JP2007248153A - Eddy current flaw detecting method and its device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an eddy current flaw detecting method and its device capable of stably detecting solely harmful defects by establishing an optimal frequency range and filtering defective signals caused by a harmful defect and noise signals caused by a defective shape which does not pose a problem for processing as for a differential signal output from an eddy current flaw detection sensor. <P>SOLUTION: This eddy current flaw detecting device 1 comprises the eddy current flaw detection sensor 2 using as a primary coil 8 a central magnetic pole of an E-type core made of a ferromagnetic material and using as a secondary coil 9 each magnetic pole of both sides, a computing unit 5 which computes the differential signal of the signals detected from both the secondary coils 9, and a determination device 5 which determines a defect in an inspection object S when the wavelength of the differential signal is two times or larger of the length between both the secondary coils 9 and the output of the differential signal is above a predetermined threshold value. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an eddy current flaw detection method and an eddy current flaw detection apparatus that detect defects existing on a surface layer of a conductor using eddy current.

As a conventional eddy current flaw detector, for example, an eddy current flaw detector shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is known (see Patent Document 1).
The eddy current flaw detection apparatus 30 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 includes eddy current flaw sensors 33a to 33c in which the central magnetic pole of the E-type core, which is a ferromagnetic material, is the primary coil 31, and the magnetic poles on both sides are the secondary coils 32. A plurality of eddy current flaw detection sensor groups 34 arranged in a direction perpendicular to the arrangement of magnetic poles, a power supply device (not shown) for supplying an alternating current to each of the eddy current flaw detection sensors 33a to 33c, and two eddy current flaw detection sensors 33a to 33c. A first differential amplifier 36 that calculates and amplifies the difference between the outputs of the two secondary coils 32, and a second differential amplifier 36 that calculates and amplifies the difference between the outputs of the secondary coils 32 of the different eddy current flaw detection sensors 33a to 33c. It comprises a differential amplifier 37, a phase detection circuit 38 for phase detection of the signals of these differential amplifiers 36 and 37, and a filter circuit 39 for filtering the phase detected signal. The eddy current flaw detector 30 is based on the difference signal of the outputs of the two secondary coils 32 for each of the eddy current flaw sensors 33a to 33c and the difference signal of the outputs of the secondary coils 32 of the different eddy current flaw sensors 33a to 33c. When the output of each difference signal exceeds a predetermined threshold value, it is determined that the surface of the inspected object 35 has a defect. According to such an eddy current flaw detector 30, it is possible to detect a defect extending in the same direction as the arrangement direction of the secondary coils 32 on the surface of the inspection object 35.
JP-A-9-89843

  However, since the eddy current flaw detector 30 determines the presence / absence of a defect by comparing each output signal with a predetermined threshold, there is a problem in processing such as when the inspected object 35 has a wave shape. A defective shape of the inspected object 35 that is not to be determined is also determined as a defect. When a defect is detected by the eddy current flaw detector 30, a visual confirmation operation is required in the next process. However, an unnecessary visual confirmation operation is generated by determining a shape defect that does not cause a problem in the processing as a defect. However, there is a problem that the processing efficiency is hindered.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems of the prior art, and the purpose of the differential signal output from the eddy current flaw detection sensor is to process a defect signal caused by the presence of a harmful defect, and processing. To provide an eddy current flaw detection method and an eddy current flaw detection apparatus capable of stably detecting only harmful defects by filtering an noise signal caused by a shape defect that does not cause an upper problem by providing an optimum frequency band. It is in.

In the eddy current flaw detection method according to claim 1 of the present invention, an AC voltage is applied to the primary coil of the eddy current flaw detection sensor in which the central magnetic pole of the E-type core, which is a ferromagnetic material, is a primary coil and each magnetic pole on both sides is a secondary coil. To generate an eddy current in the object to be inspected, and an induced voltage generated in each secondary coil by the eddy current as a detection signal,
Calculating a differential signal of the detection signals detected from the secondary coils,
If the wavelength of the differential signal is not more than about twice the length between the secondary coils and the output of the differential signal exceeds a predetermined threshold, there is a defect in the object to be inspected. It is characterized by determining what to do.
In the eddy current flaw detector according to claim 2 of the present invention, the central magnetic pole of the E-type core, which is a ferromagnetic material, is used as a primary coil, each magnetic pole on both sides is used as a secondary coil, and an AC voltage is applied to the primary coil. An eddy current flaw sensor that generates an eddy current in the object to be inspected and uses an induced voltage generated in each secondary coil by the eddy current as a detection signal;
An arithmetic unit for calculating a differential signal of the detection signal detected from the secondary coils;
Determination of determining the presence of a defect in the object to be inspected based on a result obtained by inputting the differential signal and comparing a wavelength of the differential signal and a length between the secondary coils and an output value of the differential signal And a device.

  According to the eddy current flaw detection method or the eddy current flaw detection apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, the differential signal of the detection signal detected from both the secondary coils is calculated, and the wavelength of the differential signal is set to the both secondary coils. Only a harmful defect can be obtained by determining that a defect exists in the object to be inspected when the output of the differential signal exceeds a predetermined threshold when it is less than about twice the length between Can be detected stably, and the processing efficiency can be improved by minimizing the visual confirmation in the next step.

