Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
  • G01N29/00—Investigating or analysing materials by the use of ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves; Visualisation of the interior of objects by transmitting ultrasonic or sonic waves through the object
  • G01N29/04—Analysing solids
  • G01N29/045—Analysing solids by imparting shocks to the workpiece and detecting the vibrations or the acoustic waves caused by the shocks
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B64—AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; COSMONAUTICS
  • B64F—GROUND OR AIRCRAFT-CARRIER-DECK INSTALLATIONS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR USE IN CONNECTION WITH AIRCRAFT; DESIGNING, MANUFACTURING, ASSEMBLING, CLEANING, MAINTAINING OR REPAIRING AIRCRAFT, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; HANDLING, TRANSPORTING, TESTING OR INSPECTING AIRCRAFT COMPONENTS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • B64F5/00—Designing, manufacturing, assembling, cleaning, maintaining or repairing aircraft, not otherwise provided for; Handling, transporting, testing or inspecting aircraft components, not otherwise provided for
  • B64F5/60—Testing or inspecting aircraft components or systems
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
  • G01N29/00—Investigating or analysing materials by the use of ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves; Visualisation of the interior of objects by transmitting ultrasonic or sonic waves through the object
  • G01N29/14—Investigating or analysing materials by the use of ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves; Visualisation of the interior of objects by transmitting ultrasonic or sonic waves through the object using acoustic emission techniques
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
  • G01N29/00—Investigating or analysing materials by the use of ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves; Visualisation of the interior of objects by transmitting ultrasonic or sonic waves through the object
  • G01N29/22—Details, e.g. general constructional or apparatus details
  • G01N29/24—Probes
  • G01N29/2481—Wireless probes, e.g. with transponders or radio links
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
  • G01N29/00—Investigating or analysing materials by the use of ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves; Visualisation of the interior of objects by transmitting ultrasonic or sonic waves through the object
  • G01N29/44—Processing the detected response signal, e.g. electronic circuits specially adapted therefor
  • G01N29/46—Processing the detected response signal, e.g. electronic circuits specially adapted therefor by spectral analysis, e.g. Fourier analysis or wavelet analysis
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
  • G01N2291/00—Indexing codes associated with group G01N29/00
  • G01N2291/02—Indexing codes associated with the analysed material
  • G01N2291/023—Solids
  • G01N2291/0231—Composite or layered materials
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
  • G01N2291/00—Indexing codes associated with group G01N29/00
  • G01N2291/26—Scanned objects
  • G01N2291/269—Various geometry objects
  • G01N2291/2694—Wings or other aircraft parts

Definitions

• the invention relates to the general problem of quality control in the fields of manufacture and repair of parts and structures.
• the invention relates more particularly to the detection of impacts that may be experienced by parts for which rigorous quality monitoring must be ensured, such as, for example, parts and aeronautical structures made of composite material that may be damaged during their manufacture. , their assembly or their repair.
• Structural damage does not occur only during the commercial or operational operation of an aircraft. They may also be caused by operators who are involved in the construction or final assembly of aeronautical parts.
• the invention relates to a device for performing the detection and location of an impact on a structure, located in a measurement volume and in which operators and / or vehicles evolve.
• the device comprises:
• At least three acoustic sensors arranged not aligned within the measurement volume and such that a wave acoustic noise emitted at any point of the measurement volume can be received in direct propagation by each of the sensors;
• control and control means configured to process the signals corresponding to the acoustic waves received by the at least three acoustic sensors in order to detect an occurrence of an impact at the level of the structure and in order to locate a point of said structure at the the origin of an acoustic wave following the impact and detected by acoustic sensors.
• a suitable sensitivity acoustic sensors advantageously microphones, inaudible shocks or whose intensity would not be perceived by people working on the structure can be detected and avoid late interventions following a defect discovered later.
• the device also comprises at least one optical pointer producing at a distance a point illumination, for example in the form of a visible light spot, and arranged in the measurement volume so that points of view a structure in the measurement volume can be illuminated by the at least one optical pointer, said optical pointer being actuated by the control and control means so as to designate an impact point located on the structure by illuminating a corresponding location of the structure.
