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ibg was tasked by a well known
manufacturer of bearings to integrate eddy current testing into an existing
system that feeds water pump shafts to grinding machines. Three test
positions--for hardness and case depth each--were required.
The solution was to place the eddy
current test after the pump shafts have been put on a conveyor belt by a
gripping device. The parts are now on an incline, on which they roll to a
stopper. From there, they are moved
into the ibg test coil
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pneumatically. The coil
incorporates the three individual test positions.
An eddyliner® P3 then carries out measurement at three positions in series.
If the shaft has correct hardness and case depth at all three positions, it
is returned to the conveyor belt and is passed on to the grinding machine.
If one of the three positions detects wrong hardness or case depth,
the part is fed to a separate container.
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The test rate is less than 3
seconds per part. Parts with diameters 12-20 mm and lengths of 75-112 mm can
be tested on the system.
(top) Shaft
parts flow from right to left, while NOT-OK parts are shunted into two boxes in
foreground (one for dimension rejects, the other for hardness rejects).
Two types of
water pump shafts (left) are tested by the eddy current system.
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Up
to 20 piston rods per minute are examined for cracks with this system
utilizing ibg eddydector® and eddyscan® H2/25 equipment.
Processing parts with diameters 8-33 mm, 250-650 mm in length, the system
scans rods longitudinally and transversely.
Compactly set up within a steel frame superstructure, the system transports
parts on synchronously-running v-rollers to a non-contacting, rotating probe
disk where the testing takes place. Adjustments for different diameters are
carried out by setting the rotating head to the correct height (by means of
a rotating crank) and changing the probe disk.
Not
OK parts are diverted to a lockable rejected-parts chute.
Within the system, the eddydector® detects cracks, seams and other surface
defects at mass-production rates. The eddyscan® H unit is especially
designed to monitor cylindrical parts. As with many other components for
today's vehicles, automated 100% testing is vital for component
manufacturers to achieve zero defects in parts subjected to such processes
as heat treating, machining, grinding and superfinishing.
Precise transport (upper photo) sends rods toward rotating probe disk,
shown in close-up at right in lower photo (protective cover has been
removed).
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 The
automatic testing of piston pins for hardness
after grinding is
accomplished by an ibg system utilizing our eddyliner®P. Testing parts
with a radius of 18 mm to 28 mm (lengths 55 mm to 100 mm), the
compact design of the
system enables it to be simply integrated into production lines at
positions following the grinding process.For testing, each piston
pin is stopped instantaneously in position by a stopper in the
vertical test coil. Testing for hardness is then done at eight
frequencies (in 0.128 seconds) according to ibg's Preventive
Multi-Frequency Test (PMFT) method. After testing, the parts are
passed to an OK chute or N-OK parts container according to the
sorting decision.
The ibg PMFT protocol enables eddy currents to reliably detect all
hardness and structure defects due to incorrect heat treating,
including those not statistically predicted or not previously
encountered. It provides 100% testing for zero defects at production
line speeds.
Close-up (above) shows piston pin after
0.128-second test for correct hardness following its release to the
sorting gate. The next pin can be seen about to enter the coil.
(top right) Plaque above each gear position in eddyliner system
indicates description of gear for simple set-up and testing.
(lower right)
Console of system accommodates 11 different gear components
for testing.
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BY BILL BUSCHUR
GENERAL MANAGER
Seminars/Workshops
on 2002 schedule |
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ibg will be on the road
again in 2002, holding our Seminars/ Workshops in several North American cities.
Presentations at the seminars are technical in content and cover a wide range of
eddy current components testing applications and solutions. Your application or
ones similar to yours are likely to be included or discussed. Examples of both
material properties testing and crack testing will be presented, as well as some
theory and rules for doing successful testing.
We invite you to attend any of these scheduled below:
Mo., March 18 Cambridge,
Ontario, Canada
Tu., March 19 Ann Arbor, MI
Th., March 21 Indianapolis, IN
Fr., March 22 Chicago, IL
If you wish to attend, please
contact Laurie Gerben at ibg (248-476-9490) to make arrangements.
Elsewhere in this issue, we are providing examples of the efficiency and
effectiveness of eddy current NDT test systems, including parts such as piston
rods, piston pins, ball pins and gears. I'd also like to call your attention to
a new video we have available of a system that tests cast iron cylinder liners
for cracks and pores (replacing visual inspections). The entire cylinder liner
can be tested, including the I.D. and O.D. surfaces and the faces. Also, the
induction hardened I.D. surface can be tested for correct hardness and case
depth.
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NDT
monitoring of
gear hardening process
nets huge savings |
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A major
automobile manufacturer was using destructive testing (cutting, embedding,
grinding, polishing, microexamination) to confirm the hardening of 11
different very-high-volume transmission gear components, which had been
carburized and hardened in a continuous heat-treating furnace. In this process,
if the furnace malfunctioned, complete containers of gear parts had to be
scrapped, even if most of the parts were OK.
Once an ibg system with an eddyliner®P16
test instrument was installed, a yearly savings of over $387,000 could be
realized. The savings included 2,250 man-hours, 8,250 cut parts and 500 saw
blades.
The system consists of a test coil with a bushing (for exact positioning) for
every test part. Simply by pressing a button, the operator connects the test
instrument to a test position and gets a result within split seconds.
This is a prime example of the efficiency of eddy current NDT testing. Three
systems are now installed.
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At the rate of up to 5,400 parts per hour, an ibg system tests 12 types of
ball pins via a two-channel eddydector® unit and twinned test stations.
Crack specification is for a depth of 0.25 mm, width of 0.10 mm, and length
of 3.75 mm.
The system works in this manner: The parts are fed in pairs to a rotary
indexing wheel, which takes them to the test station, where they are put
into rotation while the eddydector® unit performs the testing for cracks.
At the same t ime,
the cotter pin holes are tested. From there, they are forwarded to the OK or
N-OK chutes, depending on the decision of the detection station.
Changeover to different part types is carried out eas ily,
within a few minutes, via change parts-which remain
easily accessible.
Ball pins (shown in drawings) fed to this rotating wheel (photo above) are
tested and then forwarded to a chute, in fore ground, depending on the
sorting decision of the eddydector unit.
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