FPGA Based Ultrasonic Non-Destructive Testing

Abstract

In this research, a prototype of an ultrasonic testing device was developed based on a field-programmable gate array for ultrasonic testing. Ultrasound is a mechanical wave that is generated by a vibrating object and propagates through a medium. Ultrasonic testing is one of the most used nondestructive testing (NDT) techniques in industries. Various types of ultrasonic devices are used for ultrasonic testing to detect cracks, defects, and fractures. Despite being a well-known technique, the commercially available ultrasonic NDT equipment requires skilled personnel for conducting the inspection and has limited access to the raw data. The training of these inspectors requires a lot of time and resources. Testing of equipment by human inspectors becomes a tedious and difficult process when many components must be inspected. For automated inline inspections in industries access to raw data is essential for the onboard algorithms to understand and adjust effectively. To improve the efficiency of NDT and to aid the transition from labor-intensive manufacturing to the upcoming “Industry 4.0” that aims at total industrial automation it is required to automate the inline inspection process in industries. To facilitate this transition an affordable, compact, and versatile prototype system based on a field-programmable gate array was developed, tested, and optimized. Various experiments were conducted on different specimens with artificially induced defects to study the behavior of the system. The prototype displayed excellent capabilities for signal generation, acquisition, and processing. It exhibited proficiency in NDT applications and successfully detected mm-level defects in steel and aluminum specimens. A comparison between the prototype system and commercially available NDT systems was carried out to examine the performance of the prototype to guide future developments.