Liquid crystal thermography and true-colour digital image processing

In the last decade thermochromic liquid crystals (TLC) and true-colour digital image processing have been successfully used in non-intrusive technical, industrial and biomedical studies and applications. Thin coatings of TLCs at surfaces are utilized to obtain detailed temperature distributions and heat transfer rates for steady or transient processes. Liquid crystals also can be used to make visible the temperature and velocity fields in liquids by the simple expedient of directly mixing the liquid crystal material into the liquid (water, glycerol, glycol, and silicone oils) in very small quantities to use as thermal and hydrodynamic tracers. In biomedical situations e.g., skin diseases, breast cancer, blood circulation and other medical application, TLC and image processing are successfully used as an additional non-invasive diagnostic method especially useful for screening large groups of potential patients. The history of this technique is reviewed, principal methods and tools are described and some examples are also presented.     

Accuracy evaluation of optical distortion calibration by digital image correlation

Due to its convenience of operation, the camera calibration algorithm, which is based on the plane template, is widely used in image measurement, computer vision and other fields. How to select a suitable distortion model is always a problem to be solved. Therefore, there is an urgent need for an experimental evaluation of the accuracy of camera distortion calibrations. This paper presents an experimental method for evaluating camera distortion calibration accuracy, which is easy to implement, has high precision, and is suitable for a variety of commonly used lens. First, we use the digital image correlation method to calculate the in-plane rigid body displacement field of an image displayed on a liquid crystal display before and after translation, as captured with a camera. Next, we use a calibration board to calibrate the camera to obtain calibration parameters which are used to correct calculation points of the image before and after deformation. The displacement field before and after correction is compared to analyze the distortion calibration results. Experiments were carried out to evaluate the performance of two commonly used industrial camera lenses for four commonly used distortion models.     

Lock-in thermographic inspection of squats on rail steel head

The development of squat defects has become a major concern in numerous railway systems throughout the world. Infrared thermography is a relatively new non-destructive inspection technique used for a wide range of applications. However, it has not been used for rail squat detection. Lock-in thermography is a non-destructive inspection technique that utilizes an infrared camera to detect the thermal waves. A thermal image is produced, which displays the local thermal wave variation in phase or amplitude. In inhomogeneous materials, the amplitude and phase of the thermal wave carries information related to both the local thermal properties and the nature of the structure being inspected. By examining the infrared thermal signature of squat damage on the head of steel rails, it was possible to generate a relationship matching squat depth to thermal image phase angle, using appropriate experimental/numerical calibration. The results showed that with the additional data sets obtained from further experimental tests, the clarity of this relationship will be greatly improved to a level whereby infrared thermal contours can be directly translated into the precise subsurface behaviour of a squat.     

Determination of Interior Surface Temperature Using Luminance Measurement of Thermochromic Liquid Crystals

This paper presents a new method to measure interior surface temperature distributions. An image-resolved luminance measurement camera is used to capture light transmitted through thermochromic liquid crystals (TLC). These crystals change their optical properties with temperature. The experiments clearly show a unique relationship between temperature and the luminance value of the TLC. A calibration function is detected to transform the measured luminance distribution into corresponding temperatures. The developed method is applied to a model of an automotive headlamp. The data are compared with results obtained by using standard techniques such as infrared camera and thermocouple measurement. By that, a reasonable accuracy of the developed method of about ± 0.7°C can be determined. Knowing the temperature on both inner and outer surfaces, the heat transfer can be evaluated.     

Measurement of temperature and velocity fields in a heater unit by liquid crystal thermometry and particle image velocimetry

Temperature and velocity fields in a heating unit for automobiles are measured through a model experiment in water tunnel using flow visualizations and image analysis to investigate the mixing mechanism of the flow that has passed through the heater and not passed through it inside the unit. The temperature fields are measured by the liquid crystal visualization technique combined with the field calibration using full color spline fitting technique, and the velocity fields are evaluated by a particle imaging technique with a cross-correlation algorithm. These results indicate an enhanced flow mixing at larger mix-door angles, which results in a shorter mixing distance of temperature and velocity downstream of the mix door. The enhanced flow mixing is caused by the high velocity fluctuations created by the flow separation over the mix door.     

