Improvement of the non-destructive evaluation of plasma facing components by data combination of infrared thermal images

To increase the reliability of non-destructive examinations of plasma facing components (PFC), we present steps in order to make data combination in this study. The industrial issue is the inspection of manufacturing quality of these components which must support a very high-heat flux in Tokamaks. The experimental study was conducted on trial components for the Wendelstein 7X stellarator using two benches of infrared thermal imaging equipment. The first bench measures the surface temperature with an internal excitation of the components. The second bench uses a lock-in thermal imaging method. The data fusion method makes use of the Dempster–Shaffer theory of evidence. We show that we can improve the decision making for the quality diagnostic. This study could be generalized to other combinations of non-destructive tests for current Tokamaks or those under development like the future ITER reactor.