ESTIMATION OF FURNACE TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION USING DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES

Present work proposes a novel, low cost non-contact, temperature measurement technique using consumer grade digital still camera. The images of various visible heat sources are captured. A number of visible heat sources are used to get zones of different colours and temperature data is acquired by placing a standard miniature thermocouple in each colour zone. The colour temperature correlation is established by applying various analytical methods. The results indicate that the image-based measurements agree with the corresponding contact measurements within an error range of about 5%. The technique is successfully used for measuring the temperature distribution of different industrial applications like muffle furnace, salt bath furnace etc.