Loading patent…
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy
InventorsGeorg F. Albrecht, Thomas R. Moore
Estimating the term…
The present invention provides an apparatus and method for non-invasively monitoring turbulent fluid flows including anisotropic flows. The present invention uses an optical technique to filter out the rays travelling in a straight line, while transmitting rays with turbulence induced fluctuations in time. The output is two dimensional, and can provide data regarding the spectral intensity distribution, or a view of the turbulence in real time. The optical monitor of the present invention comprises a laser that produces a coherent output beam that is directed through a fluid flow, which phase-modulates the beam. The beam is applied to a temporal filter that filters out the rays in the beam that are straight, while substantially transmitting the fluctuating, turbulence-induced rays. The temporal filter includes a lens and a photorefractive crystal such as BaTiO.sub.3 that is positioned in the converging section of the beam near the focal plane. An imaging system is used to observe the filtered beam. The imaging system may take a photograph, or it may include a real time camera that is connected to a computer. The present invention may be used for many purposes including research and design in aeronautics, hydrodynamics, and combustion.
An optical monitor for observing the flow of a fluid, said monitor comprising:
An optical monitor for observing the flow of a fluid, said monitor comprising:
A method of monitoring the flow of a fluid using a temporal filter with a time constant .tau., said method comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.