Investigation of wireless power transfer-based eddy current non-destructive testing and evaluation

Abstract

Eddy current testing (ECT) is a non-contact inspection widely used as non-destructive testing and evaluation (NDT&E) of pipeline and rail lines due to its high sensitivity to surface and subsurface defects, cheap operating cost, tolerance to harsh environments, and capability of a customisable probe for complex geometric surfaces. However, the remote field of transmitter-receiver (Tx-Rx) ECT depends on the Tx-Rx coils gap, orientation, and lift-off distance, despite each coil responding to the effect of sample parameters according to its liftoff distance. They bring challenges to accurate defect detection and characterisation by weakening the ECT probe’s transfer response, affecting sensitivity to the defect, distorting the amplitude of the extracted features, and responding with fewer feature points at non-efficient energy transfer. Therefore, this study proposed a magnetically-coupled resonant wireless power transfer (WPT)-based ECT (WPTECT) concept to build the relationship between Tx-Rx coil at maximum energy transfer response, including shifting and splitting (resonance) frequency behaviour. The proposed WPTECT system was investigated in three different studies viz., (1) investigated the multiple resonance point features for detection and characterisation of slots on two different aluminium samples using a series-series (SS) topology of WPTECT; (2) mapped and scanned pipeline with a natural dent defect using a flexible printed coil (FPC) array probe based on the parallel-parallel (PP) topology of WPTECT; and (3) evaluated five different WPTECT topologies for optimal response and extracted features and characterised entire parameters of inclined angular Rolling Contact Fatigue (RCF) cracks in a rail-line material via an optimised topology. Multiple feature extraction, selection, and fusion were evaluated for the defect profile and compared in the study, unattainable by other ECT methods. The first study's contribution investigated multiple resonances and principal component analysis (PCA) features of the transfer response from scanning (eight) slots on two aluminium samples. The results have shown the potential of the multiple features for slot depth and width characterisation and demonstrated that the eddy-current density is highest at two points proportionate to the slot width. The second study's contribution provided a larger area scanning capability in a single probe amenable to complex geometrical structures like curvature surfaces. Among the extracted individual and fused features for defect reconstruction, the multi-layer feed-forward Deep learning-based multiple feature fusion has better 3D defect reconstruction, whilst the second resonances feature provided better local information than the first one for investigating pipeline dent area. The third study's contribution optimised WPTECT topology for multiple feature points capability and its optimal features extraction at the desired lift-off conditions. The PP and combined PP and SS (PS-PS) WPTECT topologies responded with multiple resonances compared to the other three topologies, with single resonance, under the same experimental situation. However, the extracted features from PS-PS topology provided the lowest sensitivity to lift-off distances and reconstructed depth, width, and inclined angle of RCF cracks with a maximum correlation, R2 -value of 96.4%, 93.1%, and 79.1%, respectively, and root-mean-square-error of 0.05mm, 0.08mm, and 6.60 , respectively. The demonstrated magnetically-coupled resonant WPTECT Tx-Rx probe characterised defects in oil and gas pipelines and rail lines through multiple features for multiple parameters information. Further work can investigate the phase of the transfer response as expected to offer robust features for material characterisation. The WPTECT system can be miniaturised using WPT IC chips as portable systems to characterise multiple layers parameters. It can further evaluate the thickness and gap between two concentric conductive tubes; pressure tube encircled by calandria tube in nuclear reactor fuel channels.