door is then closed. An US receiver probe is scanned along the space between the hinged door and the case. Whenever a defect in the seal allows for a leak of gases then the external microphone will detect the acoustic emission from the internal microphone. Therefore, when a leak exists, the US signal received by the scanning probe shows higher amplitude. By tracking the positions of the probe, the leak locations can be identified.
The cell-phone based portable solution adopted makes the system easy-to-use for a human operator. However, the device can be also easily interfaced and mounted on a robot to target automated inspection.
In one configuration, the system is integrated in the portable cell-phone based Gap&Flush measurement system, making it possible on-the-fly correlations between leaks and geometrical anomalies.