Design, fabrication, and control of a twelve axis robot for advanced ultrasonic imaging

The objective of this project was to design and develop a flexible twelve axis robotic positioning system to be used in an ultrasonic imaging system. This robotic system positions two ultrasonic transducers about an arbitrary point on a composite surface to send and receive oblique acoustic waves from the same side of a test piece. The system is PC controlled using six 2-axis controller cards which control twelve stepper motors. The scanner's unique configuration utilizes two carts, one carrying a transmitting transducer and one a receiver, traveling independently about a circular track. Each cart-transducer combination is capable of 5-axis motion. A cart can move a transducer radially about a target point and position it at any desired angle relative to that point. The scanner system hardware and software are based on an existing 5-axis system. The track is mounted on an X-Y traversing table to position the 10-axis track-cart assembly over a desired target point. The system configuration is low cost and easily constructed. The system has the capability to arbitrarily scan both planar and 3-dimensional objects.