Real-Time Ultrasound Camera Inspection of Fasteners in Aerospace Structures

While ultrasound is the benchmark technique for inspecting flaws in aging aerospace structures, it is a slow and difficult technique to utilize. To address this need, Imperium proposes to utilize a novel ultrasound camera to instantly inspect cracks andcorrosion under fasteners. The system will provide a real time, subsurface view of faults in structures while generating a live video output to an inspector. For example, this handheld ultrasound camera can replace complex gantry squirter systems andscanning systems. The intituitive imagery requires less training than conventional ultrasound systems. While this topic is focused on finding faults around fasteners, a variety of additional applications can be address with this technology with littlemodifications. Corrosion, delaminations, voids and other faults can also be immediately imaged and quantified. This Phase I program will investigate the feasibility of adapting the ultrasound camera for the real time inspection of fasteners throughdifferent shear wave and longitudinal implementations of the system. Commercial, small, lightweight easily used ultrasound cameras could find wide application in both military and commercial sectors. Their use could extend from the inspection of agingmilitary and commercial aircraft to a variety of other applications such as looking at cracks in welds. Furthermore, this same type of camera could be used in a medical application to inspect beneath a person's skin for soft tissue conditions such ascancerous tumors.