Affiliations: [a] School of Mechanical Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China | [b] The Key Laboratory for Advanced Food Manufacturing Equipment Technology of Jiangsu Province, Wuxi, China | [c] Key Laboratory of Nondestructive Testing (Nanchang Hangkong University), Ministry of Education, Nanchang, China | [d] School of Intelligent Control, Changzhou Vocational Institute of Industry Technology, Changzhou, China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Deqiang Zhou, School of Mechanical Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China. E-mail: zhoudeqiang@jiangnan.edu.cn
Abstract: Since Remote field eddy current (RFEC) detection technology is barely limited by the skin effect, it can realize the defect detection of large-thickness components. Whereas, the structure of the RFEC probe for the planar conductor is complicated, resulting in an oversized probe. This hinders the application and development of the RFEC testing technology. In this paper, finite element simulations and experimental verification are used to optimize the RFEC probe structure for flat conductors. The results have shown that the thickness of the magnetic shield is the dominant factor in achieving high performance of RFEC inspection of flat conductors. When inspecting both ferromagnetic and non-ferromagnetic flat conductors, cylindrical magnetic shields with appropriate thickness and appropriate excitation frequencies are preferred for improvement of RFEC testing.
Keywords: Magnetic shielding, RFEC, energy flow analysis, nondestructive testing
