Impact Test Deformation Imaging via Mirror-Protected Camera

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current impact test devices, particularly Drop Hammer testing devices, lack suitable space for high-speed camera placement and adequate lighting, leading to insufficient image capture of deformation and destruction processes, and are prone to damage from flying particles.

Innovation Solution

A high-speed camera system with controlled illumination, synchronized with the camera's frame rate, captures deformation and destruction through a mirror-protected observation channel, using post-processing to enhance image quality, and integrates with test device parameters for synchronized recording.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If a high-speed camera is placed close to the test specimen to capture deformation details, then image quality and detail resolution are improved, but the risk of damage from flying particles increases and safe placement space is insufficient

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveimage qualityVSAvoiddamage from flying particles
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

A transparent protective shield is introduced as an intermediary element between the high-speed camera and the test specimen. This shield allows optical transmission for image capture while physically blocking flying particles from reaching the camera, thus resolving the contradiction between obtaining high-quality images and protecting the camera from damage

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The high-speed camera is positioned within a protected observation space created by the transparent shield, effectively nesting the camera system within a safety boundary that maintains both close proximity for high-quality imaging and protection from harmful particles

Inventive Principle:
Principle #7Nested doll (Nesting)

2Illumination intensity

If lighting sources are placed close to the test specimen to illuminate deformation areas, then illumination intensity is improved, but the available space for camera placement is reduced and device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvelighting brightnessVSAvoidcamera placement space
Core Design Contradiction:
Illumination intensityVSArea of stationary object

Solution Approach 1:

Lighting is provided from multiple spatial dimensions around the test specimen rather than from a single location. This multi-directional illumination approach ensures adequate lighting intensity reaches the deformation area from various angles, eliminating the need to compromise camera placement space for a single light source position

Inventive Principle:
Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

3Measurement precision

If the observation channel is positioned to capture optimal deformation views, then measurement precision is improved, but the channel becomes vulnerable to particle damage and requires additional protection

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedeformation observation accuracyVSAvoidprotection mechanism complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The transparent protective shield serves as an intermediary that allows the observation channel to maintain its optimal positioning for high-precision deformation capture while the shield itself absorbs the complexity of particle protection, keeping the observation system simple and effective

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Applied Scientific Principles

This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.

Function Achieved in This Case

Enables high-quality visualization of crack initiation and propagation, providing detailed images with improved brightness, contrast, and pseudo-color enhancement, synchronized with impact events, overcoming space and lighting limitations.

Implementation Method 1

an obliquely placed mirror (7) is located in the space under the illumination channels (5), against an outlet of the observation channel (1b) into the central channel (1a)

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectReflection: Reflection

Data Source

PatentEP3320323B1Apparatus for scanning development of deformations during impact tests
Publication Date: 2025.06.25 UNIVERZITA TOMASE BATI VE ZLINE
  • EP3320323B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP3320323B1 patent drawingFigure 3a~4
  • EP3320323B1 patent drawingFigure 5

AI summary

In the process of scanning/registering/depicting the course of deformations in the course of impact tests, when the impact hammer or the drop hammer fall on the obverse surface of an experimental specimen, the test specimen is illuminated - and the distortion, or respectively, the destruction of their reverse surface is thus captured by a high-speed camera system during the impact of the impact hammer or of the drop hammer. The subsequent images, recorded on tape or other media, are then optimised by means of Post-processing Methods. The device, designed for performing this method, (viz Fig. 1), comprises a measuring head (1); with a test body (2); fixed to its upper surface, above the vertical central channel (la) of the head - in the area of the impact of the "impact hammer" or "drop-hammer" (3). Under the "test body" (2), are illumination channels (5) in the walls of the measuring head (1); directed toward the central channel cavity (la); which incorporate inserted light sources (4); or the outlets of externally located/vented external fibre-optic light sources; in the space under the illumination channels (5) - against the outlet of the observation channel (lb) and into the central channel (la) a mirror is placed obliquely (7); the upper reflective surface is oriented perpendicular to the axis of the angle between the axis of the side observation channel (lb) and the axis of the central channel (la); outside the side observation channel (lb), a high-speed camera system (8) is mounted on a stand (9) for scanning purposes.