INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS
Why make the change? T
he global Coronavirus pandemic hit companies in many industries very hard,
with one of the hardest being aerospace. The sudden decrease in air travel impacted revenue of new aircraft sales, as well as replacement parts. The pandemic has forced many aerospace companies to focus on cost savings that include workforce reductions, coupled with achieving automation improvement to make scaling up easier when business rebounds.
If your company must reduce costs or headcount due to the pandemic, this is the opportune time to take advantage of the financial and economic benefits that converting to an industrial digital radioscopy X-ray system from the old film technology provides; additionally, to compare and determine if the return on investment (ROI) in your particular instance is worthwhile.
The role of X-ray for aerospace aanufacturing
Most aerospace components must be inspected not only externally, but also non- destructively by X-ray internally to ensure safety, quality and end-use performance as well as to meet all applicable industry standards. For many documentation of inspections, are necessary.
Aerospace equipment still depends largely on the same types of cast parts that have been used for 30 to 40 years, and for that length of time, the majority have been inspected using film X-ray equipment. However, film-based X-ray inspection is no longer the most efficient method. It is labour intensive, carries environmental risks and takes a long time to process and complete single-part inspections with cycle times ranging up to three hours.
With labour reductions and demand slowdowns, now is the perfect time to change technologies and migrate from film to digital inspection systems. After having proved the ROI and all the benefits of this move, this critical time can ease the transition and be put in place before production in the industry scales back up.
Digital radioscopy vs. Film X-ray Digital radioscopy (DR) takes digital X-ray images from all different angles and stores them on a drive in a matter of seconds. DR makes one-time loading possible and offers automatic positioning for parts. This eliminates the time for film loading as well as the need to reposition parts for each image. DR significantly reduces cycle times, where a film X-ray system would take 1-3 hours to inspect a single part, a DR system can
complete inspection on the same part in approximately 15 minutes.
With DR, images can be reviewed, shared and re-shot almost immediately. Wait times for the development process and reloading film are no longer necessary. Finding truly competent and qualified staff is
challenging enough, so scaling back on the number of radiographers needed for inspection allows you to keep top talent and streamline teams. Smaller teams and easier- to-use, less labour-intensive systems will reduce the amount of time needed to train new personnel on a DR inspection system. However, the transition process must include training for teams on a new DR system. These costs tend to be low and are often included in the installation and set up costs. These costs should be considered in the calculation of ROI.
Materials costs continue to increase
Consumables are an obvious area of savings when transitioning to a DR system. Film is the most significant line item for materials cost with film X-ray systems. As general demand for X-ray film decreases and the costs of materials to produce it increase, the price for X-ray film continues to creep up. In 2020, X- ray film prices increased by 30 percent and will likely continue to rise. When one company analysed their film spending, they were paying $674 on average for a 100-count box of 17x14 inch film and $226 on average for a 4.5x17 inch film in a standard box of 100. When the company analysed its film costs to annually supply a single X-ray system, it was more than $270,000. When replacing that system with DR, this total spend drops to zero. Additional chemicals and disposal fees were
also reduced to zero. Disposal fees are often offset by return credits from disposal companies reclaiming and recycling the silver, so in most cases these line items may already be small. Nonetheless, these too can be eliminated with the migration to a DR system. DR systems significantly reduce the number of necessary consumables. Digital panels for these systems may be classified as consumable by some companies. Although they carry a higher price tag, these panels offer many years of service before requiring repair or replacement. Warranties, standard life and regularly scheduled maintenance for these panels should be considered in ROI evaluation as well.
Figure 1: Digital radiography inspection scan showing crack in turbine blade 36 JUNE 2021 | ELECTRONICS TODAY Companies assume the quick image and
Dirk Steiner, business development manager at Yxlon explores why now is the perfect time to consider the ROI of migrating from film to digital radioscopy
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