Automatic Deformation Detection for Aircraft Engine Disk Inspection

Abstract

Computer vision algorithms are seeing increased use in industrial inspection applications. Here, we present an “Aid to Visual” system that can detect post deformations of less than 0.005 inches in jet engine high pressure turbine disks. We create a gold-standard reference post from the posts of sample turbine disks and then use registration, edge detection, and curve-similarity algorithms to identify unacceptable post deformations. We address the challenges associated with adapting academic algorithms for use in functioning inspection systems. We present novel solutions to deal with practical issues such as accuracy, speed, robustness, and ease of use. We also present a novel, highly-efficient sub-pixel contour matching algorithm and demonstrate the effectiveness of using sub-pixel distance calculation. We demonstrate overall error rates less than 1% on over 2400 images of posts. We have integrated our algorithms into the commercial LabVIEW software running on the Aid To Visual workstation. Our algorithms will enable plant-factory inspectors to identify minute post deformations that were previously difficult to detect.