• at least one optical pointer producing at a distance a point illumination, for example in the form of a visible light spot, and arranged in the measurement volume so that points of view a structure in the measurement volume can be illuminated by the at least one optical pointer, said optical pointer being actuated by the control and control means so as to designate an impact point located on the structure by illuminating a corresponding location of the structure.
• control and control means are configured to identify and designate the source of an acoustic emission only if it is located in a limited area of the measurement volume including the volume actually occupied. by the structure.
• an analysis of the sound waves received by the sensors includes a continuous determination of the respective amplitudes and frequencies of the acoustic waves received and a determination of a level and a spectrum of ambient noise, integrated over a determined period of time. , a difference between an acoustic signal level measured at a given instant and a sound signal level of the ambient noise being compared to a fixed threshold.
• control and control means are also configured to characterize the detected impact from an amplitude and a spectrum of the received acoustic wave.
• control and control means are also configured to eliminate unwanted acoustic waves such as the multiple reflections of the acoustic waves on walls and on objects, other than the structure, contained in the measurement volume.
• the control and control means realize the location of the point of impact by triangulation, and or by trilateration, and or by analysis of differences in amplitude and / or phase between the signals corresponding to the acoustic waves received by the acoustic sensors.
• the accuracy of this location may be less, at least in theory, to one centimeter provided that the quality of the measurement chain implemented.
• the control and control means realize the visual designation of a localized point of impact by directing the light beam emitted by the at least one optical pointer so as to illuminate a location in the volume of the monitored space of which a Acoustic wave received is assumed to originate and correspond to a point of impact.
• the device comprises a plurality of optical pointers arranged in the measurement volume, a priori arranged in said measurement volume or in the vicinity thereof, to allow to illuminate points of different zones of the structure on which zones Impacts must be detected in the event of an impact occurring.
• the acoustic sensors are directional sensors arranged around the zone of the enclosure in which the structure is located and oriented in the direction of the latter so as to cover all or part of the volume of said structure.
• the positions of the acoustic sensors and the optical pointers are advantageously raised, the raised positions being then memorized by the control and control means.
• the optical pointers are laser pointers producing a quasi-point lighting in the visible range, whose light spot formed on the structure is of reduced size even with relatively distant pointers and remains visible under the conditions of ordinary illumination of a light. workshop.
• the invention therefore consists essentially of a sensitive acoustic means in the field of audible and associated electronics for automatically detecting, identifying, locating and quantifying impacts on structures, such as aeronautical structures, which may take place in a production plant or in a final assembly line at the industrial level.
• the acoustic means is preferably associated optical means for designating areas located on the structures.
• FIG. 1 a first schematic illustration showing the device according to the invention
• the invention consists first of all in implementing in a chamber 12, a manufacturing or assembling shed for example, delimiting in this example a measurement volume 12a where is placed a structure 1 1 considered, several " electronic ears “sensitive to sounds, so as to capture the acoustic waves produced by said structure in response to received shocks, shocks caused for example by the fall of tools or the collision of gear 16 moving in the enclosure in the vicinity of the structure 1 1.
• the structure 1 1 considered is for example, as in the example illustrated by the figures, an aeronautical structure (fuselage or aircraft wing in particular) made in whole or in part of composite material or metal.
• the device is of course applicable to other types of structures.
• the device according to the invention comprises a plurality of acoustic sensors 13 arranged in the volume of 12a, or in its immediate vicinity, arranged to receive an acoustic wave 18 emitted by the structure 1 1 in response to an impact.
• the acoustic sensors 13 are consequently chosen with a sensitivity and a frequency range adapted to the sounds emitted and which must be detected as part of the monitoring to be performed in the measurement volume.
• Such parameters are in practice a function of the dimensions of the measurement volume, which partly determines a distance between the acoustic sensors and the locations of a structure that may be at the origin of an acoustic wave, and possibly other characteristics of the acoustic measurements. acoustic sensors such as their directivity.
• Said sensors at least three sensors, are positioned in the measurement volume so as not to be all aligned.
