07-29-2016, 02:11 AM
Hello,
Thermograhy can work really well if you are trying to see, maybe say, fluid levels in tanks, but only when the fluid level differs in temperature significantly to the ambient and where the tank material is conductive of heat but not overly conductive.
So evaporating Propane in a 3mm steel tank can be easily seen as there is about a 10 degree difference pretty quickly and while the steel conducts the heat difference it doesn't have the conductivity required to equalise the whole tank evenly as say 10mm thick Aluminium might,
So solids... depends on grain size and contact surface area but it'll never be as good as liquid, also important is temperature of the solid and the ratio of mass of solid to the mass of the tank.
My guess is "find another path" sorry
BTW,
I worked in "Specialised Diagnostics" my last two years at the Steelworks in which I was trained, we used Ultra sonics, vibration analysis, Radiography, Thermography and various other non destructive methods to "Diagnose" all kinds of stuff.
Level sensing is pretty easy, but surface profile sensing much harder, what is it you're trying to do?
regards
Rick
Thermograhy can work really well if you are trying to see, maybe say, fluid levels in tanks, but only when the fluid level differs in temperature significantly to the ambient and where the tank material is conductive of heat but not overly conductive.
So evaporating Propane in a 3mm steel tank can be easily seen as there is about a 10 degree difference pretty quickly and while the steel conducts the heat difference it doesn't have the conductivity required to equalise the whole tank evenly as say 10mm thick Aluminium might,
So solids... depends on grain size and contact surface area but it'll never be as good as liquid, also important is temperature of the solid and the ratio of mass of solid to the mass of the tank.
My guess is "find another path" sorry
BTW,
I worked in "Specialised Diagnostics" my last two years at the Steelworks in which I was trained, we used Ultra sonics, vibration analysis, Radiography, Thermography and various other non destructive methods to "Diagnose" all kinds of stuff.
Level sensing is pretty easy, but surface profile sensing much harder, what is it you're trying to do?
regards
Rick
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