1、NDT_CARE Software, Version 1.04 - Instructions The NDT_CARE (Computer Aided Rope Evaluation) software consists of the following files:a. NDT_CARE1.04.XLA (The Excel add-in (main program)b. TEMPLATE.XLS (Contains the necessary charting templates used with NDT_CARE.XLA)c. CALLOOP.ASC (A sample file wi
2、th data from the NDT Technologies test loop) d. CALWIRE.CSV (A sample file containing calibration data)e. NDT_CARE1.04 README.DOC (This file)PROGRAM INSTALLATION1. Open Excel (Version 7.0 or higher)2. Open TEMPLATE.XLS from Excel. This will automatically install the necessary charting templates into
3、 the Excel Gallery. This needs to be done only once. 3. Open NDT_CARE1.04.XLA. This will create a new button called NDT_CARE in the workbook. A dialog may appear asking if you want to enable macros. Choose Enable Macros if prompted. From the HELP pull-down menu, ABOUT NDT_CARE will tell which versio
4、n you are using.The NDT_CARE pull-down button contains the following menu items:OPERATION1. The first step is to open a data acquisition file saved in the Excel compatible .CSV or .ASC format. This file should contain (3) channels of information; Ch. 1 = LMA Trace, Ch. 2 = LF Trace, and Ch. 3 = Dist
5、ance Counter Signal. From the NDT pull-down menu select Open File. This pull-down includes .CSV or ASCII files acquired with two Data Acquisition software packages (Snapmaster and DASYLab), as well as the standard type .CSV file. Choose which software package you are using. A dialog may appear askin
6、g if you want to enable macros. Choose Enable Macros when prompted.2. An Open File dialog will appear. Find the directory where your file (for example, CALLOOP.ASC) is located and open it. 3. After the file loads into Excel, the Status indicator will appear as follows showing the file that was opene
7、d, the directory information from which it came, the file size, the date and time the file was created, and the status. This status indicator, located on the File sheet, will keep a log of all operations performed throughout the use of the NDT_CARE software.4. The next step is to display the file as
8、 a chart. From the NDT pull-down menu, select Display. The chart can be displayed in the Forward or Reverse direction. 3. You will then be asked to specify Scans per Meter (or Yard). The default is 100. By increasing or decreasing this number, the scaling of the distance axis increases or decreases.
9、 Increasing the number spreads out the chart. At this point, you can also choose where (distance) you want to begin drawing the chart.5. An Overview chart can also be displayed (Forward or Reverse) which will show the entire file (wire rope under test) on a single chart. Please note: Before proceedi
10、ng to any of the charting enhancement features (LMA Calibrate, LMA Enhance, LMA Level Adjust, or LMA Post-Calibrate), all charts of interest must already be drawn. When any of these enhancements are called upon, all drawn charts will be affected.6. Next, Calibrate the displayed charts using the samp
11、le calibration file called CALWIRE.CSV. (See appendix for information about acquiring a calibration file). Choose LMA Calibrate from the pull-down menu and an Open File dialog will appear. Find the directory where your calibration file, (in this case CALWIRE.CSV) is located and open it. After the fi
12、le loads, a chart (below) will be produced. The chart shows an LMA type trace which will represent a certain percentage, (in this case 1 %), of the wire rope being tested. Calibration files in the .ASC format can be used in a completely identical fashion.7. On this chart, click once on the trace whi
13、ch will highlight it. Next, click once on the bottom part of the trace again. This will select a point on the trace. Next, click and drag that point upward to the top of the trace (the “zero” position) and release. (There is a little “tick mark” on the LMA % axis to help get it just right). This wil
14、l store the level of the pre-determined calibration trace. Next, click Continue on top of the chart sheet to proceed with the calibration process.8. A Calibration Parameters dialog will appear as follows:Enter the percentage of LMA which this file represents, (for example, in this case 1%). Click OK
15、. This will now adjust (calibrate) all the drawn charts.9. A significant feature of the NDT_CARE software is signal enhancement. This unique feature allows LMA measurements with unprecedented accuracy and resolution. From the NDT pull-down menu, select LMA Enhance. The following dialog box will appe
16、ar.The parameters Tau and Alpha are selected to get the optimum inspection accuracy of the enhanced charts. Each Sense Head has its own set of values. The values of Tau and Alpha shown are for an LMA-250 Sense Head. Other Sense Heads will have their own values. The following figures illustrate the e
17、nhancement procedure.LMA SENSE HEAD “TAU” “ALPHA”LMA-125 0.13 0.25LMA-175L 0.155 0.19LMA-175 0.13 0.25LMA-250 0.20 0.25For other Sense Head settings, please contact NDT Technologies.You may want to experiment with these values a bit to fine tune your results.Before EnhancementAfter Enhancement11.Ano
18、ther useful feature is LMA Post-Calibrate. This feature can be used to calibrate the LMA Trace without the need for a separate, (acquired) calibration file. In this case, the inspector would attach a calibration wire of known cross-sectional area (and consequently known percentage of the wire ropes
19、cross-sectional area) to the wire rope under test. The attached calibration wire would then appear in the acquired data file. To Post-Calibrate you would click once on the LMA Trace to highlight it, click once again on the top of the calibration wire signal, and click and drag that point to its corr
20、esponding LMA percentage value along the LMA % axis. As before, a little “tick mark” will appear on the LMA % axis to help get it just right. Next, select LMA Post-Calibrate from the NDT pull-down menu. A dialog will appear asking if you adjusted a point on any of the Charts. When you click Yes, all
