Eddy Current WELD Test

Olympus NDT 421 N. Quay Street Kennewick, WA 99336 USA Tel 509-736-2751 Fax 509-735-4672 olympusNDT.com [email protected]

Set-up Procedure for N500 using WLD weld probes

Olympus NDT Reference only material, this procedure is only to be used for familiarization with how to use the N500 in conjunction with WLD weld probes for eddy current weld inspection. It is not to be used in place of authorized written procedures for weld inspection.


Items required: Nortec N500

Probe: WLD-5-63/7L Test Standard: SRSM-51020S-WLD

Cable: 9122083 – CL/SC/6 PowerLink™ Cable Note- if the probe or probes you are using are not PowerLink, you will need to use cable CN16-4L-6.


Summary This procedure outlines the basic requirements for setting up and calibrating the N500 using Olympus NDT eddy current probes and standard from the weld inspection kit NEC-8196L. Note: due to the inductance variances from probe to probe, Phase/Angle, Lift-Off and Gain may vary when calibrating the N500. Olympus NDT offers two different versions of NEC-8196 weld inspection kits. The probes in the kits can come with or without Powerlink™ technology. This procedure has been prepared as if the operator does not have Powerlink™ probes. Parts of the procedure may be skipped by the operator.


To get started, turn on your instrument by pressing the Power on button.

Power Button

Main Function Keys

Soft KeysSoft Key


Setup When connecting probe & cable to the Nortec 500, probes that have been designed with Powerlink™ will automatically be detected by the instrument through the probe’s recognition chip and default the instrument to the POWERLINK ™menu.

If you are using a probe that does not have Powerlink™, Skip Step.1. and go to Step.2.


Setting up the Instrument: Step.1. After the probe and cable have been plugged into the N500,

1.a. Press the Soft Key, LOG/ENTER.

NOTE: When a probe with POWERLINK™ has been identified, the part number of the probe will appear on the screen next to Model.


Step.2. 2.a. Press the Main function key. This will access the Main menu. 2.b. Press the Soft Key FREQ1 SETUP menu. From here, you will be able to adjust Frequency.


Step.3. 3.a. Adjust Frequency by rotating the SmartKnob™ . 200 to 500KHZ is where the weld probe will be operating.

If you have a Powerlink™ probe, the frequency should already be programmed for the required frequency for testing. When using the weld sample you may find 300-500Khz is a better frequency range. You may adjust your frequency for best results.


Step.4. 4.a. Place probe on standard, press Soft Key, NULL. Wait until instrument has balanced the probe to the standard.


Step.6. 6.a. After the probe has been balanced on the standard, perform Lift-Off and slide the probe over the notch. This will give you an idea of the probe’s current angle.

Lift-off


Step.7 7.a. Adjust the probe’s angle by pressing Soft Key menu, ANGLE and rotating the SmartKnob™ until the flaw signal is 90 degrees to horizontal. To accomplish this slide the probe back and forth over the notch during this set-up.


Step.8 8.a. Increase vertical gain by 5db by pressing Soft Key menu, V- GAIN and rotating the SmartKnob™ or pressing Soft Key menu again, this will increase the gain by 5db. By adding the 5db to the vertical gain should give a better flaw signal over the noise and lift-off signal.


Step.9 9.a. Set-up for negative flaw signal, rotate the probe 90 degrees and slide it over the notch. You should get an indication that is 180 degrees from the positive flaw signal. See above screen example; look for similar response on your instrument. This should complete the set-up procedure for using of the N500 with the NEC-8196 weld probe kit. The probes are designed for use on steel material where surface breaking flaws may occur. As material properties may change so instrument adjust may have to change as well. We will now look at a few trouble-shooting tips. When problems arise, many would consider that they have a bad probe or cable, but in some cases, it could be something as simple as the high pass filter is on.


If you find you are not getting any signal from the probe’s lift-off or when sliding the probe over a notch, here are a few instrument menu settings that will affect proper instrument set-up and operation. Two key instrument functions that will affect probe operations are the Filter and Setup menus. Filter menu: high-pass filter should be off, low-pass filter 100, Preamp off, and balance off. Setup menu: probe drive mid or high, and instrument is in single and not dual frequency mode. Screen display in Filter Menu

• HIPASS OFF • LOWPASS 100 • BALANCE OFF

Screen display Setup Menu

• Probe DRV MID • FRQ MODE SINGLE


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Eddy Current WELD Test