Infra-red profilometer

A method for determining the three-dimensional surface profile of the charge or burden in a furnace without physically contacting the charge or burden or interrupting the charging of the furnace, which comprises the steps of:

• (a) generating a first set of temperature-position signals from a first infra-red radiation measuring instrument that is mounted over the charge or burden in a fixed position with respect to said furnace, said first set of signals corresponding to the infra-red rays emitted from a series of temperature-characterized points on the surface of the charge or burden and representing a temperature image of said surface,
• (b) generating a second set of temperature-position signals from a second infra-red radiation measuring instrument that is mounted over the charge or burden in a fixed position with respect to said furnace and in a known position and orientation relative to said first instrument, said second set of signals corresponding to the infra-red rays emitted from said series of points and representing a temperature image of said surface;
• (c) generating a first and second visually perceptible temperature image that represent said first and second sets of signals with an electronic image-forming system having sufficient accuracy to permit identification of the temperature and position components of the signals represented by points on said visually perceptible images;
• (d) pairing individual points on said first visually perceptible image with individual points on said second visually perceptible image that represent signals corresponding to identical temperature-characterized points, thereby determining two position components for each pair of signals;
• (e) determining the position in space for each temperature-characterized point that is defined by the two position components for each pair of signals, to provide multiple positions representing the three-dimensional surface profile.

A method for determining the three-dimensional surface profile of the charge or burden in a furnace without physically contacting the charge or burden or interrupting the charging of the furnace, which comprises the steps of:

• (a) generating a first set of temperature-position signals from a first infra-red radiation measuring instrument that is mounted over the charge or burden in a fixed position with respect to said furnace, said first set of signals corresponding to the infra-red rays emitted from a series of temperature-characterized points on the surface of the charge or burden, a first signal for each point in said series being generated at one time;
• (b) generating a second set of temperature-position signals from a second infra-red radiation measuring instrument that is mounted over the charge or burden in a fixed position with respect to said furnace and in a known position and orientation relative to said first instrument, said second set of signals corresponding to the infra-red rays emitted from said series of points, a second signal for each point in said series being generated at one time;
• (c) pairing individual signals in said first set of signals with individual signals in said second set of signals that represent infra-red rays corresponding to identical temperature-characterized points;
• (d) generating a height-position signal for each pair of signals that represents the position in space of each corresponding temperature-characterized point, thereby generating a set of height-position signals that represent the three-dimensional surface profile.

A method for determining the three-dimensional surface profile of the charge or burden in a furnace without physically contacting the charge or burden or interrupting the charging of the furnace, which comprises the steps of:

• (a) generating a first set of temperature-position signals from a first infra-red radiation measuring instrument that is mounted over the charge or burden, said first set of signals corresponding to the infra-red rays emitted from a series of temperature-characterized points on the surface of the charge or burden;
• (b) generating a second set of temperature-position signals from a second infra-red radiation measuring instrument that is mounted over the charge or burden in a known position and orientation relative to said first instrument, said second set of signals corresponding to the infra-red rays emitted from said series of points;
• (c) segregating subsets of said first and second sets of temperature-positions signals that correspond to given planes of intersection with the charge or burden in a scanning apparatus;
• (d) pairing individual signals in a selectd segregated subset of said first set of temperature-position signals with individual signals that have identical temperature components in a corresponding subset of said second set of temperature-position signals;
• (e) repeating step (d) for a plurality of planes of intersection;
• (f) determining the position in space for each temperature-characterized point that is defined by a pair of signals,, to provide multiple positions representing the three-dimensional surface profile.

A method for determining the three-dimensional surface profile of the charge or burden in a furnace without physically contacting the charge or burden or interrupting the charging of the furnace, which comprises the steps of:

• (a) generating a first set of temperature-position signals from a first infra-red radiation measuring instrument that is mounted over the charge or burden in a fixed position with respect to said furnace, said first set of signals corresponding to the infra-red rays emitted from a series of temperature-characterized points on the surface of the charge or burden, and representing a temperature image of said series of points;
• (b) generating a second set of temperature-position signals from a second infra-red radiation measuring instrument that is mounted for the angular adjustment in a known position and in known orientations relative to said first instrument over the charge or burden, and is operated as a point-source infra-red ray detector, said series of points being scanned point-by-point to generate said second set of signals;
• (c) pairing individual signals in said first set of signals with individual signals in said second set of signals that represent infra-red rays corresponding to identical temperature characterized points;
• (d) generating a height-position signal for each pair of signals that represents the position in space of each corresponding temperature characterized point, thereby generating a set of height-position signals that represents the three-dimensional surface profile.

A method for determining the three-dimensional surface profile of the charge or burden in a furnace without physically contacting the charge or burden or interrupting the charging of the furnace, which comprises the steps of:

• (a) generating a first set of temperature-position signals from a first infra-red radiation measuring instrument that is mounted for angular adjustment over the charge or burden and is operated as a pilot point-source infra-red ray detector to scan a series of temperature-characterized points on the surface of the charge or burden point-by-point, and generate a first signal for each point in said series;
• (b) generating a second temperature-position signal for each point in said series, at the same time that said first signal is generated, from a second infra-red radiation measuring instrument that is mounted for angular adjustment in a known position and in known orientations relative to said first instrument, over the charge or burden and is operated as a follow-up point-source infra-red ray detector, thereby providing a pair of signals for each temperature characterized point in said series.
• (c) generating a height-position signal for each pair of signals that represents the position in space of each corresponding temperature-characterized point, thereby generating a set of height-position signals that represents the three-dimensional surface profile.

Apparatus for determining the three-dimensional surface profile of a charge or burden in a furnace comprising:

• a first infra-red radiation measuring instrument located over the charge or burden for generating a first set of temperature-position signals that represents a first two-dimensional temperature image of a series of temperature-characterized points on the surface of the charge or burden;
• a second infra-red radiation measuring instrument located over the charge or burden for generating a second set of temperature-position signals that represents a second two-dimensional temperature image of said series of points, said second infra-red radiation measuring instrument being located in a known position and orientation relative to said first instrument;
• a scanning apparatus for receiving said first and second sets of signals from said first and second instruments, and for segregating a first series of subsets in said first set of signals, and a corresponding second series of subsets in said second set of signals, each subset corresponding to a given plane of intersection with the burden;
• an electronic image-forming system for each instrument for receiving a selected subset of temperature-position signals and generating a visually perceptible temperature-position curve that corresponds to the plane of intersection for the selected subset.

Apparatus for determining the three-dimensional surface profile of the charge or burden in a furnace comprising:

• a first infra-red radiation measuring instrument located over the charge or burden for generating a first set of temperature-position signals that represents a first two-dimensional temperature image of a series of temperature-characterized points on the surface of the charge of burden;
• a second infra-red radiation measuring instrument located over the charge or burden for generating a second set of temperature-position signals that represents a second two-dimensional temperature image of said series of points, said second infra-red radiation measuring instrument being located in a known position and orientation relative to said first instrument;
• an electronic computer for receiving signals from said first and second instruments, for pairing individual signals in said first set with individual signals in said second set that represent infra-red rays corresponding to identical temperature-characterized points, and for generating a height-position signal for each pair of signals that represents the position in space of each temperature-characterized point, thereby enabling the generation of a set of height-position signals that represents a three-dimensional surface profile;
• and
• an electronic image-forming system for receiving said set of height-position signals from said scanning apparatus, and for generating a visually perceptible image of said three-dimensional surface profile.