Francisco J. Madruga

Enhanced contrast detection of subsurface defects by pulsed infrared thermography based on the fourth order statistic moment, kurtosis

The automatic detection of subsurface defects has become a desired goal in the application of non-destructive testing and evaluation techniques. In this paper, an algorithm based on the fourth order standardised statistic moment, i.e. kurtosis, is proposed for detection and/or characterization of subsurface defects having a thermal diffusivity either higher or lower than the host material. The analysis of thermographic data for the detection of defects can be reduced to the temporal statistics of the thermographic sequence. The final result provided by this algorithm is an image showing the different defects without the necessity of establishing other evaluating parameters such as the delayed time of the first image or the acquisition frequency in the analysis, which are required in other processing techniques. All the information is contained in a single image allowing to discriminate between the defect types (high o low thermal diffusivity). Synthetic data from Thermocalc® and experimental works using a PlexiglasTM specimen were performed showing good agreement. Processed results using synthetic and experimental data with other methods used in the field of thermography for defect detection and/or characterization are provided as well for comparison.

Torsion-induced effects on UV long-period fiber gratings

The spectral properties of long period fiber gratings (LPFG) are modified when twisting is applied. Herein, results of applying torsion to UV-induced LPFGs are presented for comparing with others which have already been presented in literature and where the LPFGs are fabricated using different techniques. Both, the resonant wavelength and the peak attenuation of the resonance, have similar behaviors to those obtained by other authors. However, in spite of the fact that the values of sensitivity to twist rate are sensibly lower in the case of UV-LPFGs, its bigger mechanical strength lets them be subjected to higher twist rates, which could be useful in determinate applications.

Influence of Humidity on the Measurement of Brillouin Frequency Shift

Distributed sensing based on the Brillouin frequency shift is a useful technique to measure temperature along an optical fiber. However, the measurement can be influenced by the humidity on the fiber and its history. Experimental results using three different types of single-mode fibers with 1 km length, at 25degC and 30degC are reported. Depending of the type of fiber, a displacement on Brillouin frequency from 0.4 up to 2.8 MHz due to changes of humidity is obtained.

Support vector machines in hyperspectral imaging spectroscopy with application to material identification

A processing methodology based on Support Vector Machines is presented in this paper for the classification of hyperspectral spectroscopic images. The accurate classification of the images is used to perform on-line material identification in industrial environments. Each hyperspectral image consists of the diffuse reflectance of the material under study along all the points of a line of vision. These images are measured through the employment of two imaging spectrographs operating at Vis-NIR, from 400 to 1000 nm, and NIR, from 1000 to 2400 nm, ranges of the spectrum, respectively. The aim of this work is to demonstrate the robustness of Support Vector Machines to recognise certain spectral features of the target. Furthermore, research has been made to find the adequate SVM configuration for this hyperspectral application. In this way, anomaly detection and material identification can be efficiently performed. A classifier with a combination of a Gaussian Kernel and a non linear Principal Component Analysis, namely k-PCA is concluded as the best option in this particular case. Finally, experimental tests have been carried out with materials typical of the tobacco industry (tobacco leaves mixed with unwanted spurious materials, such as leathers, plastics, etc.) to demonstrate the suitability of the proposed technique.

Brillouin frequency shift of standard optical fibers set in water vapor medium

The dependence of the Brillouin frequency shift (BFS) on UV-cured acrylate coating and uncoated fibers for media that have different water vapor concentrations is experimentally investigated. The BFS is proportional to the temperature within the fiber, but it also depends on the water vapor contained in the surroundings of the fiber. A hypothesis based on the efficiency of the heat transfer due to the different humidity concentration in the media is proposed, and the temperature difference that depends on the heat transfer is quantified in standard fibers. A shift of approximately 0.22 MHz for relative humidity change between 60% and 98% at 20 degrees C is measured.