• the sensors 13 may be arranged, in sufficient number, so as to detect an acoustic wave with at least three sensors in as much as possible, the entire interior space of the enclosure.
• the number of sensors 13 used and their positions in the enclosure 12 may be defined so as to cover a measurement volume 12a inside the more restricted enclosure , for example a volume encompassing the structure 1 1 and its more or less immediate neighborhood.
• the acoustic sensors 13 used are preferably microphones having a directivity diagram, favoring the detection of acoustic waves in the direction of the structure so as to cover at least the whole of the measurement volume zone in which locates the structure 1 1 or limited for a given part of the structure, said directivity diagram being chosen to limit the sensitivity of the microphone considered to the waves coming from other directions than those of the structure or part of structure monitored, to the waves reflected by the walls of the enclosure 12 in particular.
• the acoustic sensors 13 are connected to a control and control system 15 to which acoustic measurements of each of the sensors are transmitted, for example in the form of electrical signals produced by the conversion of the acoustic waves 18 received by each of the sensors 13.
• the links between the control and control system 15 and the acoustic sensors 13, represented by the links 131 in FIG. 1, may be simple wired links or alternatively, in the case where the sensors used are micro-transmitters, radio links of various types (dedicated frequency links, Bluetooth TM links, etc.).
• the acoustic measurements made by a sensor are transmitted to the control and control system 15 in analog form or transmitted in digital form after having been converted by the sensor or electronics associated with the sensor.
• the dating can be done by the sensor itself provided that each sensor receives a clock signal or has a clock synchronized on a time base common to all sensors.
• the dating can be carried out by the control and monitoring system when it receives the signals from the different sensors, provided that the signal transmission chains between each sensor and the control and control system do not introduce differences of significant time between the different sensors, or at least that these differences in signal transmission time are known and controlled.
• the ordinary electronic means make it easy for those skilled in the art to guarantee a dating precision of signals of 0.1 milliseconds or less.
• the command and control system 15 mainly comprises means for acquiring and storing the electrical signals transmitted by the acoustic sensors, the acquisition being carried out continuously; these signals possibly being multiplexed on a single acquisition channel.
• the control and control system 15 also comprises means for performing the processing of these signals, advantageously in digital form, so as to identify the signals corresponding to an acoustic wave 18 following a shock 17 on the structure 1 1, and a computer (PC type, for example) equipped with software to interpret the detected signals, and to characterize the corresponding shock (nature, intensity position, etc .).
• a computer PC type, for example
• the digital processing means measure the amplitude of each of the received signals and perform a time and frequency analysis.
• the digital processing means also perform the elimination by any appropriate known method, spectral analysis or correlation in particular, signals corresponding to the parasitic sound waves received by the acoustic sensors 13, the waves from multiple reflections in particular.
• the detection and characterization of the signals of interest can be carried out in different ways.
• the detection can thus be performed by comparing the measured amplitude with one or more amplitude thresholds characterizing the amplitude of the acoustic wave emitted by the structure as well as spectral analysis, these parameters providing general qualitative information on the nature of the the impact, simple drop of tools or collision with a machine 16 in displacement 19 near the structure.
• control and control system comprises a database in which are stored acoustic energy thresholds coupled to certain frequency spectrums previously determined and corresponding to known shocks between tools or other objects and structures of the same type as the structure 1 1 considered, the identification of a signal of interest to one or other of the shocks already listed provides more precise information on the amplitude, origin and nature of the potential damage.
• the digital processing means also perform, when signals of interest have been detected, a location of a zone 17 of the structure as being at the probable origin of the acoustic wave 18 corresponding to these signals, in practice the area of the structure that has been impacted, and potentially damaged.
• This location is performed by any known method from the acoustic signals picked up by the various sensors 13 arranged in the measurement volume 12a, for example by triangulation (goniometric analysis), and or by trilateration (analysis of differences in the dates of reception of the signals ) and or analysis of the amplitude and / or phase differences between the acoustic signals received by the different sensors.
