Patent ID: 6218846
Filing Date: 2001-04-17
Classification: G01R

Abstract:
A method for detecting flaws in a conductive article comprising:contacting a surface of said article with a non-linear array of probes comprising at least three voltage probes and at least three current probes;selecting predetermined pairs of said current probes;selecting predetermined pairs of said voltage probes;passing current through said article by means of each of said predetermined pairs of said current probes, said current passing sequentially through each of said current probe pairs, one pair at a time, at varying directions to said voltage probes;measuring voltage produced by each of said currents at predetermined locations on a surface of said article, said voltage measured between each of said pairs of said voltage probes for each current flow condition; anddetecting the presence, location, size and orientation of flaws in said article, wherein the presence of said flaws in said article creates a detectable and statistically significant disturbance in a voltage profile generated from said voltages measured over said surface of said article, said disturbances indicative of the location, size, depth and orientation of said flaws.