Most people have heard of the computerized tomography scan (CT scan). Many people have heart of this kind of scan because of its widespread use in medicine. The CT scan (also called CAT scan) allows doctors to take two dimensional (2D) x-rays to create three dimensional (3D) images. Since its creation, 3D scanning technology has been developed to be used in a wide variety of fields.
The 3D scanning technology was invented in 1972. Godfrey Hounsfield and Allan Cormack developed the first CT scanners. In 1979, the pair was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine and science for their work on computer assisted tomography. By 1974, CT scanners were starting to be used on a more widespread basis. Their only real medical use at the time was limited to scanning the head but by 1976, full body scans were starting to be done around the globe.
At the time, CT scanning provided doctors (and others) the chance to look inside bodies and other structures without invasive procedures. The downside to the use the 3D scanning technology was the time it took to take and process the images. The images Housfield created took multiple hours to get and then days to for the 3D imaging to be completed. How far 3D scanning technology has truly come. Now, it takes microseconds (30 images each second can be made from current x-ray technology) to acquire x-ray images and mere seconds to translate those 2D x-rays into 3D images.
The benefits to the field of medicine are clear, the interior of a patient’s body can be viewed without painful and potentially damaging surgery, the benefits to a number of industries is equally clear. The is the reason that there are at least 30,000 CT scanners in hospitals and medical centers all over the world. There are about 6,000 of these scanners in medical facilities all over the United States. Companies that want to see inside materials and parts, can do so without doing any damage to the items being analyzed. This is the reason that companies all over the world use CT scanners on their products.
What Are the Benefits to 3D Scanning Technology?
You can inspect your parts without damaging them. Unlike other techniques to inspect the interior of your parts, 3D scanning technology produces images of the internal workings of parts scanned without taking them apart or damaging them in any way.
The images produced are incredibly accurate. Even small parts can be analyzed with incredible accuracy. You can scan and analyze both large and tiny parts without losing any accuracy.
Even the tiniest and most complicated parts can be analyzed without damaging them. If the products you wish to analyze are very complicated and delicate, industrial CT scanning can give you 3D images of the internal mechanisms of even the most sensitive items without damaging anything.
The images can be used for reserve engineering. Industrial CT scanning produces 3D images of the internal and external parts in such detail that reverse engineering is made easier and more possible.
In an era where products are manufactured all over the world, industrial 3D scanning technology makes combining them much easier. Say parts for one product are made in three different places and then assembled in a fourth. Using 3D scanning technology can make sure all of the parts actually fit together the way they are supposed to in that fourth location. When products are made in so many locations, having technology that makes sure the different components do fit exactly the way they are supposed to is critically important. Industrial CT scanning makes that possible.
This is one of the reasons that using the newer 3D scanning technology cuts down the costs from failure analysis and new product inspection. These costs are lowered between 25 and 75% from traditional product analysis methods. That is an incredible savings that will directly impact a company;s bottom line. If you think your company can benefit from saving this kind of money on the analysis of your products, industrial CT scanning may be for you.
