System for generating thermographic images using thermographic signal reconstruction
First Claim
1. A system for determining a time response to a monotonically changing characteristic of a sample, comprising:
- a camera that obtains at least two different images of the sample over time, each image having a plurality of pixels, each pixel having an amplitude corresponding to the monotonically changing characteristic of the sample;
a controller coupled to at least one of the sample or the camera for moving the camera or the sample spatially to obtain said at least two different images of the sample; and
a processor that receives the plurality of images and generates a data array for each of the spatially different images, the data array corresponding to a logarithm of the pixel amplitude at a given time and a logarithm of the given time, wherein the processor fits a polynomial representing a reconstructed function to at least a portion of the data array, the polynomial having at least one polynomial coefficient, such that each pixel in said different images is represented by a coefficient array containing said at least one polynomial coefficient, and wherein the processor generates from coefficient arrays at least two reconstructed images corresponding to said at least two different images.
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Abstract
A method and system for non-destructive, reference-free thermographic detection of sub-surface defects uses an infrared camera to capture multiple, spatially different images of a sample that has been heated and allow to cool to equilibrium temperature. The temperature-time data obtained for each pixel in each image is converted into the logarithmic domain and a least squares fit is conducted on the data to generate a polynomial expression corresponding to the temperature-time data for a given pixel. This polynomial expression can be transformed into the original time domain to obtain temperature-time data with improved signal-to-noise characteristics.
142 Citations
33 Claims
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1. A system for determining a time response to a monotonically changing characteristic of a sample, comprising:
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a camera that obtains at least two different images of the sample over time, each image having a plurality of pixels, each pixel having an amplitude corresponding to the monotonically changing characteristic of the sample;
a controller coupled to at least one of the sample or the camera for moving the camera or the sample spatially to obtain said at least two different images of the sample; and
a processor that receives the plurality of images and generates a data array for each of the spatially different images, the data array corresponding to a logarithm of the pixel amplitude at a given time and a logarithm of the given time, wherein the processor fits a polynomial representing a reconstructed function to at least a portion of the data array, the polynomial having at least one polynomial coefficient, such that each pixel in said different images is represented by a coefficient array containing said at least one polynomial coefficient, and wherein the processor generates from coefficient arrays at least two reconstructed images corresponding to said at least two different images. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for determining a time response to a monotonic change in a characteristic of a sample, comprising the acts of:
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obtaining a plurality of different images of the sample over time, each different image having a plurality of pixels each having an amplitude corresponding to the monotonically changing characteristic of the sample;
generating a data array for each of the plurality of pixels, the data array corresponding to the logarithm of the pixel amplitude at a given time and the logarithm of the given time;
fitting a polynomial representing a reconstructed function to the data array associated with at least a portion of the plurality of pixels, the polynomial having at least two polynomial coefficients, such that each pixel in said portion of plurality of pixels is represented by a coefficient array containing said at least two polynomial coefficients;
generating a plurality of reconstructed images corresponding to the plurality of different images. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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Specification