Volume 5, Number 6 November/December 1997
Small Business/SBIR
esearch conducted by Duncan Technologies, Inc. (DTI), of
Auburn, California, through the Small Business Innovative Research Program and Stennis
Space Center has developed into a revolutionary system that provides color images of
invisible hydrogen fires, making it easier to detect, locate and extinguish during
daylight hours.
"There's simply nothing else on the market that performs the way this system does," said Bud Nail, Stennis' technical systems lead engineer. "It takes out the guess work in identifying a hydrogen fire . . . the system does not have to be attended," and frees technicians to conduct other work with an alarm alert if a fire is detected. Previous research using images in the infrared and near infrared to view hydrogen fires had limitations—high cost, poor resolution and difficulty in interpreting images because of thermal, rather than visible, detection.
With expertise in advanced imaging and electro-optical services expertise, DTI designed a camera system that uses state-of-the-art, low-cost, charge-coupled device (CCD) technologies to produce a color image of invisible hydrogen flames.
Using two sensors in the near infrared and one in the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, a flame's strong water vapor emissions is picked up by one infrared while another detects minimal emissions, measuring the background image. The background image is subtracted from the flame image and the result is a filtered, isolated hydrogen flame image superimposed onto a color video image.
If no hydrogen fire is present, the user sees normal color video. If a flame is present, the user sees a red depiction of the flame overlaid on the color video. The system has the capability to detect a three-inch flame from up to 150 feet away.
Other fuels such as ethyl alcohol, used in the race car industry, also burn with an invisible flame. The camera can image these fires equally well and could help pit crews who deal with large quantities of this dangerous fuel in a frantic environment.
A marketing plan to commercialize this system is being developed. Potential users that could benefit from the technology are hydrogen suppliers, refineries, petroleum companies, food and semiconductor processors, the fertilizer industry and even some cosmetics companies.
Imaging technology will offer an additional margin of safety for hydrogen vehicle refueling and maintenance stations.
Visit http://sbir.gsfc.nasa.gov/SBIR.html to learn more.
For more information, contact the Public Affairs Office at Stennis
Space Center.
Call (228) 688-3341
Please mention you read about it in Innovation.
