AR Visualization for Real-Time NDI Data Overlay
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current non-destructive testing methods lack an effective way to visualize and interact with inspection data in real-time, making it difficult for inspectors to analyze structural components without damaging them, especially in complex environments where physical presence is required.
Innovation Solution
An augmented reality (AR) visualization system that captures real-time images of components, overlays non-destructive inspection data, and allows for remote viewing and interaction, using a component camera, display, and AR controller to generate AR images based on detected 3D features, enabling live viewing and analysis of NDI data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If non-destructive testing systems are used to collect inspection data, then structural characteristics can be analyzed without damaging components, but the inspection data cannot be effectively visualized or interacted with in real-time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual copy of the physical component by generating a 3D digital model that replicates the component's geometry and structural characteristics. This virtual model serves as a digital twin that can be manipulated, visualized, and analyzed without affecting the physical component, enabling inspectors to interact with inspection data in a virtual environment while maintaining measurement accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions inspection data from traditional 2D display formats to immersive 3D virtual reality visualization. By rendering inspection data within a three-dimensional virtual environment, inspectors can view structural characteristics from multiple angles and perspectives, enhancing their ability to analyze and interpret complex inspection information without being constrained by flat graphical interfaces.
2Measurement precision
If inspectors physically presence is required for component inspection, then direct observation and analysis can be performed, but it becomes difficult to inspect components in complex or hazardous environments
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces virtual reality technology and 3D digital models as intermediaries between the inspector and the physical component. Instead of requiring direct physical contact or close proximity to the component, the system captures inspection data through sensors and cameras, then presents this data in an immersive virtual environment that the inspector can examine from any location, eliminating the need for physical presence in hazardous or inaccessible areas.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical requirement for physical inspector presence with an electronic and optical system. Sensors, cameras, and computing devices capture and process inspection data, then transmit it to virtual reality headsets that render the component in three-dimensional space. This substitution allows inspectors to examine components remotely through digital representations rather than requiring physical proximity.
3Loss of information
If traditional inspection methods are used, then inspection data can be collected, but it is difficult to conceptualize and analyze the data in real space
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms two-dimensional inspection data and images into three-dimensional virtual representations that preserve spatial relationships and structural characteristics. By rendering the component and its inspection data in a virtual three-dimensional environment, inspectors can mentally map the data to the physical component's real-space geometry, making it easier to conceptualize defects, measurements, and structural features in their proper spatial context.
Data Source
AI summary
An augmented reality visualization system is disclosed for viewing non-destructive inspection (NDI) data of a component. The system comprises a component camera configured to capture a real time image of the component, a component display configured to display an AR image of the component, and an AR controller including an augmented reality processor and a non-transitory tangible storage medium. The storage medium includes processor-executable instructions for controlling the AR processor when the instructions are executed by the AR processor. The instructions access the NDI data of the component and implement a component AR engine to generate the AR image in real time by overlaying the NDI data on the real time image. The AR engine is configured to detect one or more three-dimensional (3D) features of the component in the real-time image and generate the AR image based on the detected one or more features.