Compensated optical detection apparatus, systems, and methods
AssigneeHalliburton Energy Services, Inc.
InventorsRaj Pai, Marian Morys, Phap Hung Lien
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In some embodiments, apparatus and systems, as well as methods, may operate to receive radiation at an active detector of a pair of radiation detectors to provide a first signal proportional to an intensity of the radiation, to receive none of the radiation at a blind detector of the pair of radiation detectors to provide a second signal proportional to the reception of no radiation, and to combine the first signal and the second signal to provide an output signal representing the difference between the first signal and the second signal. The pair of radiation detectors may comprise thermopile detectors. Combination may occur via differential amplification. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed.
Claims20
An apparatus, comprising:
- at least one pair of radiation detectors configured as a set of periodically-blind detectors that alternate between active and blind operation;
- and
- at least one amplifier to receive a pair of signals from the pair of detectors, and to transform the pair of signals into an output signal representing the difference between a signal proportional to radiation received by a blind one of the pair of detectors and a signal proportional to radiation received by an active one of the pair of detectors.
A system, comprising:
- a downhole tool;
- at least one pair of radiation detectors configured as a set of periodically-blind detectors that alternate between active and blind operation;
- and
- at least one amplifier to receive a pair of signals from the pair of detectors, and to transform the pair of signals into an output signal representing the difference between a signal proportional to radiation received by a blind one of the pair of detectors and a signal proportional to radiation received by an active one of the pair of detectors, the at least one pair of radiation detectors and the at least one amplifier at least partially housed by the downhole tool.
A processor-implemented method to execute on one or more processors that perform the method, comprising:
- receiving incident radiation at an active detector of a pair of alternately shuttered radiation detectors to provide a first signal proportional to an intensity of the incident radiation;
- receiving substantially none of the incident radiation at a blind detector of the pair of alternately shuttered radiation detectors to provide a second signal proportional to the reception of substantially no incident radiation;
- and
- combining the first signal and the second signal to provide an output signal representing the difference between the first signal and the second signal.
An article including a non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions stored therein, wherein the instructions, when executed, result in a machine performing:
- receiving incident radiation at an active detector of a pair of alternately shuttered thermopile radiation detectors to provide a first signal proportional to an intensity of the incident radiation;
- receiving substantially none of the incident radiation at a blind detector of the pair of alternately shuttered thermopile radiation detectors to provide a second signal proportional to the reception of substantially no incident radiation;
- and
- combining, using differential amplification, the first signal and the second signal to provide an output signal representing the difference between the first signal and the second signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.