MoviTHERM - Advanced Thermography Solutions

The Portable Solution C-CheckIR for Non-Destructive Testing with Active Thermography

• Suitable for Aerospace, Automotive Wind Energy Plants, Maritime, and more
• Ideal for Inspection of Composite Materials like GRP/CFRP
• Contactless Non-Destructive Testing (NDT)
• Large Inspection Area
• Compact Design for Mobile Use
• Touch-Screen with Intuitive User-Interface

Portable Thermography System for Non-Destructive Testing

The portable C-CheckIR system enables you to inspect a wide range of materials with active thermography. The system achieves precise and reliable measurements and is ideal for inspecting composite materials like glass- or carbon-fiber reinforced plastics (GRP/CFRP). C-CheckIR is easy to handle and requires minimal training. The entire inspection head is mounted on a lightweight support frame equipped with vacuum suction feet. This design permits positioning of the system over a wide variety of surfaces.

Active Thermography

The system includes a heat source to provide thermal excitation to the inspected material.  The flow of thermal energy through the material has a direct influence on the material’s surface temperature topology.  An infrared camera records the material’s surface temperature over a specified period of time.  The chronological temperature data is processed, analyzed, and displayed as an image.  The resulting image provides information about the internal structure of the material and possible defects present within it.

Turn-key NDT for Composite Inspection Using Advanced Thermography

• Detect defects in composite panels
• Only requires access to one side of panel
• No contact with panel necessary
• Superior penetration depth
• Uses innovative “Lock-in” Thermography technology
• Modular “Base” system scales to fit any panel size (VIEW)
• More affordable than alternative technologies

High Speed / Flexible:

All kinds of defects in parts from different composite materials can be reliably detected within short times.

Detects All Key Defects on a Variety of Materials:

Defects like delaminations, cracks, impact damages and water inclusions are detected and displayed with excellent contrast. Detects thermal stress and “far side” defects.
Suitable for all kinds of composites like CRP (Carbonfiber Reinforced Plastics), GRP (Glassfiber Reinforced Plastics), Honeycombs, CFRC (Carbonfiber Reinforced Ceramics) GLARE (Glassfiber Reinforced Aluminum Laminate):

Easy and reliable measurement setup:

Large area measurements (up to 10 sq. ft.).
Insensitive to thermal reflections and variations in emissivity.

Accommodates a Wide Range of Measurements Methods:

Depending on your application needs, Composite-Check can utilize a number of NDT methods:

• Flash Thermography
• Transient Thermography
• Lock-In Thermography
• Vibro-Thermography

Advanced NDT Detection for Metallic, Ceramic and Composite Materials

• Surface Cracks
• Deep Cracks
• Micro-Cracks

High Speed / Flexible:

Variable system design, from mobile systems for laboratory applications up to robot guided in-line systems with high speed measuring and fully automated data processing.
Easy and fast changeover for the measurement of different parts and materials.

Measures All Key Defects on a Variety of Material:

Cracks are displayed with excellent contrast.
Suitable for all kinds of metallics, ceramics and composites.

LockIn Vibro-Thermography NDT Solution:

During the measurement of the inspected part heat is generated only at positions with defects. The heating is adjustable by the ultrasound power applied to the part.

Even temperature-sensitive materials can be inspected.

Only 10% of the ultrasound energy is necessary compared to conventional vibro-thermography systems, thus preventing further damage to the cracked area.

Turn-Key Solution for IR solar cell testing methods.

• Simple and Accurate Shunt Detection
• Optical and Electrical Excitation
• Accurate Measurement Without Reflections
• Improved Sensitivity
• Ideal for Production testing and Research and Development

Shunt Detection – Simple and Accurate

Solar-Check addresses the critical need in the solar industry to efficiently and accurately detect shunts in thick-film and thin-film photovoltaic cells and panels.

Supports Optical and Electrical Excitation

Solar-Check is suitable for shunt detection in a production environment as well as in a research and development setting. Optical excitation allows for a true – non-contact inspection, enabling automated part handling.

Dark spots indicate shunted areas in cell. Lock-in excitation frequency: 50Hz.

Same cell as on the left, this time with 200Hz excitation.

Accurate Measurements – Lock-in Eliminates Reflections

The lock-in technique used in the Solar-Check solution significantly enhances the appearance of the defects in the resulting thermal image. Reflections and the adverse effects of thermal diffusion are eliminated, thereby pinpointing defect locations.

IR image of 60x60mm silicon solar cell showing shunt defects (orange areas) under steady state reverse bias conditions. Also visible is the refection caused by the lens of the thermal camera in addition to significant thermal diffusion around the shunted areas.

Same cell as image above. Here the “Lock-in” technique has been applied. All reflections and effects of thermal diffusion have been eliminated, hence allowing easy spotting of shunts.

Increased Sensitivity

Solar-Check’s built in lock-in measurement technique only responds to thermal responses from the solar cell only at the exact excitation frequency; thereby dramatically improving the overall sensitivity of the system. Typical thermal camera sensitivity is around 25 mK, MoviTHERM’s Solar-Check solution increases the system’s sensitivity to the µK range!

Modern Thermoelastic Stress Analysis (TSA ) shows:

• Dynamic Stress Pattern Concentrations
• Fatigue Limits
• Crack Propagation
• Design comparison (A vs. B)
• Life and failure location prediction
• FEM validation
• Stress field visualization
• Material Characterization
• Check on “as-manufactured” design
• Rapid stress analysis
• Composite material damage analysis
• Fracture Mechanics

Turn-Key Solution for Semi-Conductor Testing

• Semi-Conductor Failure Analysis
• Lock-in Thermography
• Functional Circuit Analysis (Power Dissipation, Shorts, etc.)
• Forensic Research

MoviTHERM Semiconductor Failure Analysis using Lockin Thermography

MoviTHERM’s Semi-CHECK solutions allows the detection of shorts and other defects in semiconductors. This system uses a FLIR Thermal camera with microscopic lens attachment in order to provide the correct magnification. Lockin Thermography allows to detect defects with nano-watt to micro-watt signatures

The MoviTHERM Semi-Check system is an affordable Lock-in Thermography system with built in 2-quadrant power supply. The power supply allows for separate current and voltage modulation using square wave, sinusoidal and arbitrary waveforms. The combination of Lock-in Thermography with a high-end cooled thermal camera makes it possible to detect thermal variations in the micro Kelvin range.

A special Lock-in online mode allows for virtually indefinite measurement periods for extremely low signals.

Supported Thermal Camera:

The Semi-Check system supports certain thermal cameras from FLIR Systems, Inc. From long wave infrared (LWIR 8-14μm) uncooled microbolometers, to scientific, cooled mid-wave infrared (MWIR 3-5μm). Microscopic lens attachments are available for these cameras for spatial resolutions down to 4μm/pixel.

Microscopic Stand:

The microscopic stand with manual Z-axis allows for rapid change-over from larger parts, such as entire circuit boards or large wavers to microscopic inspections. The base plate has a standard 1” x 1” hole pattern to mount micrometer stages, probe stations or other accessories. The stand is compatible with all support FLIR cameras.

Automated Testing:

The system has built-in, programmable digital I/O for automated testing in a production line. The testing sequence can be programming using the built in Visual Basic Script Engine.