Merging Collections

Description

Merging allows an operator to merge the contents of multiple collections into one, or merging parts of a collection into single images.

Tray Scan Merging

When scanning large parts, it may be advantageous to use a Tray Scan to interleave the channels into a single image post-scanning. Tray Scans can be merged on multi-channel systems where the transducers are positioned along the Step axis, as in the diagram below.

Prerequisites

Diagram of a setup that allows for Tray scan merging along the Step axis. the distance d is the distance between the transducers along the Step axis.

• Requires a 2-channel configuration
• If merging along the Step Axis, (vertically) the first channel must be parallel to the second channel along the Scan Axis.
• If merging along the Scan Axis (horizontally), the first channel must be parallel to the second channel along the Step Axis
• Gate Data1 Must be on the first channel, Gate Data2 must be on the second channel
• No other gates should be used

Configuration

location of Step Spacing value in Basic Mode. Since the Step dimension is 20 mm, the Step Spacing should be adjusted to 40 mm.

Note: this configuration is for merging along the Step Axis.

Tray Scan

Since you will have two channels scanning the same part, it is important that the Step Length and Step Spacing for Tray scans is set correctly.

• The Step Length should be set to the distance (d) between the two transducers, as this is the maximum step length that can be performed without overlapping data.

Note: If overlap is desired to be sure of complete coverage, set the step length to be slightly larger than the distance between the transducers.

• The Step Spacing this should be set to twice the distance between the two transducers. This prevents Transducer #1 from scanning the same section that Transducer #2 has already collected.

Merging

location of the "More Options" button

More Options display

To configure merging in Basic Mode, click on the "More Options" page of the Scan Setup with "Tray Scan" as the type of scan selected. The options will show the Merge parameters.

To enable merging, make sure "Merge "in the Tray Scan tab is checked.

To account for the physical offset between Transducers #1 and #2, enter the physical distance between the transducers along the scan and step axes. In most cases, the offset along the Scan axis will be zero.

Running a Tray Scan Merge

Diagram showing how the data is merged. The Two images generated by Transducer #1 are interleaved with the images from Transducer #2, resulting in an image of the whole part.

Once configured, run the tray scan normally. At the end of the scan, a second image will appear that is the Merge Results of the Tray Scan. This will merge the results of Data1 and Data2 into a single Linear scan. All features collected on Data1 and Data2 should be merged.

The results will be interleaved such that the entire part will be visible as one image.

Patch Scans on a Tray Scan Merge

If,after a tray merge, the user wishes to patch a region, they must patch the original, un-merged tray​ image. This will correctly patch all channel data. The procedure is as follows:

1. Make sure the original image is selected and not the merge
2. Move to the page or channel that has the defect to be patched
3. Add an annotation on the region and run Patch Scan normally.
4. Patches should be either manually merged from the Toolbar or they can use the "merge patch Scans" option in Configuration.
5. After patches are merged, they should repeat the Tray Scan Merge by pressing the "Merge Collection" button on the toolbar, which will run another merge on the original image.

Megaboard Merging

The results of a Megaboard scan can be merged into a single collection. Unlike with Tray Scan Merging, a new collection is not created: instead, all the collections are merged into a single master. When the results are displayed in ODIS, the images are overlayed on top of each other, based on the relative positions of the scans that occurred during the Megaboard.