{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,30]],"date-time":"2025-12-30T17:46:43Z","timestamp":1767116803395,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":7,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2017,7,1]],"date-time":"2017-07-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1498867200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>To efficiently inspect surface defects on steel ball bearings, a new method based on a circumferential eddy current array (CECA) sensor was proposed here. The best probe configuration, in terms of the coil quality factor (Q-factor), magnetic field intensity, and induced eddy current density on the surface of a sample steel ball, was determined using 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-coil probes, for analysis and comparison. The optimal lift-off from the measured steel ball, the number of probe coils, and the frequency of excitation current suitable for steel ball inspection were obtained. Using the resulting CECA sensor to inspect 46,126 steel balls showed a miss rate of ~0.02%. The sensor was inspected for surface defects as small as 0.05 mm in width and 0.1 mm in depth.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s17071536","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,7,3]],"date-time":"2017-07-03T10:27:31Z","timestamp":1499077651000},"page":"1536","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":18,"title":["A Steel Ball Surface Quality Inspection Method Based on a Circumferential Eddy Current Array Sensor"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6574-5394","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Huayu","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266590, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Fengqin","family":"Xie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Transportation, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266590, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Maoyong","family":"Cao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266590, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mingming","family":"Zhong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266590, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,7,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"842","DOI":"10.4028\/www.scientific.net\/AMM.271-272.842","article-title":"Design of the eddy current sensor of steel ball nondestructive inspection","volume":"271\u2013272","author":"Xie","year":"2012","journal-title":"Appl. Mechan. Mater."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"(1985). Technical Description and Instructions for Attendance of Automatic Sorting Machine for Defect-Metric Inspection of Bearing Ball Surfaces, SOMET Ltd. of Czech. Types AVIKO K-06140 E AND AVIKO-1418 E."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"51","DOI":"10.1016\/0263-2241(96)00007-3","article-title":"Inspection of surface defects on steel ball bearings in production process using a capacitive sensora","volume":"17","author":"Kakimoto","year":"1996","journal-title":"Measurement"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"N73","DOI":"10.1088\/0957-0233\/18\/9\/N01","article-title":"Optical inspection of ball bearing defects","volume":"18","author":"Ng","year":"2007","journal-title":"Meas. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"10693","DOI":"10.3390\/s120810693","article-title":"A wide linear range eddy current displacement sensor equipped with dual-coil probe applied in the magnetic suspension flywheel","volume":"12","author":"Fang","year":"2012","journal-title":"Sensors"},{"key":"ref_6","first-page":"1","article-title":"A compact and high-performance eddy-current sensor based on meander-spiral coil","volume":"51","author":"Wang","year":"2015","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Magn."},{"key":"ref_7","unstructured":"Editorial Committee of China (2002). Bearing Steel. China Aeronautical Materials Handbook."}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/17\/7\/1536\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T18:41:05Z","timestamp":1760208065000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/17\/7\/1536"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2017,7,1]]},"references-count":7,"journal-issue":{"issue":"7","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,7]]}},"alternative-id":["s17071536"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s17071536","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"1424-8220"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2017,7,1]]}}}