Hereinafter, an eddy current flaw detector according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
In this embodiment, the case where the inspection object is a steel plate S and the defect F existing on the surface of the steel plate S is detected will be described as an example.
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an eddy current flaw detector according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the principle of the eddy current flaw detection sensor. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the detection result of the differential signal.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the eddy current flaw detection apparatus 1 includes a plurality of eddy current flaw detection sensors 2 disposed above a steel sheet S that is continuously conveyed in the longitudinal direction (left and right direction in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2), An amplifier board (arithmetic unit) 3 for exciting and detecting the flaw detection sensor 2, an A / D converter 4 for analog / digital conversion of the output from the amplifier board 3, and a signal from the A / D converter 4 at a constant pitch And a data processing device (determination device) 5 for inputting.

Each eddy current flaw detection sensor 2 includes a central magnetic pole of an E-shaped core formed of a ferromagnetic material as a primary coil 8 and each magnetic pole on both sides as a secondary coil 9. The eddy current flaw detection sensor 2 is installed above the steel plate S so that the longitudinal direction of the steel plate S and the alignment direction of the magnetic poles 8 and 9 are the same, and a plurality (four in this embodiment) are installed in the width direction of the steel plate S. Is done.
The amplifier board 3 includes a power supply device (not shown), a differential amplifier 12, and a phase detection circuit 13.

The power supply device applies an alternating current to the primary coil 8 of each eddy current flaw detection sensor 2.
The differential amplifier 12 receives the induced voltage of each secondary coil 9, calculates the difference between the induced voltages of the secondary coils 9 in each eddy current flaw detection sensor 2, and amplifies the differential signal as necessary. Create it.
The phase detection circuit 13 is supplied with a reference voltage having the same phase as the AC current supplied by the power supply device. The phase detection circuit 13 uses the differential signal input from the differential amplifier 12 as a reference. A signal having the set phase difference is created, and synchronous detection is performed on the basis of this signal to extract only the differential signal component of the defective portion.

The A / D conversion device 4 converts the differential signal component of the defective portion input from the phase detection circuit 13 into a digital signal and outputs it as a sampling signal.
The data processing device 5 compares the wavelength of the differential signal with the length between the secondary coils 9. Specifically, the sampling signal input from the A / D conversion device 4 is filtered, and only the signal having a wavelength less than the value α that is about twice the length between the secondary coils 9 among the sampling signals. And includes a first arithmetic unit 15, a filter circuit 16, a second arithmetic unit 17, a D / A converter (not shown), and a comparator 18.

The first computing unit 15 performs a Fourier transform on the sampling signal input from the A / D conversion device 4 and converts the sampling signal into a frequency spectrum.
The filter circuit 16 uses a general high-pass filter, and the frequency spectrum converted by the first computing unit 15 on the basis of the value β of the reciprocal of the value α that is about twice the length between the secondary coils 9. The frequency component whose frequency is less than β is cut.

Here, in the present embodiment, a value that is approximately twice the length between the secondary coils 9 is used as α, which is a reference value for filtering the sampling signal. However, in actual filtering, Is set to a value obtained by adding a predetermined value to approximately twice the length between the secondary coils 9, and β is preferably calculated based on the α.
The second arithmetic unit 17 performs inverse Fourier transform on the frequency spectrum after filtering by the filter circuit 16 and re-synthesizes the time series function signal.
The D / A converter converts the time series function signal recombined by the second computing unit 17 into an analog signal and outputs the analog signal to the comparator 18.
The comparator 18 compares the output of the signal input from the D / A converter with a predetermined threshold value, and determines that a defect F exists when there is a signal exceeding the predetermined threshold value. .

Next, the operation when the defect F of the steel sheet S is detected by the eddy current flaw detector 1 according to the present embodiment will be described.
By applying an alternating current to the primary coil 8 of the eddy current flaw detection sensor 2 installed above the steel sheet S continuously conveyed in the longitudinal direction, as shown in FIG. Eddy current is generated. When an eddy current is generated in the steel sheet S, an induced voltage is generated in each secondary coil 9 due to the eddy current.

  In this case, when there is no defect F in the continuously conveyed steel sheet S, the induced voltage generated in each secondary coil 9 is the same, and is zero if the difference between the induced voltages of both the secondary coils 9 is taken. Become. On the other hand, when the defect F exists in the steel sheet S, a change occurs in the flow of eddy current, the induced voltage of the secondary coil 9 on the side where the defect F exists becomes low, and the induction generated in each secondary coil 9 occurs. There will be a difference in voltage. In this case, when the steel sheet S is conveyed, the defect F passes below or around each secondary coil 9 and the induced voltage in each secondary coil 9 fluctuates.

Then, the induced voltage generated in each secondary coil 9 is input to the differential amplifier 12, and the differential amplifier 12 creates a differential signal obtained by amplifying the difference between the calculated induced voltages.
Here, when the steel sheet S has a defect F, when the defect F passes directly under the eddy current flaw detection sensor 2, a differential signal a corresponding to the length between the secondary coils 9 is output as shown in FIG. Is done. The differential signal a draws a waveform like a sin curve, and when the horizontal axis of FIG. 3 is represented by a length, the wavelength thereof is about twice the length between the secondary coils 9.

