System and method for temperature data acquisition

• US 8,300,880 B2
• Filed: 06/05/2009
• Issued: 10/30/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Air Products and Chemicals Incorporated (Linde Plc)
• Original Assignee: Air Products and Chemicals Incorporated (Linde Plc)
• Inventors: Esmaili, Ali, Li, Xianming Jimmy, Licht, William Robert, Fogash, Kevin Boyle, Smith, Oliver Jacob IV, Herb, Blaine Edward, Bzik, Thomas Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Tabatabai, Abolfazl
• Application Number:
  US12/478,858
• Publication Number:
  US 20100310113A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,243 Days
• Field of Search: 382/100, 110/186, 110/190, 110/120, 110/208, 110/225, 431/12, 431/37, 431/75, 348/83, 374/124, 374/127, 374/30, 374/35, 374100-102, 373/57, 373/66, 373/78, 373/109, 373/136, 373/138
• US Class Current: 382/100
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 2208/00044 Temperature measurement
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 8/001 Controlling catalytic processes B01J8/1809 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 8/062 being installed in a furnace
• CPC Class Codes: C01B 2203/0233 the reforming step being a steam reforming step
• CPC Class Codes: C01B 2203/1619 Measuring the temperature
• CPC Class Codes: C01B 3/384 the catalyst being continuously externally heated
• CPC Class Codes: F27D 21/0014 Devices for monitoring temperature
• CPC Class Codes: F27D 21/02 Observation or illuminating devices

Abstract

A system and method is disclosed for acquiring temperature data from a plurality of features in a chamber including capturing a first image of an interior area of the chamber, capturing a second image of the interior area of the chamber, identifying a plurality of features within the data for the first image and the data for the second image, generating an interior area representation based on the first image data, the second image data, and the identification of each feature of the plurality of features in the interior area, and correlating the interior area representation to temperature information related to the interior area.

Claims

1. A method for determining temperature information on a plurality of tubes in a furnace, the method comprising:

capturing a plurality of images of an interior area of a furnace, at least some images of the plurality of images being associated with different portions of the interior area of the furnace, and wherein each image of the plurality of images comprises pixel data associated with a subset of the plurality of tubes positioned inside the furnace;

identifying each tube of the subset of the plurality of tubes in each image of the plurality of images;

processing a portion of the pixel data associated with each identified tube to obtain a value representing a measure of central tendency for each identified tube of the subset of the plurality of tubes in each image of the plurality of images; and

processing the value representing the measure of central tendency for each identified tube to obtain temperature information for the plurality of tubes.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the processing the value representing the measure of central tendency for each identified tube comprises determining a temperature value for each identified tube from the corresponding value representing the measure of central tendency for each identified tube.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

establishing a correlation between previously obtained values representing measures of central tendency and corresponding measured temperatures; and

wherein determining the temperature value for each identified tube from the corresponding value representing the measure of central tendency uses the correlation.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the processing the value representing the measure of central tendency for each identified tube further comprises:

determining tubes of the plurality of tubes having a plurality of corresponding determined temperature values; and

processing the plurality of corresponding determined temperature values for each determined tube of the plurality of tubes to obtain a single temperature value for each determined tube.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating a geometric model of the plurality of tubes positioned in the furnace.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the identifying each tube comprises:

identifying an edge of a tube of the plurality of tubes; and

overlaying a grid on the corresponding image using a geometric model of the plurality of tubes positioned in the furnace and the identified edge of a tube.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein the overlaying a grid comprises assigning grid lines to correspond to edges of each tube of the plurality of tubes in the corresponding image.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein the processing a portion of the pixel data comprises:

identifying a segment of the grid corresponding to each identified tube; and

processing the pixel data associated with the identified segment to obtain the value representing the measure of central tendency for the corresponding identified tube.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein the identifying a segment of the grid comprises identifying segments located at a predetermined elevation of each identified tube.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the pixel data comprises data for a plurality of channels; and

the processing a portion of the pixel data comprises processing the data for each channel of the plurality of channels to obtain a channel value for each channel of the plurality of channels.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the processing a portion of the pixel data comprises processing the channel values for the plurality of channels to obtain the value representing the measure of central tendency for the identified tube.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing the value representing the measure of central tendency for each identified tube to obtain temperature information comprises generating a value representing the measure of central tendency for each identified tube at a plurality of elevations.

13. A method for acquiring temperature data for a plurality of features in a chamber, the method comprising:

capturing a first image of an interior area of the chamber, the first image being associated with a first portion of the interior area, and wherein the first image comprises first image data for the plurality of features positioned within the interior area;

capturing a second image of the interior area of the chamber, the second image being associated with a second portion of the interior area, and wherein the second image comprises second image data for the plurality of features positioned within the interior area;

identifying the plurality of features within the first image data and the second image data;

generating an interior area representation based on the first image data, the second image data, and the identification of each feature of the plurality of features in the interior area, wherein the interior area representation comprises data relating to the plurality of features positioned inside the interior area;

establishing a correlation between the interior area representation and temperature information related to the interior area; and

calculating temperatures of the plurality of features in the interior area from the interior area representation using the established correlation.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the generating an interior area representation comprises:

determining each feature of the plurality of features having a plurality of calculated values;

generating a consolidated value for each determined feature of the plurality of features based on the plurality of calculated values for the corresponding determined feature; and

wherein the interior area representation comprises the consolidated value for each determined tube of the plurality of features.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

associating the first image data to a corresponding identified feature in the first image; and

calculating a value for each identified feature in the first image using the associated first image data.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the generating an interior area representation comprises generating an interior representation at a plurality of elevations within the chamber.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising generating and displaying a three-dimensional plot of the temperature information.