INSPECTION OF THE PROPRIETIES OF JOINTS FOR PIPES WITH COUPLERS USING THE HYBRID VISION METHOD

摘要

Summary: The article presents the method for testing the propriety of joints between the sewage pipes and their sockets, both made of plastics. The joint is made using the friction welding method by rotating the socket and pushing it against the fixed pipe. For testing the propriety of the weld the hybrid vision method was developed, that utilises visible band and infrared band vision tracts. The main element of the system is the infrared camera equipped with uncooled microbolometric sensor. The infrared camera records the infrared radiation, whose intensity depends on the temperature and the properties of the tested object. For detection of the defects of the joint the variation of velocity of heat difusion is used that occurs inside the material of the object in proximity of the fault, which appears as a local variation of temperature on the surface. The visible light camera is used as an auxiliary tract to assess the surface state of the coupler and to ease the interpretation of the results obtained with the infrared camera. For testing purposes the experimental stand was made to precisely rotate the welded pipe related to the hybrid vision head. The developed method finds its application for testing the joints of pipes and sockets in the production line.