Development of a Portable Pulsed Eddy Current Inspection Instrument for Rail Fatigue Crack Detection

Based on the principle of pulsed eddy current and the application of signal processing and microcontroller techniques, a portable inspection instrument for rail fatigue crack detection was developed. The functional modules of the instrument and the performances were also described. Tests verified that while the power consumption of instrument was decreased obviously, the influence of lift-off phenomenon was effectively restrained, namely, at a range of lift-off heights, the surface fatigue cracks in rails were detected with high speed.