Crack assessment of wheel hubs via an ultrasonic transducer and industrial robot

Crack assessment when making fitness-for-service decisions requires a thorough examination of crack location and size in critical areas. An ultrasonic transducer is used for such assessments, but traditional methods cannot cope with complex rotators, such as wheel hubs. We present a model of robot-assisted crack growth assessment in wheel hubs. We integrate a six-degrees-of-freedom (DOF) industrial robot and a turntable to form a robot-assisted ultrasonic testing (UT) system that does not use traditional UT equipment. Ultrasonic beams are focused at certain depths appropriate for achieving maximum sensitivity. We quantitatively analysed wheel hubs with longitudinal and transverse series of pre-cracks, and concluded that our system autonomously detected cracks.