-New equipment

Blockages in pipelines can be detected acoustically with the instrument from Phoenix Inspection Systems

Automatic inspection An automatic inspection system capable of testing four different types of ABS ball screws for proper heat treat annealing at 1200 parts h - t has been developed by K. J. Law Engineers. Flexible machine design and setup permits the manufacturer of these critical parts to inspect all four part numbers on a single machine.

The Model 33243 system uses a single channel Verimet 900 hardness and alloy tester wi th a specially designed eddy current encircling coil to perform the test. Parts are hopper loaded and transferred into a vibratory feeder for orientation into a gravity loaded input track. If a wrong part number is accidently loaded into the feeder, it wi l l be ejected through a reject chute.

The vibratory feeder orients the ball screws so that the threaded ends enter the gravity track first. Ball screws are metered one at a time into the eddy current coil for evaluation. The instrument then sends an accept or reject signal to the system's programmable logic controller (PLC) to actuate the pneumatically controlled

accept/reject chute. Acceptable parts are allowed to continue down the manufacturing line; rejects are diverted to a reject bin. In case of a power failure, all untested parts are automatically treated as rejects.

Also, from the same manufacturer, is an automatic inspection system for inspecting eight different types of large-bore cylinder liners for sand holes, cracks, case depth and case depth pattern H-length at 6 5 - 9 0 parts per hour. The Model 28887 system uses a Verimet 9000 to check for proper case depth pattern on the skirt

Automatic inspection system for ball screws from K. J. Law Engineers

and flange and case depth at four locations on the inner diameter. Two mult i-channel, Hentschel instruments, the DE200 and DE300, inspect for sand holes and cracks in the part I D and radial cracks on the cylinder flange. Part status and mechanical motions are monitored cont inuously by a commercial grade PLC.

During testing, individual cylinder liners are placed in rotary chucks on a five-station rotary index table. As parts are rotated into position in the test stations they are sequentially inspected at four separate locations at 90 ' intervals along the length of the cylinder ID. On completion of the full test cycle, parts are removed from the system and sorted into accept and reject categories based on the test results.

K. J. Law Engineers Inc, 42300 W. Nine Mile Road, Novi, Michigan 48375-4103, USA

Accreditation for training school Designation as an Accredited Training Establishment by the British Institute of NDT has been achieved by Wells Krautkramer's NDT Training School as part of the Insti tute's campaign for a uniformly high standard of training for PCN candidates.

The Training School was established 25 years ago. In addition to PCN training, it wil l continue to train students for ASNT examinations and other schemes set by industry, inspection authorities and Government agencies in the UK and overseas.

Training related services include Level III consultancy, customer site training and examinations and NDT appreciation courses for managers and non- N DT engineers.

Wells Krautkramer, Blackhorse Road, Letchworth, Hertfordshire SG6 1HF, UK

118 NDT&E International April 1991