Clearly there are benefits of leak testing. These benefits can be appreciated by a diversity of groups within an organization: Quality Control, Production, Finance, Sales, Marketing and Development. Some of these benefits include:
The manufacture of car radiators is a complicated process. Companies are generally specialists and are subject to huge pressure by their customers in the automotive industry. High quality and competitive prices are essential. The loss of one customer due to quality or price issues can be catastrophic.
The radiators were subject to two tests. The first was the Core Test which was carried out prior to the header tanks being fitted to either end of the core (radiator). The reason for performing two tests and the core test first was that the core could be repaired if a tube to header leak has occurred.
Testing the cores under water was carried out at a positive pressure and was very time consuming, subjective, and relied upon the operator to watch the whole of the test with extreme care.
Good cores were then passed on to the next stage where the header tanks were fitted. The radiator assembly was then subjected to another under water test with similar problems. The floor in the test areas were covered in water and oil, and water filled the gloves of the test operatives.
Radiator assemblies which passed this ‘test’ were next placed in an oven to dry. Operation of the oven added more expense to the manufacturing process and was time consuming.
The relationship between the air leakage rates to water leakage rate has been determined empirically. Several radiators were prepared with holes of varying sizes and pressure tested with air and the results noted. Each radiator was then filled with a water/glycol mix and conditioned to normal operating temperature and pressure. Each radiator was inspected for liquid leakage; the smallest hole that allowed water to appear on the surface was a hole that leaked air at 22 cc/min. A specification of 4 cc/min of air was chosen to provide a comfortable safety factor.
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