Microprocessor directed optical pyrometer
AssigneeLeeds & Northrup Company
InventorsAlexander H. Clark, John E. O'Neil, Albert S. Tenney, III
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A portable automatic disappearing filament optical pyrometer having low power demand incorporating a solid state line scanner as a sensing element is controlled by a microprocessor to perform a balance between the radiation from a target and a lamp filament to provide a digital indication of the temperature of the target including compensation for emissivity of the target.
Claims5
A microprocessor directed disappearing filament pyrometer for measuring and displaying the temperature of a target area including
- a calibrated lamp having a linear filament;
- a solid state photoelectric detector array having a multiplicity of sensitive areas in a linear array, arranged in a substantially right angle relationship with respect to said linear filament of said calibrated lamp;
- means for continuously directing radiation from said linear filament of said calibrated lamp upon a first group of said sensitive areas and for continuously directing radiation from said target area upon a second group of said sensitive areas with a portion of said second group of sensitive areas being located on each side of said sensitive areas of said first group;
- means for scanning said groups of said sensitive areas for producing an output signal having a first data level dependent upon the intensity of radiation on said first group of sensitive areas and a second data level dependent upon the intensity of radiation on said second group of sensitive areas;
- means responsive to said output signal for producing a signal representative of the desired current flow through said linear filament of said calibrated lamp so that said first data level and said second data level of said output signal will be the same;
- means responsive to said desired current signal for adjusting said current flow through said linear filament of said calibrated lamp to said desired current;
- and
- indicating means responsive to said signal representative of said desired current flow for producing an indication of said temperature of said target area.
A method for measuring and displaying the temperature of a target area using a microprocessor directed disappearing filament pyrometer having a calibrated lamp with a linear filament and a linear solid state photoelectric detector array having a multiplicity of sensitive areas comprising the steps of
- continuously directing radiation from said linear filament of said calibrated lamp upon a first group of said sensitive areas and for continuously directing radiation from said target area upon a second group of said sensitive areas;
- scanning said groups of said sensitive areas to produce an output signal from said photoelectric detector array having a first data level dependent upon the intensity of radiation of said first group of sensitive areas and a second data level dependent upon the intensity of radiation on said second group of sensitive areas, and
- producing from said output signal a current flow through said lamp so that said first data level and said second data level of said output signal will be the same;
- the improvement comprising the step of initially scanning said groups of said sensitive areas with no current flow through said calibrated lamp to permit identification of said sensitive areas included in said first group.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.