USB multi LED light bought for £1 at the Pound Shop.
Now for something completely different...... an automatic firing inhaler that I was prescribed when very ill a few years ago. I was interested to see what was inside. This type of inhaler senses when you suck on the exhaust piece and automatically fires the cartridge for the required duration. The mechanism is reset when the exhaust cover is closed after use. A new product to the UK when I was issued with it. It was interesting to see that the MX-20 had no trouble imaging the different material densities within this device. The unit is plastic, nylon and aluminium (the medication cannister)
Fraser
Non Contact IR thermometer - Testo 830-T1
Note the metal housing around the pyrometer and optical block. Quality construction and an expensive unit.
Fraser
Cheap Actron branded non contact mini IR thermometer. Metal used around pyrometer. No optical block as the pyrometer is not fitted with a lens.
Fraser
Thermo Hygrometer Type 'TH Pen 8708
Note that the last picture was aiming to reveal the tiny thermistor. the hygrometer membrane cannot be imaged unless I take an exposure specifically for it alone as it is very low density and the rest of the image would 'blow out' white.
Fraser
Cheap Chinese 'Hygro Thermo' pen type Hygrometer and Thermometer.
Fraser
Security Prox card for proximity access control system.
Fraser
Psion 3C memory cards.
These are cased in a steel shell that makes them hard to image with low energy X-Ray. This demonstrated the limitation of this type of X-Ray equipment. Always establish your limitations so that you can manage a customers expectations.
I was able to image enough details to see that the card on the left has more memory chips than the one on the right, and that the card on the left needs a lithium coin cell. The card on the left is a SRAM memory pack whilst the card on the right is a program card containing non volatile flash memory.
Fraser
I wanted to image the interior of a Sony NP series battery car adapter that three of my thermal cameras use. I was interested to see how complex and well designed such a step down converter would be as failure could fry my expensive cameras.
Sadly power supplies are difficult to image with low energy X-Ray as many of the components used are dense and there are often thick aluminium heat sinks around areas you want to see. Such was the case here, but I could see enough to know that, unlike cheap and simple units, this one is a quality switch mode design.
Fraser
An official Toshiba PDA car adapter that I use to power my TomTom Classic.
It is just a simple Buck converter by the looks of it. Not much heat sinking and no air vents in the case either.
Fraser
A quality Testo thermocouple thermometer
This demonstrates why it is important to remove any batteries if possible to prevent them masking the PCB. Batteries are very dense and I cannot image through most of them.
Fraser
Damn that machine is cool. Thanks for the pics.
Low energy X-Ray can also be used to check for some forms of liquid contamination on PCB's. Most notably, battery electrolyte.
If a PCB or piece of equipment has suffered a battery leakage event the leaked electrolyte shows up as more dense than plastic or FR4 PCB material. The effect you see is like wisps of smoke across surfaces, concentrated dense areas where the fluid has collected or soaked into a paper label (as in this case). Corrosion can also lead to a ball of 'corroded stuff' that spall's off of the PCB and floats around inside the equipment causing general havoc if it gets across component leads etc as it is conductive.
This capability lead to my discovering that a used mini remote control that i recently purchased had suffered battery leakage that got onto the PCB. I was already aware that a battery had leaked as one spring terminal had some classic corrosion on it. What I could not see was how far the corrosion had traveled and whether it was on the PCB. The remote is a real PITA to dismantle and as it might have to go back to the seller for exchange, I decided to X-Ray it to see what electrolyte was visible and where it was located.
I have ringed areas of electrolyte contamination and possible corrosion spalling on the attached images.
The seller was impressed by the images and is sending me a new remote along with his sincere apology. The unit had been placed in the 'OK' pile rather than the 'bin' pile when sorting through his stock.
UPDATE: I have added a reference image of the other , non corroded, remote control. The paper label in the battery compartment can be seen but none of the corrosion evidence that was seen on the damaged unit is present. Its always useful to have a known good reference unit during an
X-Ray examination for battery leakage.
Fraser
Hahnel Uniplus (standard model) Universal battery charger.
