Computerized tomography technique for reconstruction of obstructed temperature field in infrared thermography

Infrared thermography is a rapid, non-invasive and full-field technique for non-destructive testing and evaluation (NDT&E). With all the achievements on IR instrumentation and image processing techniques attained, it has been extended far beyond simple hot-spot detection and becomes one of the most promising NDT&E techniques in the last decades. It has achieved increasing acceptance in different sectors include medical imaging, manufacturing component fault detection and buildings diagnostic. However, one limitation of IR thermography is that the testing results are greatly affected by object surface emissivity. Surface with various emissivities may lead to difficult discrimination between area of defect and area with different emissivity. Therefore, many studies have been carried out on eliminating emissivity, for example, the time derivative approach, lock-in processing and differential contrast measurements. In these methods, sequence of themo-data/images are recorded and being processed in order to eliminate differences of emissivity. Another problem of IR thermography is that any obstruction may limit stimulations and imaging which leads to the observation of unclear defect image. To solve this problem, this paper proposes an algorithm based on the principle of computerized tomography which permits the reconstruction of unavailable/partially available temperature distribution of the affected area using the measured surrounding temperature field. In the process, a set of imaginary rays are projected from many different directions across the area. For each ray, integration of the temperature derivatives along the ray is equals to the temperature difference between the boundary points intercepted by the ray. Therefore, a set of linear equations can be established by considering the multiple rays. Each equation expresses the unknown temperature derivatives in the affected area in terms of the measured boundary temperature data. Solution of the set of simultaneous equations yields unknown thermal distribution in the area which needs to be reconstructed. Based on the proposed computerized tomography reconstruction (CTR) technique, deviated temperature data due to missing temperature data hidden by obstacle can be reconstructed. With further development, this technique may have the potential to be applied in the reconstruction of any smooth physical fields like phase information in optical techniques.     

超高温FTIR光谱发射率测量系统的线性度分析

为研究航天领域特种材料高温区域的光谱辐射特性,建立了基于傅里叶光谱仪的超高温光谱发射率测量系统。系统线性度是发射率测量精度的保证,通过测量多温度点黑体辐射的光谱信号,采用多温度点线性拟合方法求得每个光谱点的光谱信号值与黑体光谱辐射亮度的函数关系式,并结合仪器线性度测量理论,建立了光谱发射率测量系统的线性度测量方法。实验测量了黑体温度范围1 000～2 000℃和光谱范围3～20μm的光谱辐射信号,求得波长λ=4μm的理论直线与测量光谱值的线性关系。实验表明,仪器在4～18μm光谱范围响应较好,除CO2强吸收光谱区域,仪器的光谱线性度均优于1%。当测量系统线性度一定时,温度越高,光谱误差对发射率的影响越小。评定光谱发射率测量系统的线性度有利于剔除个别温度点光谱扰动带来的误差。     

Determining directional emissivity: Numerical estimation and experimental validation by using infrared thermography

Little research has examined that inaccurate estimations of directional emissivity form a major challenge during both passive and active thermographic measurements. Especially with the increasing use of complex curved shapes and the growing precision of thermal cameras, these errors limit the accuracy of the thermal measurements. In this work we developed a technique to estimate the directional emissivity using updated numerical simulations. The reradiation on concave surfaces is examined by thermal imaging of a homogeneous heated curved metal and nylon test sample. We used finite element modelling to predict the reradiation of concave structures in order to calculate the parameters of an approximating formula for the emissivity dependent on the angle to the normal vector on each element. The differences between experimental and numerical results of the steel test sample are explained using electron microscopy imaging and the validation on different materials. The results suggest that it is possible to determine the errors of thermal imaging testing of complex shapes using a numerical model.     

CFETR内冷屏结构方案初探

基于现有冷屏结构,结合CFETR聚变堆装置的结构特点,提出了一种沿冷却板厚度方向钻冷却通道的深孔结构方案.对内冷屏各部件设计了并联加串联的特殊流道,采用有限元法计算了该方案内冷屏各部件的温度分布.结果表明,采用深孔法冷却方式,冷屏温度分布更均匀,降温效果更好.在输出辐射功率相近的条件下,深孔法的冷却方式可将表面辐射率上...     

