The Boeing Company
Optical seal integrity testing

Abstract:

A system may be provided for optically testing the integrity of a sealed article such as a lithium-ion battery. The system may include a chamber, a pressurizing apparatus that provides a pressure differential between the interior and exterior of the chamber, and an optical imaging apparatus that detects a change in shape of the article in response to provision of the pressure differential. The optical imaging apparatus may be a shearography device, which may be connected to a computing apparatus that receives images before and after provision of the pressure differential and generates a comparison image indicating the change in shape. The comparison image may be manually or automatically analyzed to determine whether the change in shape is significant, indicating the existence of a proper seal.