NVision Scanners Provide Crucial Evidence |
In a typical case, the defect that had caused a critical component to break and bring down an airplane was visible under a microscope. But the defect was so small that it was impossible under visual examination to determine its three-dimensional geometry with enough certainty to stand up as evidence in court. If this defect was an inclusion in a casting this would indicate a manufacturing defect. In this case it would likely be shaped like a stringer or half-ellipse. On the other hand, if the defect was a corrosion pit that had occurred long after manufacturing, and had not been properly addressed the last time the aircraft was serviced, it would most likely be hemispherical in shape.
In another product liability case involving an airplane crash, an important element of the plaintiff’s theory on what had caused the crash was based on the idea that a component on the aircraft lacked a tiny indentation that would have indicated that it had engaged another component. Plaintiff’s experts had performed laser scanning of the part in question and provided the raw point cloud data. “NVision converted the point cloud to a surface model that clearly showed the indentation was present, though it was invisible to the naked eye,” Lewis said. “Their work allowed us to use the plaintiff’s expert’s own data to support our position and was instrumental in helping our client settle the case for a relatively small amount of money.”
In yet another case, the plaintiff wanted to cut up an important piece of evidence to analyze its interior, despite the fact that the point of failure was on the surface of the part. “Their purpose, in my opinion, was to expose tiny imperfections that are present in any casting with the belief that they would make the part appear faulty,” Lewis said. “The question before the court was whether the feature at the fracture origin could be so accurately modeled that its destruction in the cutting process would not destroy important evidence. Since non-contact scanning is the most accurate method of reverse engineering that we know of, we sent that part to NVision to see if they could accurately reproduce this tiny feature. They said they could not and based on their findings we won a motion that prevented the evidence from being destroyed.”
About NVision NVision, Inc. (www.nvision3d.com) was established in 1990 with one goal in mind: to provide customers with the highest accuracy non-contact optical measurement systems and services for Reverse Engineering and Inspection. Focusing our expertise on the aerospace, power generation, and oil/gas industries, NVision provides both contract scanning services and systems sales to companies throughout North America. Our elite team of engineers provides customers with an unmatchable level of experience and is able to advise and assist with the most difficult engineering challenges.
NVision’s clients include industry leaders such as Alstom, Boeing, GE, Lockheed, Lear, NASA, Porsche, Raytheon, Siemens, Toyota, and every branch of the U.S. military.
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NVision was able to turn this around in a very short amount of time. Thank you and your engineering team for getting this done.
TIDEL ENGINEERING
Steve R.
The Viper you guys scanned last year is doing great!
GSPEED
Design Engineer
Thanks for great work.
SCHLUMBERGER
Engineer
You scanned a couple of boat propellers for us awhile back. I am happy to say it has helped us in improving our performance and we have set a new world record and a speed that exceeded any drag boat speed in history by 10 + MPH.
SPIRIT OF TEXAS TFH 807
Paul Kirkland
Thank you again for the scans. They worked great.
STRYKER MEDICAL CORPORATION
Portfolio Manager
The scan came out great, thanks so much. This will really help us with the project.
JW
Engineer Manager
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