阵列射流冲击冷却局部对流换热特性的数值计算与试验验证

本文运用数值计算的方法对具有初始横流的阵列射流在不同的排列方式、冲击间距和横流/射流质量流量比下 的流动换热进行了三维数值研究,并采用热色液晶测试技术对阵列射流冲击的冷却表面温度分布进行了试验研究。获得了 每一股射流的冲击冷却局部对流换热系数分布的特征,研究结果表明本文的计算结果与实验特征是基本吻合的。     

Neonatal infrared thermography imaging: Analysis of heat flux during different clinical scenarios

IntroductionAn accurate skin temperature measurement of Neonatal Infrared Thermography (NIRT) imaging requires an appropriate calibration process for compensation of external effects (e.g. variation of environmental temperature, variable air velocity or humidity). Although modern infrared cameras can perform such calibration, an additional compensation is required for highly accurate thermography. This compensation which corrects any temperature drift should occur during the NIRT imaging process. We introduce a compensation technique which is based on modeling the physical interactions within the measurement scene and derived the detected temperature signal of the object.Materials and methodsIn this work such compensation was performed for different NIRT imaging application in neonatology (e.g. convective incubators, kangaroo mother care (KMC), and an open radiant warmer). The spatially distributed temperatures of 12 preterm infants (average gestation age 31 weeks) were measured under these different infant care arrangements (i.e. closed care system like a convective incubator, and open care system like kangaroo mother care, and open radiant warmer).ResultsAs errors in measurement of temperature were anticipated, a novel compensation method derived from infrared thermography of the neonate’s skin was developed. Moreover, the differences in temperature recording for the 12 preterm infants varied from subject to subject. This variation could be arising from individual experimental setting applied to the same region of interest over the neonate’s body. The experimental results for the model-based corrections is verified over the selected patient group.ConclusionThe proposed technique relies on applying model-based correction to the measured temperature and reducing extraneous errors during NIRT. This application specific method is based on different heat flux compartments present in neonatal thermography scene. Furthermore, these results are considered to be groundwork for further investigation, especially when using NIRT imaging arrangement with additional compensation settings together with reference temperature measurements.     

用偏光干涉法动态测量扭曲向列型液晶指向矢

提出一种基于双折射晶体劈的偏振态实时测量方法,并将该方法用于扭曲向列型液晶透射光的偏振态分析,实现了液晶分子平均指向矢的动态测量.利用基于晶体劈的偏光干涉法将待测光的偏振参量编码为两组干涉条纹,通过对干涉条纹定位实现偏振态的实时测量;再根据液晶指向矢的倾角、扭转角与透射光偏振态之间的关系,推算出液晶分子平均指向矢的动态信息.本实验测量液晶指向矢的速度为每秒5次,液晶平均指向矢的倾角、扭转角的测量准确度达到0.2°.本文研究为液晶分子平均指向矢的动态测量提供了一种有效途径.     

彩色三维激光扫描测量方法的研究

提出了彩色三维激光扫描测量方法，即在单色三维激光扫描测量数据上贴合彩色的数字图像。给出了单色三维测量模型——三维光平面方程测量模型，提出了全新的测量系统参量的快速标定方法，并制作了标定靶标。给出了物体三维数据和颜色信息的贴图技术。利用所研制的装置对招财猫模型进行了实验测量，得到了满意的结果。     

A flexible new three-dimensional measurement technique by projected fringe pattern

Aimed at the problems of inferior precision and bad maneuverability for three-dimensional (3D) measurement by projected fringe pattern, a flexible new 3D technique for performing system calibration and measuring was proposed. First, we analyzed the principle of conventional 3D measurement with projected fringe pattern, and pointed out the shortcoming of measurement system. Then, the CCD camera calibration technique is analyzed and we set up the perspective projection model which transforms the computer image coordinate to 3D world coordinate, and we get the coordinate of the CCD camera image lens. Third, the position of projection lens optical center can be obtained using the above model. At last, some experiment results presented show that this technique is more simple and robust in engineering than conventional measurement method.     

