Apparatus and method to calculate energy dissipated from an object

• US 8,823,803 B2
• Filed: 02/22/2013
• Issued: 09/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Flir Systems AB (Teledyne Technologies Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Flir Systems AB (Teledyne Technologies Incorporated)
• Inventors: Strandemar, Katrin, Jnsson, Henrik, Hamrelius, Torbjrn, Palm, Gunnar
• Primary Examiner(s): BAROT, BHARAT
• Application Number:
  US13/774,870
• Publication Number:
  US 20130162836A1
• Time in Patent Office: 557 Days
• Field of Search: 348/164, 348/169, 348/E5.09, 250/330, 250/332, 250/338.1, 250/341.1, 250/342
• US Class Current: 348/164
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 2005/0077 Imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/025 Interfacing a pyrometer to an external device or network; User interface
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/0275 Control or determination of height or distance or angle information for sensors or receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/064 Ambient temperature sensor; Housing temperature sensor; Constructional details thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/10 using electric radiation detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/485 Temperature profile
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/08 for measuring distance only indirect measurement G01S17/46; active triangulation systems G01S17/48
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/88 Lidar systems specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 13/14 for use with infrared or ultraviolet radiation G02B13/008, G02B13/16 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/33 Transforming infrared radiation cameras or camera modules for generating image signals from infrared radiation H04N23/20; circuitry of SSIS for transforming infrared radiation into image signals H04N25/20

Abstract

An IR camera includes a thermal radiation capturing arrangement for capturing thermal radiation of an imaged view in response to input control unit(s) receiving user inputs from a user of the IR camera; a processing unit arranged to process the thermal radiation data in order for the thermal radiation data to be displayed by an IR camera display as thermal images; and an IR camera display arranged to display thermal images to a user of the IR camera. The processing unit is further arranged to determine at least one temperature reference value representing the temperature of the surrounding environment of the imaged view; and calculate at least one output power value indicative of an amount of energy dissipated in a part of the imaged view by using the temperature value of the thermal radiation data corresponding to said part of the imaged view and the at least one determined temperature reference value.

Claims

1. An infrared (IR) camera comprising:

a thermal radiation capturing arrangement for capturing thermal radiation data of an imaged view in response to an input control unit(s) receiving inputs from a user of the IR camera; and

a processing unit configured to;

identify a portion of the thermal radiation data representing an object in the imaged view,

determine at least one temperature reference value representing a temperature of an environment surrounding the object in the imaged view,

calculate at least one object power value indicative of an amount of energy dissipated from the object in the imaged view based on the at least one determined temperature reference value associated with the environment and a temperature value associated with the identified portion of the thermal radiation data representing the object, and

process the thermal radiation data to generate thermal images for display.

2. The IR camera of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is configured to determine power density values associated with the identified portion of the thermal radiation data to calculate the at least one object power value.

3. The IR camera of claim 2, further comprising a camera display configured to display the thermal images, wherein the processing unit is configured to control the camera display to display:

at least one of the power density values in place of a corresponding temperature pixel in the thermal images; and

/or

the calculated object power value together with the thermal images for viewing by the user.

4. The IR camera of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

receive information comprising current energy price information and/or time span information;

calculate a total energy output value for the object in the imaged view based on the time span information and the calculated object power value; and

calculate a total energy cost value based on the current energy price information and the total energy output value.

5. The IR camera of claim 1, further comprising a camera display configured to display the thermal images, wherein:

the input control unit(s) comprises a touch screen provided on the camera display; and

the processing unit is configured to identify the portion of the thermal radiation data representing the object, in response to the user indicating via the touch screen an area representing the object in the thermal images displayed on the camera display.

6. The IR camera of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is configured to identify the portion of the thermal radiation data representing the object using a temperature threshold value associated with the object in the imaged view.

7. The IR camera of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

receive, via the input control unit(s), information comprising a value of an actual physical surface area of the object in the imaged view facing towards the IR camera; and

calculate the at least one object power value using the value of the actual physical surface area.

8. The IR camera of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

receive, from a distance determining unit comprised in the IR camera, information comprising a distance between the object and the IR camera;

determine an object field-of-view of the object represented by the portion of the thermal radiation data in the image view;

estimate an actual physical surface area of the object in the imaged view facing towards the IR camera based upon the received distance and the determined object field-of-view; and

calculate the at least one object power value using the estimation of the actual physical surface area of the object.

9. The IR camera of claim 8, wherein:

the distance comprised in the information from the distance determining unit is a distance map comprising separate distance values for different subsets of the thermal radiation data; and

the processing unit is configured to;

estimate the shape or form of the object using the distance map, and

calculate the at least one object power value using the estimation of the shape or form of the object.

10. The IR camera of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

receive, via the input control unit(s), information comprising a form indicator indicative of the shape or form of the object; and

calculate the at least one object power value using the form indicator or a corresponding value.

11. The IR camera of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is configured to determine the at least one temperature reference value by receiving, from the user via the input control unit(s) or from a temperature measuring unit comprised in the IR camera, one or more temperature values to be used as the at least one temperature reference value.

12. The IR camera of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

identify another portion of the thermal radiation data to be used as a reference area in the imaged view, wherein the other portion of the thermal radiation data corresponding to the reference area is not part of the portion of the thermal radiation data representing the object in the imaged view;

calculate a representative temperature value for the reference area; and

determine the at least one temperature reference value using the representative temperature value.

13. A method comprising:

capturing thermal radiation data of an imaged view using an infrared (IR) camera;

identifying a portion of the thermal radiation data representing an object in the imaged view;

determining at least one temperature reference value representing a temperature of an environment surrounding the object in the imaged view;

calculating at least one object power value indicative of an amount of energy dissipated from the object in the imaged view based on the at least one determined temperature reference value associated with the environment and a temperature value associated with the identified portion of the thermal radiation data representing the object; and

processing the thermal radiation data to display thermal images for viewing by a user of the IR camera.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the calculating the at least one object power value comprises determining power density values associated with the identified portion of the thermal radiation data.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising displaying:

at least one of the power density values in place of a corresponding temperature pixel in the thermal images; and

/or

the calculated object power value together with the thermal images for viewing by the user.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving information comprising current energy price information and/or time span information;

calculating a total energy output value for the object in the imaged view based on the time span information and the calculated object power value; and

calculating a total energy cost value based on the current energy price information and the total energy output value.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

displaying the thermal images on a touch screen of the IR camera; and

receiving, via the touch screen, a user indication of an area representing the object in the thermal images, wherein the portion of the thermal radiation data representing the object is identified in response to the user indication the an area representing the object in the thermal images.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the portion of the thermal radiation data representing the object is identified using a temperature threshold value associated with the object in the imaged view.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising receiving, from the user, information comprising a value of an actual physical surface area of the object in the imaged view facing towards the IR camera, wherein the at least one object power value is calculated using the value of the actual physical surface area.

20. The method of claim 13, further comprising receiving, from the user or a temperature measuring unit comprised in the IR camera, one or more temperature values, wherein the at least one temperature reference value is determined using the one or more received temperature values.