Computerized tomography, or CT, technology has been widely used for medical diagnostics since the late 1970’s. As the technology has advanced, new uses have been discovered, leading to industrial computed tomography. There are many interesting facts about this generally unknown application of a widely used technology, and here are five of them, along with an explanation of what industrial computed tomography scanning entails.
How It Works
Computed tomography combines X-ray technology and with computers, where the computer produces 2D images of a 3D object with the data it receives from several X-ray machines. With people, it can be a complicated process to get images from all the angles necessary for the final result. Machines can be moved and manipulated, however, making them much easier to image.
Five Interesting Facts
- Industrial computed tomography scanners are a type of metrology equipment. Metrology is the science of weights and measures, used to develop standards and determine if a part or machine conforms to technical requirements.
- Industrial CT scanning enables companies to perform more accurate and efficient quality control. In fact, it can reduce the cost of new product analysis by 25% and that of failure analysis by anywhere between 25 and 75%. These are even more cost effective once the highly detailed rendering of the interior of a part, and any flaws, are considered.
- Industrial CT scanning inspection services are classified as non destructive testing or NDT testing. Businesses make use of NDT services in particular for parts fashioned from lightweight materials, such as aluminium. The parts of scanned can be any size, and even the smallest of them can be accurately scanned.
- There is a wide range of industries that make use of industrial CT for inspections. The aerospace and aviation industries are an excellent example, for they use this scanning method on aeroplane parts, which must be inspected regularly without damaging the parts.
- The technology behind industrial CT scanning has advanced to produce micro CT scans. These produce images in microns, which is the size of the focal tube. These machines produce images that are 100 times more detailed than the machines used for human imaging.
Computed tomography technology has advanced to a point far beyond what the original scanner capabilities. These facts demonstrate the usefulness of the industrial application, and the benefits will only increase and technology progresses in the future.