Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
The precise determination of the time of flight of ultrasonic signals is the basis for many NDT test procedures. In the course of the digitalization of the industrial environment, the demand to integrate testing technology directly into fully automated systems is increasing. To this end, the Fraunhofer Institute for Nondestructive Testing IZFP, Saarbrücken, Germany, has developed a solution for measuring ultrasonic transit times that, once set up, works directly in the field, detached from software solutions. Signal generation and recording as well as the entire processing take place close to the sensor in an FPGA. As an application example, a fully integrated time-of-flight wall thickness measurement of various metals will be shown. Possible areas of application are in sectors such as the automotive and supplier industry or steel production.
Communication with the control level takes place via the OPC-UA standard (short for Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture), a data exchange standard for industrial communication (machine-to-machine or PC-to-machine communication). This ensures that both industrial controllers and, if desired, any client applications can communicate with the system.
To set up the system, the device offers a TCP/IP interface that provides raw data to correctly determine the necessary parameters. Current work is increasingly addressing the ability to auto-parameterize and increase robustness and accuracy using machine learning methods.
