Method and apparatus for detecting flame
First Claim
1. A method of detecting flame within a region, comprising the steps of:
- (a) measuring radiation emitted from said region within a selected portion of a visible frequency band;
(b) concurrently measuring radiation emitted from said region within a selected portion of an infra-red frequency band;
(c) deriving the coherency between said measurements;
(d) comparing said coherency with a prestored coherency signature representative of the coherency between measurements of radiation emitted from said region within said selected portions of said visible and infra-red frequency bands while known flame conditions prevail within said region, thereby estimating the deviation of said derived coherency from said prestored coherency signature; and
,(e) comparing said deviation with a first predetermined threshold alarm value.
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Abstract
A method of detecting flame within a region where flame is expected. Radiation emissions from the region are measured within selected portions of the visible and infra-red frequency bands. Spectral characteristics of the two measurements, including their auto spectra, coherency and transfer function, are derived. The derived spectral characteristics are compared with prestored spectral signatures representative of the spectral characteristics of radiation emitted from the region within the selected portions of the visible and infra-red frequency bands while known flame conditions prevail within the region--thereby estimating the deviation of the derived spectral characteristics from the prestored spectral signatures. The deviations aforesaid are compared with predetermined threshold alarm values to assess the presence or absence of flame.
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Citations
50 Claims
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1. A method of detecting flame within a region, comprising the steps of:
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(a) measuring radiation emitted from said region within a selected portion of a visible frequency band; (b) concurrently measuring radiation emitted from said region within a selected portion of an infra-red frequency band; (c) deriving the coherency between said measurements; (d) comparing said coherency with a prestored coherency signature representative of the coherency between measurements of radiation emitted from said region within said selected portions of said visible and infra-red frequency bands while known flame conditions prevail within said region, thereby estimating the deviation of said derived coherency from said prestored coherency signature; and
,(e) comparing said deviation with a first predetermined threshold alarm value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A method of detecting flame within a region, comprising the steps of:
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(a) deriving "m" data signals x1 (t), where i=1, 2, . . . m, each of said data signals characterizing radiation emitted from said region within a corresponding portion of the visible frequency band; (b) sampling each of said data signals "N" times in each of "k" block periods, where "k" is an integer, each block having duration "T" seconds, to derive a plurality of "c" signal samples characterized by xik (c); (c) deriving the discrete auto-power spectrum density estimate Siik [L] for xi (t) as;
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">S.sub.iik [L]=X.sub.ik [L] *·
X.sub.ik [L]where; Xik [L]is the complex discrete Fourier transform of sampled signal xi (t) for the kth sample block; "L" =0, 1, . . . N/2-1 is the Lth harmonic component at frequency (L/T) Hertz; and
, "*" denotes the complex conjugate;(d) comparing said auto-power spectrum density estimate with a prestored auto-power spectrum density signature representative of the auto-power spectrum density between measurements of radiation emitted from said region within said corresponding portions of said visible frequency band while known flame conditions prevail within said region, thereby estimating the deviation of said derived auto-power spectrum density from said prestored auto-power spectrum density signature; and
,(e) comparing said deviation with a first predetermined threshold alarm value. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 50)
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49. A method as defined in calim 48, wherein:
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(a) said signature weighting function w[i]=(d[i]/dmax); and
,(b) dmax =Σ
d[i] for all spectral functions x[i].
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Specification