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Mining Heavy Equipment Lug or Bore Inspections


excavator mining

Surface mining often entails the use of large trucks and shovels including massive Dragline excavators in large scale operations to remove overburden to access coal and other deposits of desired resources. Due to the size of this equipment many of the components are very thick resulting in challenging applications for ultrasound. In addition the preferred test methods are with the components in place and in operation which can mean limited access to the areas that need inspected. Phased Array can offer many benefits to these inspections. There are many lug and bore type components utilized to hold various shafts and pins that allow equipment operation.

Lug and Bore Inspections

Lug and bore inspections typically can be very thick wall (7-12” +). A typical high stress area prone to cracking is the inner bore. It is preferred to inspect these components with the pin or shaft in place to allow continued operation of the piece of equipment. For conventional shear wave ultrasonics this poses a limited access issue and often multiple wedges must be changed to inspect as much of the inner bore as possible.


Typical Lug
Typical Lug in Place in Dragline Excavator


  Typical UT and PA coverage
Typical Coverage from Conventional Ultrasonics and Phased Array. Red line shows possible limited access

Phased Array Benefits

  • Multiple angles allow for single probe and large coverage area in lug bore
  • Better detection of "winding crack"
  • Better coverage when in position with limited access
  • Imaging and data recording for crack monitoring

Typical inspection
Typical Lug for Bore inspection utilizing OmniScan SX. This component has the boom of a dragline excavator.

PA readout
Phased Array allows simultaneous viewing of bore geometry and cracks propagating from the inner surface.

Equipment Used

OmniScan SX or MX2

  • Portable for easy access inside cramped area of excavator
  • Conventional, Phased Array and TOFD capable
  • Manual or encoded data

Phased Array Probes and Wedges

  • Vary on application
  • 2.25 MHz common frequency
  • Shear and 0 degree wedges
  • Contact wear faces for long 0 degree metal paths

Optional Software and Accessories

Olympus IMS

Products Used for This Application
This software is the most efficient and affordable option for OmniScan MX2 and SX data analysis, and features the same analysis tools provided in the MX2 and SX onboard software, with the added flexibility of running on a personal computer.
The mini-Wheel Encoder is used for the positioning and dimensioning of defects in the scan axis. It can synchronize data acquisition with probe movement. It is also waterproof and compatible with Olympus standard PA wedges.
The single group, lightweight OmniScan SX flaw detector features an easy-to-read 8.4-inch (21.3 cm) touch screen and provides cost-effective solutions. The OmniScan SX comes in two models: the SX PA and SX UT. The SX PA is a 16:64PR unit, which, like the UT-only SX UT, is equipped with a conventional UT channel for P/E, P-C, or TOFD inspections.
The OmniScan MX2 features a new phased array module (PA2) with a UT channel, and a two-channel conventional ultrasound module (UT2) that can be used for TOFD (Time-of-Flight Diffraction), as well as new software programs that expand the capabilities of the successful OmniScan MX2 platform.
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