Mobile Duplex Cobot CT System Offers Inspection Flexibility

Radalytica’s Robotic Imaging System RadalyX is an X-ray imaging system that combines single particle counting X-ray imaging detectors for high quality images with the flexibility of collaborative robots. The key parts of the scanner are two robotic arms each with six axes. The first robot arm holds an X-ray tube, the second holds the imaging detector. The X-ray tube/detector pair can move and rotate freely about the part sample with the robots moving synchronously so that the mutual position of the X-ray tube and detector remains the same under all circumstances.

Unlike conventional devices, the integration of imaging technologies on six-axis robotic arms gives imaging the possibility of great flexibility in terms of size or shape of the inspection sample. The system can test advanced composite materials with complex curvatures using ultrasonic probes and/or X-rays.

Many non-destructive product inspections were previously unthinkable, due to the need to adhere to the standard-prescribed distance of the X-ray source, detector and the given inspection sample together with the scanning angle for more complex shapes could not be achieved. RadalyX overcomes these obstacles and, due to the 2D and 3D (Computed Tomography, CT) robotic imaging system, enables automatic inspection even for products of large and complex shapes. The duplex robots offer a high degree of flexibility in monitoring the complex curvature on both sides of the inspected object, in contrast to conventional X-ray imaging systems, where both the X-ray tube and the detector are fixed or have only a limited range of motion. The robots allow sample scanning with the use of X-ray from a different perspective to locate defects more easily and quickly. One of the major advantages is that the system is portable and can be moved to the object to be inspected. This is in sharp contrast to common industrial CT systems where the sample has to fit inside.

The unique imaging technology ‘RadalyX’ offers a high-performance platform that is able to combine several imaging techniques, such as X-rays, computed tomography and ultrasound, surface profiling. The new generation of X-ray imaging detectors provides unprecedented image quality with spatial resolution up to the micrometric level in both 2D and 3D images.

Compared to common X-ray imaging technologies, such as films or flat panels, Radalytica uses Advacam’s new-generation X-ray detectors, which are characterized by high resolution, almost unlimited range of grey levels and high sensitivity. The advantage of using these advanced detectors is the fact that, due to their sensitivity they up to half the energy of X-rays compared to existing technologies. This implies higher image resolution, but also lower demands on shielding against leakage of X-rays.