A self-method for resolving the problem of apparent LWIR emissivity for quantitative thermography up to 130 °C

In a previous work, we succeeded in connecting normal LWIR apparent emissivity to the spectral one of an aluminum nitride ceramic plate. The key problem was the knowledge of the effective spectral bandwidth in use in the system. Hence we have developed an analyzer which permits to identify the spectral bandwidth of IR system using only its raw data. It proceeds by minimizing the dispersion from linearity of the characteristic thermosignals/integrated radiance over a temperature range of the IR system. The capacities of the analyzer are tested for five commercial cameras. Each of these systems exhibits a similar formatting process implemented during the thermogram recording. The effective spectral bandwidth shows plausible values. It varies significantly from one model to the other and the residual non-linearity is connected to the NETD of the IR system. The robustness of the apparent emissivity measurements is also tested with the aid of emissivity reference of 0.5. The overall accuracy of the method is less than 1%, depending on the specular or diffuse part of the reflected irradiation. Applied in field situation, the method is suitable to detect absolute variation of emissivity of less than 6 ⋅ 10⁻³. We use the analyzer to determine the spectral bandwidth of a commercial 320 × 240 microbolometer uncooled IRFPA camera which had already served to characterize the normal LWIR apparent emissivity of the aluminum nitride ceramic plate. By using the spectral response of the two major microbolometer sensor technologies, the general formulation of apparent emissivity matches our apparent emissivity measurements. An agreement better than 0.6% in absolute value and a less than 6 ⋅ 10⁻³%/°C dispersion are found over the entire temperature range [40–130 °C].     

模拟月壤发射率光谱测量实验及精度评定

基于月球样品反射光谱的月表矿物识别和成分反演能力受到月球环境的严重影响,仅限于月球表面5％的成熟度较低的区域。相比之下,包含大量硅酸盐矿物的月球样品发射光谱不仅光谱特征明显,而且受月表大气、温差和真空等环境的影响较小,是研究月表成分和物理特性的新途径。因此,对于嫦娥五号月球探测器采集的月球实地样品的发射光谱测量不仅可用于月表硅酸盐类矿物的成分分析,而且可以作为遥感研究中可见光-近红外光谱的有效补充。但是,实验室发射光谱测量中最大的难题是寻找最佳的实验方法和仪器,以便获得准确可靠的光谱数据。研究以模拟月壤样品为测量对象,分别在实验室大气、氮气冷背景和模拟真空环境中,利用TurboFT 102F和Bruker VERTEX 70V两种仪器,设计和实施了傅里叶光谱法、独立黑体法和反射率法三种发射率测量实验,并利用误差传播定律和已有Apollo样品发射率光谱对实验获得的发射率光谱进行了精度分析与评定。发现在异常复杂和困难的模拟月球真空测量环境构建完成之前,密闭实验室环境中的反射率法发射率光谱特征最明显,测量精度最高,可以作为目前月球样品发射率光谱测量的最佳选择。研究希望能为嫦娥五号采集的月球样品发射率光谱测量实验提供理论基础和技术参数。     

Thermal contrast detected with a thermal detector

We show that the thermal contrast detected in a wavelength interval with a thermal detector consists of two terms. The first term agrees with the previously published results. The second term represents the contribution of the temperature-dependent emissivity. Neglecting this term results in approximately 20% error for traditional room temperature applications. For the case of remote crop-monitoring, the contribution of the emissivity changes to the detected thermal contrast is even more important: the infection of the vegetation results in the modification of its emissivity, its temperature and its change of emissivity with temperature.     

Laser pulse transient method for measuring the normal spectral emissivity of samples with arbitrary surface quality

A laser pulse transient method for measuring normal spectral emissivity is described. In this method, a laser pulse (λ=1064 nm) irradiates the top surface of a flat specimen. A two-dimensional temperature response of the bottom surface is measured with a calibrated thermographic camera. By solving an axisymmetric boundary value heat conduction problem, the normal spectral emissivity at 1064 nm is determined by using an iterative nonlinear least-squares estimation procedure. The method can be applied to arbitrary sample surface quality. The method is tested on a nickel specimen and used to determine the normal spectral emissivity of AISI 304 stainless steel. The expanded combined uncertainty of the method has been estimated to be 18%.     