21、 drawn charts will reflect the new calibration.12.In the event you want to adjust the baseline of the trace of the charts to another position (away from zero, for example) use the LMA Level Adjust feature from the NDT pull-down menu. This is useful if the inspection was started on a deteriorated rop
22、e section. Prior to selecting LMA Level Adjust, you must select a point on any of the drawn charts in the same manner as during the calibration process. First, click once on the LMA trace to highlight it, then click once again on the trace to select a point that you will be moving. Finally, click an
23、d drag the point to a place upward or downward where you want to establish the new baseline. As before, a little “tick mark” will appear on the LMA % axis to help get it just right. After this is done, select LMA Level Adjust from the NDT pull-down menu. A dialog asking if you adjusted a point on an
24、y of the charts (as described above) will appear. When you click Yes, all drawn charts will reflect this new baseline.13.The Undo All feature allows the user to undo all the Calibrate and Enhancement operations on all drawn charts. The charts themselves will still remain and have their original appe
25、arance.14.The Synthesize LF feature allows the user to create an LF trace (digitally) based on the LMA trace. This feature was developed for experimental purposes and does not need to be used for normal operation.15. The Distance Offset feature allows the user to eliminate an unwanted portion of the
26、 LMA trace at the beginning of the inspection. The following illustrates this feature:On the chart above, the user can eliminate the LMA trace up to the 5 meter part (and consequently have the new chart start at the point where 5 meters is now).a. To accomplish this, click on the LMA Trace once, the
27、n choose (on the trace) where you want the new chart to start (in this case 5 meters), and click and drag upward or downward a bit to establish that point.b. Select Distance Offset from the NDT_CARE menu. The following dialog will appear: c. After selecting Yes, the user will be asked to specify sca
28、ns per meter (as above). A new chart will then be drawn as shown below. Note that the new “0” point is where the old “5 meter” point was.Note: This feature does not work with a chart drawn with “Overview”.16.The next option is the ability to modify how the charts look and to be able to store your se
29、ttings. All charts use a user defined template called ChartFormat11. If you want to change how this default template draws charts, you would make your changes as follows:a. Use one of the charts to create the chart appearance you desire, (for example you can change the color of the LMA Trace to red)
30、, then from the Excel menu bar (Excel 97 or Excel 2000), select the Chart pull-down menu. Next, select Chart Type. On the next screen, choose the Custom Types tab button then select the User-Defined radio button and click the Add button. The following screen will appear. b. Now, you must choose Char
31、tFormat11 as the Format Name. This name must be chosen exactly as indicated because the software looks for ChartFormat11 when it draws charts. You will be replacing the original (default) ChartFormat11 when you do this. (You do not have to enter a Description.) Click OK, and a dialog will ask if you
32、 want to replace the existing user-defined format. Choose OK, then Close the next screen. c. Finally, select Redraw All Charts from the NDT_CARE pull-down menu. When you do, your new chart format will be reflected in all (and future) drawn charts.d. The format of the Calibration Chart (see Item 6) c
33、an be changed by modifying template CalibFormat as described above.17.The Print All Charts does what it implies, and when selected from the NDT pull-down menu will print all drawn charts.18.The NDT_CARE software works with the understanding that there is a distance counter signal on the 3rd channel.
34、 In the event you have previously acquired data, or are using a Sense Head which does not have a distance counter, you can use the Make RawData Sheets feature from the NDT pull-down menu. Your charting capabilities are still available, however the user will have to create charts manually as opposed
35、to the automatic charting described above.NDT_CARE Revision HistoryNDT_CARE VersionDateCreatedChanges1.00 2/98 Initial Version1.01 3/98 Corrected labeling on chart printout. Changed name from CARE to NDT_CARE1.02 8/98 Added WIN 98 support. Added distance counter level detection w/ error messages.1.0
36、3 11/98 Added support for inputting “standard” .CSV files. Added “snapmaster” pull-down (original) inputting of .CSV files1.04 11/00 Added support for DASYLab data acquisition software. This data is in the ascii format. Added LF synthesis and Distance Offset features.AppendixAcquiring a calibration
37、file for use with the NDT_CARE software.1. Determine the cross-sectional area of the wire rope to be inspected.2. Select a piece of test wire (about 18 inches long) which represents a certain percentage of the rope being tested. A good rule of thumb is to try to select a test wire that represents 1-
38、3% of the ropes cross-sectional area. In the case of larger diameter ropes, multiple test wires (bundled together) can be used. 3. Connect the Sense Head used to inspect the rope being tested to its Signal Console. Insert the test wire(s) into the Sense Head and push the LMA Reset switch on the Sign
39、al Console.4. Begin acquiring data using your specific data acquisition program. After acquiring begins, pull the test wire(s) out of the Sense Head in one steady motion. Stop the data acquisition and save the file. Note that the calibration file can be of the .CSV or the .ASC type.The following ill
40、ustrates how the calibration data should look when drawn as a chart. (The template for the calibration chart is called CalibFormat . You and can change it as described above.) NDT Technologies, Inc.P.O. Box 637South Windsor, CT. 06074Tel: (860) 644-5655Fax: (860) 644-5656Email: Test wire(s) inserted and LMA Reset switch pushed.Data acquisition startedPull out test wire(s) smoothlyThis represents the % LMA determined.