A novel optimization method of camera parameters used for vision measurement

Camera calibration plays an important role in the field of machine vision applications. During the process of camera calibration, nonlinear optimization technique is crucial to obtain the best performance of camera parameters. Currently, the existing optimization method aims at minimizing the distance error between the detected image point and the calculated back-projected image point, based on 2D image pixels coordinate. However, the vision measurement process is conducted in 3D space while the optimization method generally adopted is carried out in 2D image plane. Moreover, the error criterion with respect to optimization and measurement is different. In other words, the equal pixel distance error in 2D image plane leads to diverse 3D metric distance error at different position before the camera. All the reasons mentioned above will cause accuracy decrease for 3D vision measurement. To solve the problem, a novel optimization method of camera parameters used for vision measurement is proposed. The presented method is devoted to minimizing the metric distance error between the calculated point and the real point in 3D measurement coordinate system. Comparatively, the initial camera parameters acquired through linear calibration are optimized through two different methods: one is the conventional method and the other is the novel method presented by this paper. Also, the calibration accuracy and measurement accuracy of the parameters obtained by the two methods are thoroughly analyzed and the choice of a suitable accuracy evaluation method is discussed. Simulative and real experiments to estimate the performance of the proposed method on test data are reported, and the results show that the proposed 3D optimization method is quite efficient to improve measurement accuracy compared with traditional method. It can meet the practical requirement of high precision in 3D vision metrology engineering.     

Digital image correlation for large deformation applied in Ti alloy compression and tension test

In this paper, digital speckle correlation is used in the measurement of Ti alloy compression and tension test. The key technologies applied in the measurement are discussed in detail, including camera calibration with telephoto lens and digital image correlation in large deformation. Single camera self-calibration algorithm based on photogrammetry is proposed. In the algorithm, the interior parameters of camera are estimated without calibrated object, using the bundle adjustment technique, so the 3-D coordinates of calibration target points are not needed in advance to get a reliable camera calibration result. An updating reference image scheme could be employed to deal with large deformation situation. A large deformation measurement scheme, updating reference image scheme, is proposed in this paper. The un-deformed image is used as reference in correlation at first. Only for extremely large deformation field, in which iteration of correlation is not convergent, the reference image is updated to the image of previous deformed stage. Using this method, not only extremely large deformation can be measured successfully but also the accumulated error could be controlled. The 75 mm lens is calibrated in the measurement and compared the result with extensometer and un-calibrated image. Experimental results show that up to 150% tensile deformation and 50% compression deformation can be measured successfully.     

液晶光阀实时图像变换实验

利用“液晶光阀变换系统”,开发和设计了“液晶光阀实时图像变换实验”。该实验内容包括：测试液晶光阀的工作曲线,确定液晶光阀的对比度,测试液晶光阀的响应时间,观察单缝的频谱,图像实时反转和微分,图像实时相减。     

3D coordinate measurement based on inverse photogrammetry and fringe analysis

A method based on inverse photogrammetry and fringe analysis is presented for 3D coordinate measurement. Measurement system mainly consists of a micro-camera fixed on one end of a measuring rod, a measuring probe on the other end and a liquid crystal display screen for displaying 2D fringe pattern in the measurement. In the measurement process, the probe contacts the surface of the measured object, and the CCD camera captures the stripes image on displays screen. The coordinates of camera principal point in the world coordinate system may be determined by the phase information carried in the fringe pattern. The coordinate relations between the principal point of the camera and the measuring probe can be determined with a least square optimization technique in camera coordinate system. This method has the advantage of large measurement range, good flexibility, and portable, which is suitable for field measurement. A result of our method is compared with that of the Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM), which shows that the measurement accuracy of this method can meet accuracy requirement of the field measurement in large dimension.     