低温红外辐射源研究

随着空间红外探测、卫星遥感等技术的飞速发展,低温红外辐射源的需求日益迫切。研制了一种基于液体循环控温原理的低温红外辐射源。辐射源的工作温度范围为-60℃～50 ℃,控温精度达到0.01 ℃,有效发射率优于0.999 7。首先阐述了低温红外辐射源的设计原理,介绍了辐射源腔形设计,使用基于蒙特卡罗算法的软件STEEP3计算了辐射腔的有效发射率;接着对辐射腔内部温度特性进行了研究,实验结果表明低温红外辐射源辐射腔温度均匀性优于0.02 ℃,腔底温度稳定性优于0.05 ℃/h;最后通过与镓熔点黑体比较得到低温红外辐射源在29.76 ℃时的光谱发射率,与仿真计算结果一致。     

MRTD高精度测试和校准技术研究

围绕红外热像仪成像参数MRTD（最小可分辨温差）测试问题开展研究,介绍了MRTD的测试方法以及MRTD测试装置—红外热像仪评估系统的工作原理,详细分析了MRTD测试过程中,红外热像仪测试位置、差分黑体温差、差分黑体发射率和光学系统几何像差等因素对测试结果的影响。针对这些问题,提出了采用红外扫描辐射计对红外热像仪评估系统温差进行校准的方法,利用该方法对某空间频率下热像仪MRTD进行测试,并给出了测试结果,为热像仪MRTD参数准确测试提供参考。     

热红外发射率光谱在盐渍化土壤含盐量估算中的应用研究

利用傅里叶变换红外光谱仪对绿洲盐渍化土壤进行野外测量,采用光谱平滑迭代法对温度和发射率进行分离,得到了盐渍化土壤的热红外发射率数据。通过对盐渍化土壤发射率光谱的特征分析,得出8～13 μm土壤发射率随盐分含量的增加而减小,发射率光谱对盐分因子的响应在8～9.5 μm较敏感。分析了原始发射率光谱、一阶导数、二阶导数和标准化比值与含盐量之间的相关性,表明土壤发射率与含盐量呈负相关关系,发射率一阶导数与含盐量的相关性最高,相关系数最大为0.724 2,对应波段为8.370 745～8.390 880 μm。建立了土壤发射率一阶导数与盐分含量的二次函数回归模型,模型拟合的决定系数为0.741 4,验证结果的均方根误差为0.235 5,说明利用热红外发射率光谱反演土壤盐分含量的方法可行。     

IR thermometry: a new tool for contactless in situ investigations of metal–insulator transition

In the present work, we focus on an original study of metal–insulator transition in LaNiO₃ (LNO) compound by IR camera mounted on a pulsed laser deposition chamber. IR thermometry is based on the measurement of the radiated energy that is a function of the surface temperature and the emissivity (ε) of a material. Thus, at a fixed high temperature in an oxygen equilibrium state and by fixing arbitrary an emissivity value, we can follow the evolution of the “measured temperature” linked to the change of the real emissivity value during a reduction/reoxygenation treatment. The variation of emissivity is correlated to the change in optical constants, e.g. to the conductivity measured simultaneously by an in situ spectroscopic ellipsometry. The combination of both techniques offers a convenient way to observe in situ and contactless changes from metallic to insulator behavior and vice versa.     

The epoxy-siloxane/Al composite coatings with low infrared emissivity for high temperature applications

Low infrared emissivity coatings with good thermal resistance were prepared by using epoxy-siloxane and aluminum as adhesive and pigment, respectively. The influence of chemical composition, surface texture, roughness and thickness on the infrared emissivity was systematically investigated. The detailed results of experimental investigation indicate that the cured composite coatings could possess low emissivity value. Due to reducing infrared absorption and forming uniform and compact char construction, the infrared emissivity decreases obviously. Both the surface roughness and thickness have a critical value, respectively. Too large roughness or thickness would not contribute to the decrease of the emissivity. Moreover, the composite coatings were tested for thermal stability in air to explore the effect of high-temperature environment on the emissivity. The results indicate that the composite coatings, still possessing low emissivity after the test, exhibit favorable thermal ageing and thermal shock resistance.     

Quantitative study of the temperature dependence of normal LWIR apparent emissivity

In a previous work, a method of measurement of apparent emissivity in situ was implemented. This approach has the decisive advantage of being suitable for any commercial infrared systems. It was tested successfully to characterize the normal LWIR apparent emissivity of an aluminium nitride plate in the temperature range [40–550 °C]. Apparent emissivity exhibits a tight temperature dependence. By using the classical model of apparent emissivity and taking into account the spectral emissivity of aluminium nitride ceramic and the spectral response of the IR sensor, we modelled our apparent emissivity measurement with 5% of accuracy and with dispersion better than 1% within the overall temperature range. The effect on the apparent emissivity of both the detection window and the temperature dependence of the spectral emissivity are highlighted.     

