Hydrogen fires emit very little radiation in the visible band, indeed in daylight they are effectively invisible. This is a serious safety hazard particularly in the aerospace field where hydrogen is widely used as a rocket propellent. A practical imaging system has been developed to detect the non-visible radiation that these fires do give off. The emission spectrum,atmospheric transmission, background emission and reflection have been quantified under various conditions. This shows thermal wavelengths are well suited for this application. A low cost, uncooled, staring array TV compatible thermal imager has been optimised for this. The resultant image is 'punched through' to super-impose the flame on a bore-sighted visual TV image. Finally the integration of this equipment into the sophisticated C.C.T.V. observation system on the N.A.S.A. space shuttle launch pad is discussed.
Hydrogen-fire detection using thermal imaging and its application to space launch vehicles
Thermosense XII: An International Conference on Thermal Sensing and Imaging Diagnostic Applications ; 1990 ; Orlando,FL,United States
Proc. SPIE ; 1313
1990-03-01
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
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