投影器的标定方法

随着近景摄影测量的发展,投影器的使用越来越频繁和广泛。为了更好地使用和充分地利用投影器,需要求解投影器的内方位元素,即对投影器进行标定。提出了一种方便有效的投影器标定的方法。只需要一架投影器、一部数码相机、一个平面格网和一台计算机,设备的连接和使用相对方便灵活。基于近景摄影测量的理论,结合二维直接线性变换(2D-DLT)和共线方程,运用图像处理的方法,利用光束法平差对投影器进行标定。实验及其结果证明了该标定方法的正确性和有效性。     

Surface and flexoelectric polarization in a nematic liquid crystal 5CB

The temperature dependence of the surface polarization has been measured for both the planar and homeotropic orientation of a nematic liquid crystal at a solid substrate. A conventional liquid crystal 5CB, pure and doped with an azo-dye, was used in cells with controlled asymmetry for light absorption. The measurements have been made by a pyroelectric technique using short pulses of a YAG laser to create a temperature increment. The latter, in turn, was measured independently by a novel time-resolved “optical thermometer” technique monitoring temperature-dependent birefringence by a He- Ne laser beam. In accordance with the symmetry of the order parameter, the surface polarization has different sign for the two orientations, its magnitude ranges from -4 to +2pC/m. The same technique has been used for the measurement of the flexoelectric polarization in hybrid cells. The sum of the flexoelectric coefficients is e ₁ + e ₃ = - 13pC/m at 25°C. Received 28 February 2000 and Received in final form 5 September 2000     

正弦相位调制自混合干涉微位移测量精度分析

为了提高自混合干涉仪的位移测量精度,提出将正弦相位调制技术引入自混合干涉中。相位调制由置于自混合干涉仪外腔中的电光晶体实现,相位解调由傅里叶分析的方法得到。对位移测量过程中各种可能的误差来源如电光晶体调制不稳定性、光在外腔中的二次反馈效应等对测量精度的影响进行了模拟分析,从理论上得到了这种新的信号处理方法可以达到纳米级的测量精度。实验上,用高精度的商用压电陶瓷标定的结果验证了这种正弦相位调制自混合干涉仪在普通实验室噪声环境中可以达到纳米级的位移测量精度。     

The image adaptive method for solder paste 3D measurement system

The extensive application of Surface Mount Technology (SMT) requires various measurement methods to evaluate the circuit board. The solder paste 3D measurement system utilizing laser light projecting on the printed circuit board (PCB) surface is one of the critical methods. The local oversaturation, arising from the non-consistent reflectivity of the PCB surface, will lead to inaccurate measurement. The paper reports a novel optical image adaptive method of remedying the local oversaturation for solder paste measurement. The liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) and image sensor (CCD or CMOS) are combined as the high dynamic range image (HDRI) acquisition system. The significant characteristic of the new method is that the image after adjustment is captured by specially designed HDRI acquisition system programmed by the LCoS mask. The formation of the LCoS mask, depending on a HDRI combined with the image fusion algorithm, is based on separating the laser light from the local oversaturated region. Experimental results demonstrate that the method can significantly improve the accuracy for the solder paste 3D measurement system with local oversaturation.     

Phase shifting grating-slit test utilizing a liquid crystal display

A quantified focal plane testing method, termed phase-shifting grating-slit test, is demonstrated by utilizing a micro liquid crystal display. In contrast to the setup in the Ronchi Test, an incoherent illuminating grating is used and an optical slit is located at the image plane of the tested lens to modulate the aberrated wavefront. With the micro liquid crystal display generating and phase shifting the incoherent illuminating grating with variable frequency, a higher measurement dynamic range can be achieved on demand.