Integration of intelligent measurement and detection for sealing rings used in aerospace systems

To achieve the intelligent and automatic measurement and detection of 'O' rings used in aerospace systems, a double-station intelligent measuring and detecting system was established. The integrating method of wide-range measurement and defect detection in curved surfaces was proposed, and the autonomous measuring path planning technology was investigated. Aiming at the flexible structure and the curved surface shape of 'O' rings and the wide range of the ratio between the inner diameter and the section diameter, an intelligent measuring and detecting scheme of double-station based on the cooperation of multiple fields of view (FOV) was proposed. The system integrating method and its working principle were introduced. Then, according to the information extracted from the panoramic image of the 'O' rings in the large FOV and the basic rule of path planning, the general calculating method of the acquisition path of small FOVs was derived. Finally, the mapping relationship between the position coordinates of detecting path and their image coordinates in the large FOV was established to realize the intelligent and automatic detection of 'O' rings. The experiment results show that the proposed scheme realizes the autonomous measurement and detection of 'O' rings whose inside diameters are in the range of Φ5.4-Φ140 mm. The average error between actual and ideal locations of detecting path is 0.086 mm. Compared with manual measuring and inspecting, the efficiency has been improved by more than 20 times. It satisfies the smart, efficient and automatic requirements of measuring and detecting precise sealing rings used in aerospace systems. © 2015, Science Press. All right reserved.