EDDY CURRENT

INSTRUMENTS
7. EDDY CURRENT INSTRUMENTS

Instrumentation – METERS

Meters are typically the simplest form of eddy current

instrumentation.
The two general categories of meters are digital and analog.

Eddy Current Equipment

Basic Equipment:

In most inspections, probe impedance (or voltage) changes only slightly

as the probe passes a defect, typically less than 1%. This small change is
difficult to detect by measuring absolute impedance or voltage. Special
instruments have been developed incorporating various methods of
detecting and amplifying small impedance .changes.

The basic Eddy current equipment consists of an alternating source

(oscillator). A probe containing a coil connected to the current source,
and a voltmeter that measures the voltage change across the coil.

Modern Instrument presentation is a general-purpose type of

instrument used for flaw detection and material sorting. It provides a
screen that can be considered as a window on the impedance plane of
the test coil. The position of the window is controlled by the phase
rotation control (PHASE) and the balance control. Using the vertical and
horizontal voltage scale controls can control the window magnification.
Normal setting is 1 volt/div. more magnification at the 0.5 and 0.2
settings, less magnification at the 2.0 and 5.0 settings. Impedance
change is monitored by the "Flying Dot Method" The dot represents the
impedance point on the plane for a given condition of coil impedance.
When 'the impedance changes the dot will move it’s new impedance
value tracing a path of light on the screen.

All information on the test material is sensed through the interaction of

the magnetic flux of the Eddy Currents with the primary flux of the coil.
As the Eddy Currents experience resistance to their flow, the flux value
will change, resulting in a change in the flux of the coil which in turn
results in a change in coil impedance.

ANALOG METERS

Analog meters can be used for many different inspection applications

such as crack detection, material thickness measurements,
Nonconductive, coatingmeasurements or conductive coating
measurements.

Digital Meters

Digital meters are typically designed to examine one specific

attribute of a test component such as conductivity or
nonconductive coating thickness.

These meters tend to have slightly higher accuracy than

analog devices.