OPC UA-enabled Screening Check

To meet the requirements within the framework of Industry 4.0, systems in production plants have to ensure their simple integration. Current solutions are often lacking in a uniform interface format, with the constant adaptation to local conditions as a consequence. This requires a high level of expert knowledge and results in long implementation times.

The OPC UA interface standard used at the Fraunhofer Institute for Nondestructive Testing IZFP in Saarbrücken can provide a solution here. OPC UA (Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture) is a platform-independent, service-oriented structure for data exchange that ensures rapid implementation. Mainly meta data such as date, component type or batch as well as a qualitative statement of material characteristics (OK, NOK) are transmitted. On the basis of this data, parallel or subsequent production steps are enabled to adjust their processes in real time. Thus, production is optimized including the possibility of a 100 percent quality control and documentation.

The OPC UA interface standard is used, among other things, for screening inspection with the eddy current method. The modular inspECT-PRO eddy current testing electronics is used, which can run test frequencies from 10 Hz to 112.5 MHz. In addition to use for defect testing and material characterization in the established field of application on materials such as steel, copper, aluminum, etc., materials with weak electrical conductivity such as carbon fibers (CFRP) can also be tested. By powerful signal processing, right on the hardware, evaluation and decision can be processed in real time. The two self-sufficient hardware channels can operate at very high sampling and multiplexing rates, which reduces hardware requirements and also enables very fast testing.

Eddy current testing can be used across industries, for the detection of material defects such as discontinuities or layer separations, or for testing mechanical properties such as hardness, residual stress, strength, and much more. An important field of application is lightweight construction, e.g. for testing the fiber orientation of CFRP materials. Surface or near-surface defect inspection is mandatory for the inspection hardware anyway. Furthermore, the inspECT-PRO electronics is suited for eddy current testing service providers or eddy current hardware manufacturers who want to use it to build up their own systems and integrate them into their own software.