Standoff sensor for industrial flares and wildfires
AssigneeThe George Washington University
InventorsJ. Houston Miller, Erin McCaughey
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A passive laser device detects a fire. The device includes a near-infrared and mid-infrared sensor configured to detect near-infrared light emission signals from a fire source. A processing device receives two near-infrared light emissions detected by said near-infrared sensor, determines an intensity ratio of the two near-infrared light emission signals, and determines a temperature of the fire source based on the intensity ratio.
Claims24
A passive laser device for detecting a fire, said device comprising:
- a near-infrared sensor configured to detect a near-infrared light emission signal from a fire source;
- and
- a processing device configured to:
- receive the near-infrared light emission detected by said near-infrared sensor;
- determine a near-infrared light emission signal intensity at a predetermined wavelength;
- and
- determine a fire source type of the fire source based on the near-infrared light emission signal intensity.
6-11. (canceled)
(canceled)
A passive laser device for detecting a fire, said device comprising:
- a near-infrared sensor configured to detect a near-infrared light emission signal from a fire source;
- and
- a processing device configured to:
- receive the near-infrared light emission detected by said near-infrared sensor;
- determine a first near-infrared light emission signal intensity at a first predetermined wavelength;
- determine a second near-infrared light emission signal intensity at a second predetermined wavelength;
- and
- determine an intensity ratio of the first and second near-infrared light emission signal intensities;
- determine a characteristic of the fire source based on the intensity ratio.
The device of 16, wherein the characteristic comprises one of temperature or distance to the fire source.
The device of 17, wherein the temperature and distance to the fire source are directly related to the intensity ratio.
A passive laser device for detecting a wildfire, said device comprising:
- a mid-infrared sensor configured to detect mid-infrared light emission signals from a fire source;
- and
- a processing device configured to receive mid-infrared light emission signals detected by said mid-infrared sensor, determine temperatures and concentration of hot gasses, and determine the combustion efficiency of the fire source based on the concentration of hot gasses.
23-24. (canceled)
The device of claim 23, wherein the spectral resolution improves selectivity and sensitivity for targeted atoms and molecules.
The device of claim 23, wherein the spectral resolution allows for extracting additional physical data that impacts the shapes of highly resolved spectral features.
28-34. (canceled)
The device of claim 3416, further comprising:
- a first optical component configured to receive the light emission signals;
- a second optical component configured to receive the laser signal;
- a beam splitter configured to receive the light emission signals from said first optical component and the laser signal from said second optical component, to provide a combined optical signal;
- a photodetector configured to receive the combined optical signal from said beam splitter and provide an electrical signal output;
- a DC block configured to receive the electrical signal output and remove DC components from the electrical signal output, passing only a RF heterodyne signal;
- and
- a processing device configured to extract emission characteristics from the RF heterodyne signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.