Total emissivity measurements without use of an absolute reference

Total emissivity measurement by ordinary steady state radiometric methods are difficult at low temperature; besides, those methods require an emissivity reference. In this paper, several new periodic methods suitable for total emissivity measurements are presented. First it is shown that the thermal modulation of a sample allows direct emissivity measurements, even at low temperature, with an ordinary equipment involving no cooled vessel. Very accurate measurements have been performed within a few minutes at room temperature, on reflective materials. Second, it is shown that indirect total emissivity measurements are also feasible, provided source and sample temperatures are equal. This condition can be fulfilled with a modulated temperature hemispherical gray surface as IR source, or in a simpler way, with a mobile part of a hemisphere. Third, it is shown that if both sample and source temperatures are modulated, simultaneous direct and indirect measurements can be carried out. This results in an absolute emissivity measurement without reference. As an experimental validation, simultaneous direct and indirect measurements of the total directional emissivity are carried out on three samples at room temperature. Periodic radiometry methods are found to be reliable and accurate, emission and reflection measurements giving the same result.     

Measurement of thermal parameters of a heat insulating material using infrared thermography

The article presents results of research developing methods for determining thermal parameters of a thermal insulating material. This method applies periodic heating as an excitation and an infrared camera is used to measure the temperature distribution on the surface of the tested material. The usefulness of known analytical solution of the inverse problem was examined in simulation study, using a three-dimensional model of the heat diffusion phenomenon in the sample of the material under test. To solve the coefficient inverse problem an approach using an artificial neural network is proposed. The measurements were performed on an experimental setup equipped with a ThermaCAM PM 595 infrared camera and a frame grabber. The experiment allowed verification of the chosen 3-D model of the heat diffusion phenomenon and proved suitability of the proposed test method.     

球形开口空腔“实际”发射率的计算

球形开口空腔在辐射计量、辐射定标和激光能量测量等方面得到了广泛应用。当考虑辐射热交换时，实际的发射率是一个很重要的参数。由于辐射能在壁面进行了多次反射吸收，所以开口空腔系统吸收的能量要比相同尺寸和相同发射率的平板吸收的能量大。这种由于辐射在空腔内多次反射和吸收使表面吸收率和表面发射率都增大的现象称之为“空腔效应”。针对空腔效应，引入有效辐射和视在发射率概念，通过球形开口空腔的视在发射率简单计算了开口空腔的辐射热损失。     

基于牛顿迭代法高温光谱温度和发射率的反演研究

针对基于光谱数据进行温度与发射率分离过程中存在的n个方程包含n+1个未知数这一欠定问题,提出利用牛顿迭代法来实现材料表面真温及发射率的反演计算,通过给定温度和发射率初值,利用泰勒级数的线性项建立迭代公式,通过迭代得到温度和发射率的近似解。分别利用理论热辐射谱和腔黑体的实验数据进行验证,结果表明,任意给定温度和发射率初值均可获得与真实温度接近的计算温度值,相对误差小于0.09。发射率反演结果与真实发射率线形一致,当温度和发射率初值越接近真实温度和发射率时,发射率反演结果越精确。该方法消除了发射率假定模型限制,有望应用于高温及超高温下各种材料真实温度和光谱发射率研究。     

空间相机的热分析和热设计

空间飞行器在轨道运行过程中,除空间热沉影响外,还会受到太阳辐射、地球红外辐射和地球阳光反照等热因素作用,同时相机内部热源也会影响相机的温度.温度的变化对高分辨率航天相机光学系统成像质量影响很大.热控系统的目的是保证相机的各部分保持在各自的温度范围内.本文对相机整体进行了详细热分析计算,得出了低温、高温初期、高温末期工况以及其他一些情况下相机各部分的温度水平,为相机热控实施提供依据.     

Taming the blackbody with infrared metamaterials as selective thermal emitters

In this Letter we demonstrate, for the first time, selective thermal emitters based on metamaterial perfect absorbers. We experimentally realize a narrow band midinfrared (MIR) thermal emitter. Multiple metamaterial sublattices further permit construction of a dual-band MIR emitter. By performing both emissivity and absorptivity measurements, we find that emissivity and absorptivity agree very well as predicted by Kirchhoff's law of thermal radiation. Our results directly demonstrate the great flexibility of metamaterials for tailoring blackbody emission.