Patent ID: 7298818
Filing Date: 2007-11-20
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
1. A method for non-destructively inspecting and characterizing micro-structural features in a thermal barrier coating on an in-service component of a power generating turbine, wherein said micro-structural features define pores and cracks, if any, in said thermal barrier coating, said micro-structural features having characteristics at least in part based on a type of process used for developing said thermal barrier coating and affected by thermal loads to which a thermal barrier coating is exposed during operation of the power generating turbine, said method comprising: selecting an in-service component of the power generating turbine to be monitored over a period of time; detecting micro-structural features in a thermal barrier coating of the selected in-service component, wherein the detecting of the micro-structural features is based on energy transmitted through said coating, wherein the thermal barrier coating is expected to encounter heat flux values based on a theoretical thermal model configured to map heat flux values for a plurality of locations of the in-service component; processing said transmitted energy to generate data representative of said micro-structural features; processing the data representative of said micro-structural features to determine at least one of the following: volumetric porosity information for the thermal barrier coating and information regarding variation in the characteristics of said micro-structural features over a thickness of said thermal barrier coating; based on the results of said data processing, generating information regarding at least one of the following: a present condition of the thermal barrier coating and a future likely condition of the thermal barrier coating; generating an image indicative of the information regarding the present condition of the thermal barrier coating and/or the future likely condition of the thermal barrier coating; validating with the information indicated by the generated image whether heat flux values based on the theoretical thermal model correspond to actual heat flux values encountered by the in-service component during operation of the power generating turbine; based on the actual heat flux values encountered by the in-service component, estimating a remaining operational life of the thermal barrier coating, said estimating further comprising relating representative data of the thermal barrier coating having been exposed to thermal loads relative to representative data of a virgin coating; and generating a representation indicative of the remaining operational life of the thermal barrier coating.