When people mention CT technology, it’s usually assumed that this technology is medical in nature. Once, CT scanning of any kind was considered something as a miracle. It began as a method devoted to scanning the head, developing vivid images through which we can detect medical problems with the brain or skull. Gradually, CT scanning would develop into a method through which the whole body could be scanned. X-ray technology is a partner of CT. While it’s not quite as extensive, it’s still used as one of the primary means through which fractures can be diagnosed. Few think of CT scanning and x-ray scanning as industrial at all. However, both of these technologies can be used on an industrial level — and in fact they are. Industrial CT scanning inspection is one of the most common types of non destructive testing services on the market. NDT testing is remarkably important for a number of reasons, as you’ll discover below. In some cases, industrial CT scanning inspection saves lives, just as readily as medical CT scanning can. Let’s look into some of the reasons why we rely upon industrial CT scanning inspection and x-ray inspection; and for that matter, how far they’ve come in a relatively short period of time.
Why Do We Use CT And X-Ray On An Industrial Level?
Industrial CT scanning inspection and x-ray inspection has many different uses in the realms of security and quality control. If you’ve ever flown, think back to how many people were flying in one day. Certainly, any luggage containing suspect items should be searched. But it’s difficult to know which pieces of luggage contain suspect items with the naked eye. To do so without technology, you’d have to open every single piece of luggage, possibly damaging it or its contents in the process. This is not feasible. Certainly, nobody would be able to make their flight on time! As such, industrial scanning services bridge the gap. If a suspect piece of luggage goes through the scanner, the problematic items will be found, raising the alarm for security. Then the luggage can be opened. This can prevent everything from smuggling to even death or injury. And it’s certainly easier than searching by hand. These scanning services can also help ensure quality control. If a product is suspected to be damaged in some way, a scan can detect the damage without destroying the product in the process. In the past, it was difficult to do this kind of inspection without potentially destroying perfectly food products. Industrial scanning services eliminate this issue. This technology has developed remarkably fast.
How Quickly Has CT And X-Ray Technology Developed?
X-ray technology has technically existed in some way for a long time — after all, x-ray is electromagnetic radiation. It has developed quickly since being discovered in the nineteenth century. But CT scanning has arguably developed even faster. Since being invented in 1972, it became readily available between 1974 and 1976. Now, there are 6,000 CT machines installed in the United States and 30,000 installed worldwide. Originally, the CT developed in EMI Laboratories took several hours to collect the data requires for a single scan or “slice”. Constructing a single image from this data took several days. Now, CT systems can create four slices of data in about 350 ms, while a 512 x 512-matrix images can be reconstructed from millions of data points in less than a second. 3D models made up of billions of voxels can be reconstructed in mere seconds. For that matter, this technology makes numerous new applications like 3D reverse engineering, rapid prototyping, 3D metrology and more possible. The advances this technology have made are truly remarkable; and we’re certainly glad they have.
Hopefully, the advances of CT technology and x-ray technology will only continue. As it is, they now save lives in more ways than one.
