A NEW SEMI-AUTOMATIC SCRIBER (SAS) FOR RAPID INSPECTION OF BEARING COMPONENTS

THIS SBIR PROPOSAL DEFINES AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH FOR AUTOMATING CURRENT METHODS USED FOR BEARING INSPECTION. THE PROPOSED SEMI-AUTOMATED SCRIBER (SAS) WILL RELY ON AN INSTRUCTED PROBE COUPLED TO A PC-BASED DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM. IN THE FIRST TASK OF THE PROCESS, A SIMPLIFIED VERSION OF THIS PROBE WILL BE CONSTRUCTED AND USED ON KNOWN DEFECT TYPES AND GEOMETRY TO HELP EVALUATE THE TEST METHODS AND DATA THAT YIELD THE MOST CONSISTENT RESULTS. BASED ON THE RESULTS OF THE FIRST TASK, THE ACTUAL PROTOTYPE WILL BE DESIGNED TO DIGITIZE THE SCRIBER PROBE SIGNALS. USING THE NEW PROTOTYPE SAS, A COMPUTERIZED DATABASE OF DEFECT SIGNATURES WILL BE DEVELOPED FROM BEARINGS KNOWN TO BE UNACCEPTABLE. THESE DEFECT SIGNATURES WILL PROVIDE THE NECESSARY DATA TO DEVELOP ACCEPT/REJECT CRITERIA. GIVEN THE ACCEPT/REJECT CRITERIA, A SET OF TEST BEARINGS WILL BE EXAMINED TO DEMONSTRATE THE ADEQUACY AND ACCURACY OF THE NEW APPROACH.