• the measurement of a time difference between the moments when an acoustic signal is received by each of two sensors makes it possible to calculate a surface, a hyperboloid, of the space which corresponds to the set of points of the space whose difference of distances to the two defined points by the position of the sensors is constant, said distance difference being in this case the distance traveled by an acoustic signal, in the physical conditions of the enclosure, during the measured time difference of reception of the acoustic signals.
• the sensors whose positions in the measurement space are known, then correspond to the positions of the foci of the hyperboloid.
• the surfaces are then calculated for each set of two sensors, ie three surfaces corresponding to the cases of three sensors considered two by two, and the intersections of these surfaces lead to the determination of a point, or a volume according to the uncertainties of measurement, which at least in theory is the source of the acoustic wave received by each sensor.
• This result is obtained provided that the three sensors considered are not aligned and that the source of the acoustic wave emitted is not in the plane determined by the three sensors, which can generally be obtained by an arrangement of the three sensors so that the plane they determine is not secant with the monitored structure.
• an increase in the number of sensors 13 in the measurement volume 12a in addition to limiting the number or dimensions of masked areas of the structure 1 1, can remove any ambiguities and improve the accuracy with which the area of an impact on the structure can be located.
• the command and control system also includes means for informing those responsible for managing such incidents, that an occurrence of shock has been identified on the structure 1 1 and where 17 impact probably occurred.
• Said means can undertake various actions, depending on the desired procedure. Said means can for example communicate the occurrence of an incident to an operator located in a control room and responsible for the management of incidents that may occur in the enclosure.
• the communication can then take the form of a message sent directly by the command and control system to the operator's console, the message comprising mainly a position of the incident (coordinate of the point of impact on the structure) as well as possibly a message indicating the probable cause of the damage.
• the communication can also be completed, in a preferred embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, by the emission of a light beam 21 pointed at the localized zone of the impact 17 and intended to visually signal this zone, by a spot 22, an operator 23 responsible for assessing the damage and decide a repair procedure.
• the device according to the invention then comprises a set of optical pointers 14 associated with the measurement volume 12a, for example arranged inside the chamber 12, in known positions, so as to be able to direct at least one light beam on any point of the structure 1 1.
• the pointers 14 are orientable and controlled by the control and control system 15 to which they are connected by links 141, wired or radio links to receive orientation signals.
• the optical pointers are laser sources emitting a light beam producing on the structure a substantially punctiform illumination.
• the device according to the invention evaluates the energy of the shock caused according to the origin and the amplitude of the sound wave then alarms a monitoring operator and possibly indicates visually the location on the structure at the origin of the acoustic wave that has been detected.
• control and control means 15 are configured so as to identify and designate the source 17 of an acoustic emission only if it is identified as being situated in a limited zone of the volume of the acoustic emission. measure 12a encompassing the volume actually occupied by the structure 1 1.
• control and control means 15 carry out the optical designation only on instructions from an operator, for example issued by the operator when he is stationed in the measurement zone.
• a device such as the one according to the invention being intended for autonomous operation, its installation in a given enclosure 12 includes, as much as needs, a calibration phase, during which the device makes the acquisition of the respective positions of the different acoustic sensors and the positions and orientations of the different optical pointers, as well as the acquisition of response curves of each of the sensors under the measurement conditions, for example by the implementation of calibrated sound sources.

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• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Immunology (AREA)
• Pathology (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
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• Biochemistry (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Acoustics & Sound (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
• Transportation (AREA)
• Aviation & Aerospace Engineering (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Mathematical Physics (AREA)
• Spectroscopy & Molecular Physics (AREA)
• Measurement Of Velocity Or Position Using Acoustic Or Ultrasonic Waves (AREA)
• Measurement Of Mechanical Vibrations Or Ultrasonic Waves (AREA)

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• 2015
  • 2015-04-21 FR FR1553579A patent/FR3035510B1/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2016
  • 2016-04-21 CN CN201680036452.2A patent/CN107735679B/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2016-04-21 WO PCT/EP2016/058950 patent/WO2016170084A1/fr not_active Ceased
  • 2016-04-21 US US15/568,477 patent/US10557830B2/en active Active
  • 2016-04-21 EP EP16722067.2A patent/EP3286560A1/de not_active Withdrawn

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