include France, Great Britain, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands; plus Switzerland, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, as well as the Balkan states. In the middle east, Iran, Egypt and Turkey are represented. Farther east, India, China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Australia have ibg representation.The growth of ibg has not been by happenstance. Nondestructive eddy  current testing

engineer and ibg president Herbert Baumgartner has seen his innovations improve eddy current testing of metal components around the world, including usage from the met lab to the production line. Component testing worldwide has been affected by ibg equipment. In the U.S., a subsidiary company, ibg NDT Systems, was established in Detroit in 1994 to serve North America. South America is servicedby an office in Brazil. In Europe, locations

for material properties and for surface flaws has become vital to component manufacturers around

the world.OEMs require zero defects in components subjected to processes such as heat treating, machining, grinding and  superfinishing. Developing the appropriate solution involving eddy current technology for each application is the chal­lenge facing ibg across the continents.

(LEFT) Tulips exit this system on end via conveyor, stem up. In the system, they are lifted up to test the stem and the races inside the bell.

(BELOW) Close-up shows the tulip on the roller conveyor just before lifting into the coils for testing.

A ibg turnkey system was recently developed for one of the world's largest automotive suppliers to test the stem and inside bell of tulips to verify correct induction hardening.

Designed for different part numbers, the system allows different part numbers to be presented at random and to be automatically recognized and tested accordingly. Cycle time for each test is less than 25 seconds. The test system was designed to be available at least 95% of the time, including maintenance and repair.

New eddyliner® P3 system tests tulips automatically on stem and inside the bell on races

This ibg system involves an eddyliner® P3 computer-controlled, multi-frequency test instrument for three pairs of test coils. The parts are inspected at two positions on the stem and at one position inside the bell via multiple coil

eddyliner® P16 system tests forged steering racks for  hardness and case depth at nine locations
 

A system for automatic testing of forged steering racks has been devel­oped by ibg for a major automotive supplier. It features ibg 's computer-controlled multi-frequency eddyliner® P16 eddy current test instrument. Testing is at nine different positions. The system tests racks with dimen­sions of 18 to 32 mm diameter, and lengths of 400 to 1000 mm.

Following induction hardening, the racks are forwarded by a walking beam conveyor. In the system, they are lifted up from the walking beam and clamped on centers. Once in place, test coils move under the PLC control to test each part at nine locations, verifying correct hardness, case depth and hardness pattern runout (see illustration).

After testing, the steering rack is unclamped, lowered back to the walking beam and passed along to the next operation.

Testing at each location is according to ibg's Preventive Multi-Frequency protocol, using eight frequencies so that correct hardness and case depth are verified, and so that significantly mixed structure and wrong material alloys also are detected and rejected.

Rack mounted, the test system has external I/O connectors for linking the eddy current test unit to the PLC. The entire system is mounted on a sturdy metal frame extending over the conveyor belt. Intended for in-line use, the test system is designed for a three-shift operation in a shop floor environment.
 

Each rack is tested at nine locations for hardness, case depth and pattern by test coils encircling the rack.

Bearing inner rings get automatic crack detection in six-second cycles

A recent system devised for a primary manufacturer of bearings performs crack detection on boreholes of bearing inner rings at production-line speeds. Utilizing ibg eddydector® crack test instrumentation, the system tests a range of part numbers with bore diameters ranging  from 30-40 mm.

The rings are fed to the system lying OD to OD via roller conveyor. At the crack test station, the parts are each clamped and put into rotation at 600 rpm. The probe then immediately lowers into the bore hole and the entire surface is scanned (without contact) for surface cracks.
Following each test, part rotation is stopped and the bearing is sorted to an OK conveyor or NOK conveyor depending on the sorting decision. the preceding finishing process, the system takes this into consideration. Conversion from one size of part to a different one is effected within 10 minutes.
This ibg system was designed to be mobile, so that it can be easily moved and connected to various production lines within the plant. It is mounted on a sturdy steel frame which includes space for the instrument cabinet and the PLC.
As with most other systems, it is to be run in a three-shift operation on the shop floor. Also, as with other systems, the entire "package" included commissioning of the system and training of operators.