On the other hand, when the steel plate S has a corrugated defective portion, when the defective portion of the steel plate S passes immediately below the eddy current flaw detection sensor 2, a differential signal b is output as shown in FIG. The differential signal b draws a waveform like a sine curve having a wavelength longer than that of the differential signal a, and when the horizontal axis of FIG. 3 is represented by the length, the wavelength is substantially equal to the length of the defective shape portion. It will be the same.
Therefore, in the differential signal of both the secondary coils 9 of the eddy current flaw detection sensor 2, only a signal having a wavelength equal to or less than a value α that is about twice the length between the two secondary coils 9 is determined as a determination target. A signal having a long and slowly changing wavelength is excluded from the determination target, and a harmful defect F existing in the steel sheet S is detected. On the other hand, a defective shape of the steel sheet S that does not cause a problem in processing is overdetected as a defect F. It is possible to prevent this.

Therefore, in the eddy current flaw detector 1, the differential signal is input to the data processor 5 via the phase detector circuit 13 and the A / D converter 4, and the data processor 5 provides an optimum frequency band for sampling. Signal filtering is performed.
That is, in the data processing device 5, the sampling signal is converted into a frequency spectrum, and the frequency component less than the value β of the reciprocal of the value α that is about twice the length between the secondary coils 9 is cut. Then, the frequency spectrum is re-synthesized into a time series function signal. Then, the time series function signal is converted into an analog signal, the output of the analog signal is compared with a predetermined threshold value, and a defect F exists when there is a signal exceeding the predetermined threshold value. Judge that it is.

For example, when the length between the secondary coils 9 of the eddy current flaw detection sensor 2 is set to 20 mm and the sampling pitch is set to 2 mm, which is 1/10 of the length between the secondary coils 9, the data processing device 5 Sampling data 256 points (corresponding to 512 mm) are processed as one basic section. In such a case, the value of β is about 7 Hz, and the frequency component of less than 7 Hz in the frequency spectrum is cut.
And when it determines with the defect F existing by the eddy current flaw detector 1, the part in which the detected defect F of the steel plate S exists is deleted through visual confirmation operation | work.
According to such an eddy current flaw detection apparatus 1, it is possible to stably detect only the harmful defect F, and it is possible to improve the processing efficiency by minimizing the visual confirmation work in the next process. It becomes.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, various modifications can be made in the embodiments of the present invention.
For example, in the present embodiment, four eddy current flaw detection sensors 2 are installed in the width direction of the steel sheet S with the longitudinal direction of the steel sheet S and the alignment direction of the magnetic poles 8 and 9 being the same above the steel sheet S. However, the arrangement and the number of installed eddy current flaw sensors 2 can be changed as appropriate.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an eddy current flaw detector according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the principle of an eddy current flaw detection sensor. It is a figure which shows the detection result of a differential signal. It is a schematic block diagram of the eddy current flaw detection sensor with which the eddy current flaw detection apparatus which concerns on patent document 1 is equipped. It is a schematic block diagram of the eddy current flaw detector according to Patent Document 1.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Eddy current flaw detector S Steel plate 2 Eddy current flaw sensor 3 Amplifier board 4 A / D converter 5 Data processor 8 Primary coil 9 Secondary coil 12 Differential amplifier 13 Phase detector circuit 15 First calculator 16 Filter circuit 17 Second 18 Comparator 30 Eddy current flaw detector 31 Primary coil 32 Secondary coil 33 Eddy current flaw sensor 34 Eddy current flaw sensor group 35 Inspected object 36 First differential amplifier 37 Second differential amplifier 38 Phase detection circuit 39 Filter circuit

Claims (2)

An eddy current is generated in the object to be inspected by applying an AC voltage to the primary coil of the eddy current flaw detection sensor in which the central magnetic pole of the E-type core, which is a ferromagnetic material, is a primary coil and each magnetic pole on both sides is a secondary coil. An induced voltage generated in each secondary coil by the eddy current is used as a detection signal,
Calculating a differential signal of the detection signals detected from the secondary coils,
If the wavelength of the differential signal is not more than about twice the length between the secondary coils and the output of the differential signal exceeds a predetermined threshold, there is a defect in the object to be inspected. An eddy current flaw detection method characterized by determining that it is to be performed. The central magnetic pole of the E-type core, which is a ferromagnetic material, is the primary coil and each magnetic pole on both sides is the secondary coil. An AC voltage is applied to the primary coil to generate an eddy current in the object to be inspected. An eddy current flaw detection sensor using an induced voltage generated in each secondary coil as a detection signal;
An arithmetic unit for calculating a differential signal of the detection signal detected from the secondary coils;
Determination of determining the presence of a defect in the object to be inspected based on a result obtained by inputting the differential signal and comparing a wavelength of the differential signal and a length between the secondary coils and an output value of the differential signal An eddy current flaw detector comprising the device.

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