I reviewed this charger here:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/thermal-imaging/flir-e4-others-external-battery-charging-hahnel-unipal-plus/Thought an X-Ray image might prove interesting. This is the model that does not have the LCD display.
I can now see how the thin sprung battery contacts are formed towards the bottom of the picture, and why one contact is less prominent than the other. the thin contact connection wires could be a point of failure due to work hardening over time.
Fraser
Thanks for the link Mike. Very impressive.
That machine is like the ones I used to work with. The ability to make real time videos is excellent as the servo X-Ray video demonstrates. The greater X-Ray energy levels makes real time imaging possible, as opposed to our timed exposures lasting several seconds each.
The down side of the machine is its size, weight and running costs. I doubt such a machine will appear on an auction site, but if it did, transportation and assembly by the service agent is very expensive. I suspect there could also be issues of whether the OEM will provide parts or support to the non original owner. They can be very funny about such things in the X-Ray equipment industry. It is great that the chap has access to such a machine and can use it out of working hours. That is unusual and generous of his employer as the tube cathode/heater has a finite life and is not a cheap part.
Fraser
A Raytek / Fluke Ti30 thermal camera arrived in the post this morning. It had two declared issues, a worn out battery and damaged USB plug on the charger/communications dock. It is my intention to rebuild the battery and fit a new USB cable to the dock.
There is evidence that someone has already tried to open the dock so I thought I would X-Ray it to see if there are any hidden screws or clips. The results appear below. It looks straight forward as the screws are where expected, under the rubber feet ! No hidden clips visible.
Fraser
More iamges.
These images are all pretty rough as they are just for my use in opening the dock. There appears to be a misplaced spring in the central docking port that I will investigate. I could also hear something knocking around inside the unit....I can see that it is the RFI suppression ferrite on the USB cable.
Sure enough, one of the docking port retractable cover springs is misplaced and not correctly seated between the fixed an moving parts of the docking port. No major issue but it demonstrates how X-Ray imaging can reveal otherwise hidden issues.
Fraser
Now some visible light pictures of the internal parts that you may compare to the X-Ray images. As you can see, the MX-20 can clearly display the positions of the capton tape and foil attached to the units base.
Fraser
I also wanted to X-Ray image the small status and USB link PCB. I could have drawn the interconnectivity by had using my eyes and a continuity tester but taking an X-Ray image is far quicker and easier
The push switch on the PCB has a metal shroud so I could not image that quickly and cannot be faffed to fine tune the settings to see through the shield at the moment.
Fraser
A mechanical item being inspected this time.
My Audi A4 1.8 Turbo has been suffering a misfire on cylinder 1 when idling and i decided it was time to investigate. I will not bore you all with details of the investigation except to say, after a lot of work I proved the problem was in the pollution control/vacuum system that sits under the intake manifold.
A known culprit of a misfire at idle id the PCV valve located in the crankcase re-breather circuit that also connects to the intake manifold so it can cause issues with mixture etc.
I spent the day dismantling and inspecting the mass of hoses and one way valves that sit under the manifold. I removed the PCV and stuck it in the Faxitron to see what condition it is in. They have a high failure rate.
Interestingly it appears to be OK but these things are so cheap that it isn't worth taking the risk as it protects the crankcase atmosphere from the turbo charge that enters the inlet manifold. I have ordered an uprated Billet Aluminium PCV designed for the Audi TT as that uses a ball valve and is much better built than this plastic flappy valve design !
Fraser
I then went on to X-Ray image various hoses and valves to check internal condition etc.
There was one item I really wanted to see inside as it is described as a suction pump and I wanted to see its internal construction.
Its a weird looking thing
Update: I have added cutaway view of a suction pump.
If anyone wonders how it works, it is a venturi pump. The main large diameter input and output pipes have air passing through them and this generated a venturi effect with the side mounted jet that sits in the air stream. A vacuum is generated via the jet and the side pipe connector sees a decrease in air pressure (vacuum) that acts upon a PCV valve. Simple enough when you know what lives inside the thing
Fraser
Now some hoses and check valves.......