Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) for Steel Manufacturing
Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) for Steel Manufacturing Customer Case The customer is a custom-built contractor of Non-Destructive Test (NDT) instruments for steel manufacturing. NDT uses ultrasonic pulses to scan through thick sheets of metals for possible causes of early wear, such as cracks or impurities. The stimulus is a stream of ultrasonic pulses. The response is their reflection from various depths. The center frequencies used by this customer are in the range of 250 KHz to 2.25 MHz and pulses are about 10 microseconds. The pulse repeat frequency (PRF) is less than 1 KHz. The thickness of steel sheets is [...]
Thickness Information of Composite Materials
Thickness Information of Composite Materials Industrial Thickness Information Of Composite Materials Thickness Description Introduction: Composite materials consist of two or more materials which include a substrate or base material such as paper, cotton cloth, or glass cloth along with a resin or adhesive such as epoxy, melamine, or silicone. To make a thermoset laminate, the base material is coated with the adhesive so that layers of material can be pressed under heat and pressure into sheet form. The Problem: Composite material thickness needed to be verified prior to forming or [...]
Galvannealing Phosphor Thermometry
Galvannealing Phosphor Thermometry Customer Case During the process of galvanizing, steel is dipped in a bath of liquid tin to increase its resistance to oxidation and moisture. After galvanizing, a precise heat treatment allows control of the mechanical properties of the final galvanized steel. This heat treatment is known as galvannealing. During galvannealing, precise temperature control is necessary to promote the desired grain growth in the steel's tin-rich coating. Galvanneal thermometry is difficult. The rolling of the hot steel makes contact thermocouples and optical pyrometry impractical. A customer's galvanneal furnace is equipped for phosphor thermometry. This novel technique uses [...]
Capacitance Probe Detects Water Contamination in Oiling Systems
Capacitance Probe Detects Water Contamination in Oiling Systems Industrial, Research & Development Capacitance Probe Detection of Water Contamination Metrology, Tolerances Description [Application Note 12218]  The adverse effects of water in oil are well known. Negative consequences include higher viscosity reduced load carrying ability hydrolysis (the formation of acids, sludge, and varnish) foam formation and air entrainment additive depletion corrosion on metal surfaces loss of lubrication film strength leading to increased wear cavitations filter plugging Problem As oil system reliability decreases, maintenance and repair activities increase. Corrective action must be taken [...]
Pulsed Electric Field Food Processing
Pulsed Electric Field Food Processing Customer Case Pulsed Electric Field Food Processing is a continuous food processing system in which beverages (with a known conductivity) are pumped through a chamber containing an electrode. Pulses of high voltage electricity are passed across the electrode, thus through the liquid as well. It is a pasteurization technique being studied at Ohio State University. The need is to be able to monitor, display, and record to hard drive storage, voltage and current waveforms. They need to be able to draw information about the pulse duration, peak voltage, etc. from the recorded waveforms. Waveforms [...]
Digital Capacitance Sensor Provides Closed-Loop Piezo Positioning Control
Digital Capacitance Sensor Provides Closed-Loop Piezo Positioning Control Consumer Electronics, Industrial Closed-Loop Piezo Positioning Control Positioning, Robot Guide Description [Application Note 40418] 21st century electronic manufacturing requires fast, precise positioning of miniature components. For many assembly lines, process control has moved from mm to micron, or even sub-micron, accuracy. Keeping pace with the demand for greater precision requires piezoelectric positioning actuators and/or voice coil motors with closed-loop feedback control. Challenge Traditionally, analog feedback from capacitance sensors has enabled the closed-loop control of conventional positioning stages. Harnessing the extreme accuracies achievable [...]
Signal Generator Calibrates Strain Gauge Electronics
Signal Generator Calibrates Strain Gauge Electronics Industrial, Automotive, Transportation, Research & Development, Civil Engineering Calibration of Strain Gauge Electronics Amplitude; Bending, Tensile & Compression Description [Application Note 31218] The strain gauge has been in use many years and is the fundamental sensing element for many types of sensors, including pressure sensors, load cells, torque sensors, and position sensors. The majority of strain gauges are metallic foil types, available in a wide choice of shapes and sizes to suit a variety of applications. Foil type strain gauges feature a pattern or [...]
Phase Conjugate Sonar
Phase Conjugate Sonar Customer Case Dissipationless physical systems, such as simple planetary motion or a swinging pendulum, exhibit time-reversal invariance. This means that if time were reversed the way a film projector can be, then the resulting motion would be allowed by the equations governing the system. It follows that if all velocities in a dissipationless system are suddenly reversed, the system will follow a time-reversed trajectory. Dissipationless or adiabatic wave propagation is time-reversal invariant. Phase Conjugate Optics involves the deliberate reversal of complex light paths. A customer is doing Phase Conjugate Sonar using sound instead of light. The [...]
Signal Generator Simulates Eddy Current Probe
Signal Generator Simulates Eddy Current Probe Industrial, Power Generation, Automotive, Power Generation, R& D, Solar Simulation of Eddy Current Probe Gap, Amplitude, Displacement, Positioning, Thickness Description [Application Note 31218] Non-contact eddy current probes can be used to measure the position, or position change, of conductive targets in real time. Typical monitoring applications include shaft runout and/or vibration. Probe setup requires an oscillator demodulator circuit. This circuit converts the probe’s magnetic field readings into output voltages proportional to the gap between probe and target. Portal signal conditioning electronics are then used [...]
Capacitance Sensors Facilitate 3D IC Construction
Capacitance Sensors Facilitate 3D IC Construction Semiconductor, Research & Development 3D IC Construction Distance, Positioning, Displacement Description [Application Note 70518] To boost device performance, today's semiconductor and microelectronics manufacturers are building three-dimensional integrated circuits featuring vertically-stacked silicon wafers and dies. The rationale is simple. Exploiting the Z-axis avoids the power and footprint penalties associated with two-dimensional processes. Implementing the rationale, however, is not so simple. Going vertical requires coplanar surfaces to make contact with all pins, pads, and pillars. Problem Typically, manufacturers measure the angle and gap between two planes [...]