Arc-welding process control based on back face thermography: application to the manufacturing of nuclear steam generators

The possibility of reducing defects in the arc welding process has attracted research interest, particularly, in the aerospace and nuclear sectors where the resulting weld quality is a major concern and must be assured by costly, time-consuming, non-destructive testing (NDT) procedures. One possible approach is the analysis of a measurand correlated with the formation of defects, from which a control action is derived. Among others, the thermographic analysis of the weld pool and the heat-affected zone have proven to be a useful technique, since the temperature profile of the material being welded has a clear correlation with the process parameters. In this paper, we propose a control system for the submerged-arc welding (SAW) process, based on thermographic imaging of the back face of the joint being welded. In-lab experiments, with simultaneous infrared and a visible imaging, have been performed. Two image analysis techniques are proposed: tracking of the maximum temperature point of the infrared images, and morphological analysis of the visible images. In-lab welding experiments have demonstrated the feasibility of both techniques. They are able to obtain an estimation of the surface temperature and to detect the occurrence of the perforation defect, what has major application for defect detection and reduction in the joining of shell sections of nuclear steam generators.

Efficient dynamic events discrimination technique for fiber distributed Brillouin sensors

A technique to detect real time variations of temperature or strain in Brillouin based distributed fiber sensors is proposed and is investigated in this paper. The technique is based on anomaly detection methods such as the RX-algorithm. Detection and isolation of dynamic events from the static ones are demonstrated by a proper processing of the Brillouin gain values obtained by using a standard BOTDA system. Results also suggest that better signal to noise ratio, dynamic range and spatial resolution can be obtained. For a pump pulse of 5 ns the spatial resolution is enhanced, (from 0.541 m obtained by direct gain measurement, to 0.418 m obtained with the technique here exposed) since the analysis is concentrated in the variation of the Brillouin gain and not only on the averaging of the signal along the time.

Temperature sensing in multiple zones based on Brillouin fiber ring laser

A simple system for sensing temperature in multiple zones based on a multi-wavelength Brillouin fiber laser ring is presented. Optical fiber reels are serially concatenated and divided in zones (one per sensing area). Setting the Brillouin lasing in each spool of fiber generates a characteristic wavelength that depends on the fiber properties and the temperature in the zone. Thus, it is possible to measure temperature independently and accurately through heterodyne detection between two narrow laser signals. The proposed sensor integrates the temperature along the whole spool of fiber in each zone. These real time measurements were successfully checked in our laboratory.

Comparison between a symmetric bidirectional-pumping and a unidrectional-pumping configurations in an erbium fiber ring laser

An experimental comparative study between two wide-band wavelength-tunable erbium doped fiber ring lasers (EDFRLs) with the same active fiber length but with two different pumping configuration (forward unidirectional pumping and symmetric bidirectional pumping) is reported in this paper. Both fiber lasers cover almost the whole C-band and L-band with a single setup laser. The signal wavelength can be tuned in a wide range of 60 nm with the two presented lasers. Nevertheless, experimental results verify that a higher output power is obtained with the bidirectional pump configuration.

Analysis of pulsed thermographic sequences based on radon transform

The automatic detection of subsurface defects has become a desired goal in the application of Non Destructive Techniques. In this paper, a new algorithm based on the Radon Transform is proposed to reduce human intervention to a minimum in the field of Thermography for defect detection and/or characterization. The analysis of a thermographic sequence for the detection of subsurface defects can be reduced to the identification of the -0.5 slope in the surface temperature decay for each pixel within the image. Employing techniques commonly used in computer vision, an algorithm can be developed in order to look for the -0.5 slope in the temporal temperature decay profiles of each pixel. In our case, the Radon transform can be used to detect those -0.5 slope lines in the temporal temperature decay profiles. The final result provided by this algorithm is an image showing the different defects avoiding the necessity of evaluating parameters as relevant in other algorithms as the delayed time of the first image or any subjective point of view in the analysis. All the information is contained in only one image and leads to a quantitative estimation of the defect depths. The principal limitation is that the specimens under inspection should be semi-infinite homogeneous samples because this algorithm is supported on a 1-D Fourier diffusion equation approximation. Experimental works using a PlexiglasTM specimen were performed showing a good agreement with other semi-automated techniques.