Automated self-adjustment of array probe with a robotic ultrasonic test system

Abstract

Ultrasonic testing of objects with complex geometries often requires the use of a robotic arm to position the probe perpendicular to the local surface. Using immersion makes it possible to test these objects with standard ultrasonic linear array probes. Here, the probe positions and orientations provided by the robot are used for merging the locally acquired image data into a 3D-reconstruction. The quality of this reconstruction is highly dependent on the alignment of the position of the physical probe with the position used in the digital model. For common industrial tools, the tool center point (TCP) is usually acquired using geometric features of the tools. However, for ultrasonic arrays in immersion, there is a water standoff between the probe and the test object, therefore the TCP is in free space in front of the array and cannot be acquired with the common method. To overcome this challenge, we propose a method that allows the robotic ultrasonic system to automatically self-adjust the position and orientation of the ultrasonic probe using a test block made of steel with defined geometric features as a target for referencing. For each of the six degrees of freedom, a scan and adjustment routine are established using the data based on the actual ultrasound characteristics of the probe. Given a coarse pre-definition of the tool position and the known target test block, minimal human interaction is required to supervise the adjustment method, leading to higher quality reconstructions than with manual adjustment.