ECVT Welins
Compact ECVT configured for weld inspection and pipeline integrity. Structural defects resolved within solid materials from a single external surface — without radiation, without cutting, without removing the structure from service.
Non-destructive inspection from a single external surface.
Developed out of process imaging research to meet a need the original industrial platform could not address in-service, ECVT Welins applies the capacitive tomography framework to solid media — a measurement environment that demands sub-femtofarad precision unavailable to standard ECT systems. Dense solid materials produce capacitance signals orders of magnitude smaller than fluid systems; genuine structural signals are indistinguishable from switching noise without hardware-level parasitic cancellation.
T-configuration CMOS switching — a switch architecture engineered specifically to strip stray capacitance out of ECVT hardware — eliminates parasitic stray capacitance at the circuit level before any signal reaches reconstruction, not as a software correction, but as an architectural decision. The result: sub-femtofarad precision in welds, composite laminates, post-tensioned concrete, and coated pipelines that no other non-contact NDT method achieves. Sensor geometry — planar or conforming — is selected based on Baidillah's systematic sensor comparison (Int'l Journal of Innovative Computing, Information and Control, 2013, vol. 9, no. 11, pp. 1447–1457): planar for flat structures, conforming for curved surfaces.
No radiation. No sample extraction. No surface preparation beyond basic cleaning. No process shutdown. Inspection from a single external face.
Reading internal structure without entering it.
Structures that cannot be opened, irradiated, or extracted.
Weld Integrity
Internal void and crack detection in welds — no radiographic exposure, no cutting, no removal from service. Applicable to new welds and in-service inspection.
Pipeline Wall
Wall thickness variation, internal corrosion, and lining integrity in pressurised or externally coated pipelines. In-service inspection without coating removal.
Composite Laminates
Internal delamination, void pockets, and fibre discontinuities within composite structures — from the external surface using conforming sensor geometry.
Post-Tensioned Structures
In-service assessment of post-tensioned tendons in concrete — no coring, no drilling, no shutdown. Sub-surface inspection from a single external face.
Concrete & Masonry
Void detection and reinforcement mapping within concrete and masonry — planar sensor on external face, 3D permittivity reconstruction of the interior.
Subsea & Coated Structures
Inspection through protective coatings and linings in subsea and onshore environments — no surface preparation beyond basic cleaning, no radiation hazard.
Key performance parameters.
- Media: Dense solid structures — welds, composites, concrete, coated pipelines
- Capacitance precision: Sub-femtofarad in solid media
- Switching: T-configuration CMOS; parasitic cancellation at circuit level
- Sensor geometry: Planar (flat structures) or conforming (curved surfaces)
- Access required: Single external face only — no interior access
- Radiation: Zero — no radiographic hazard in any environment
- Surface prep: Basic cleaning only — no coating removal required
- Output: 3D permittivity map; void/crack/delamination localisation with depth
- Deployment: In-service, no process shutdown, portable field unit
Process Imaging System
The science behind ECVT Welins — sub-femtofarad sensing in solid media, sensor geometry research, and the process-imaging platform it was developed from to address weld and pipeline inspection needs.
Deploy ECVT Welins on your structure.
Talk to our team about the inspection target, sensor configuration, access requirements, and deployment in oil and gas, construction, or industrial inspection programmes.