3D INSPECTION INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT
When inspecting bent pipe, Rapid3D has the tools to provide the most traditionally difficult-to-measure dimensions and callouts.
3D Scan & Inspection of Bent Pipe
An inspection company approached Rapid3D with a difficult project requiring the accurate measurement of ovality along a 24-inch diameter pipe bend. The angle of the field-bend was also required for analysis purposes. Manual ovality measurements and bend-angle measurements are time consuming, unreliable, and very difficult to accomplish using traditional methods, like calipers and straight-edges. The customer wanted the best results for the analysis, so scan data was the way to go.
The HandySCAN Black Elite was used to scan the outside surface of the pipe. The positioning model of the scan was optimized to ensure the best global accuracy for proper bend-angle measurements. Then, the scan was imported into Polyworks | Inspector for nominal-less inspection routine. The ends of the pipe were fitted with perfect cylinders in order to confidently measure the angle of the bend.
Then, cross-sections were swept along the curved axis of the pipe for ovality measurements. This sweep was created using a custom macro in Polyworks. The ovality calculations were extracted and plotted on a graph to show that the maximum ovality was found at the start of the bend, and not the center as expected. The customer was satisfied that the information extracted from the scan data was accurate, repeatable, and easy to understand and communicate.
