Patent ID: 8678643

Claim:
A method for the non-destructive testing of at least partially open hollow components or hollow system components for tightness in series production, wherein: a gas is introduced under pressure and in a manner controlled by valves into an at least partially open hollow component i or an at least partially open hollow system component j; the punctiform cooling of the at least partially open hollow component i or the at least partially hollow system component j generated during the flowing of the pressurised gas through a leak location out of the at least partially open hollow component i or the at least partially open hollow system component j by means of expansion in the region of the leak location, is detected by means of a thermographic camera; subsequently, the temperature changes of the at least partially open hollow component i or the at least partially open hollow system component j brought about by the punctiform cooling are detected using a computer connected downstream of the thermographic camera and visualised by the computer by means of a multiplicity of images a of a thermographic film; and a precise location of each leak location is detected in terms of position and size in the at least partially open hollow component i or in the at least partially open hollow system component j automatically from the multiplicity of the images a of the thermographic film, which contain the temperature distribution in the at least partially open hollow component i or in the at least partially open hollow system component j by illustrating the change of the temperature for every pixel over a testing time in a graph which is used for OK-tightness or not OK-tightness classification of the at least partially open hollow component i or the at least partially open hollow system component j.