Patent ID: 9746445
Date: 2017-08-29
CPC Classifications: G01N,G10K

Claim:
1. A blade crawler comprising: a chassis comprising forward and rearward body parts, a first elongated support member spanning a space between said forward and rearward body parts, and a plurality of rolling elements which are coupled to one or the other of said forward and rearward bodies and which enable said forward and rearward body parts to roll in a spanwise direction along a blade; a first mounting rail attached to or integrally formed with said first elongated support member, said first mounting rail comprising a rail keyway comprising a straight groove defined by interior surfaces of said mounting rail; a first multiplicity of adjustment mechanisms distributed at intervals along said first mounting rail, each of said first multiplicity of adjustment mechanisms comprising a respective pair of keyway nuts seated inside said rail keyway of said first mounting rail and in contact with said straight groove of said rail keyway; a first multiplicity of probe support assemblies respectively attached to said first multiplicity of adjustment mechanisms, each of said first multiplicity of probe support assemblies comprising a respective self-orienting gimbal; a first multiplicity of inspection probes respectively coupled to said respective self-orienting gimbals of said first multiplicity of probe support assemblies; and an actuator for driving rotation of at least one of said rolling elements.