Patent ID: 9509923
Filing Date: 2016-11-29
CPC Classification: G01N,H04N

Claim Text:
1. A method for continuously monitoring the working condition of a heat recovery steam generator (“HRSG”) using infrared thermography, the method comprising: identifying one or more target locations inside said heat recovery steam generator; positioning one or more infrared cameras inside said heat recovery steam generator for continuously viewing said target locations; capturing at least one image of the one or more target locations using the one or more infrared cameras, while the HRSG is in a downtime condition and not heated by a hot gas stream flowing through the HRSG; calibrating the one or more infrared cameras, wherein the calibration includes estimating an optimum focal length and range for each of said one or more infrared cameras using tube detection algorithms which detect one or more tubes in the captured images of the target locations; designating at least one image captured while the HRSG is in downtime as a corresponding base line image or images of the one or more target locations; after calibrating the one or more infrared cameras and while the HRSG is operating to recover heat from a gas stream, capturing at least one image of the one or more target locations using the one or more infrared cameras; generating a set of continuous thermographic images for each of said target locations using images captured by the one or more infrared cameras, while the HRSG is operating to recover heat from the hot gas stream passing through the HRSG; comparing said continuous thermographic images to the corresponding base line image or images of the one or more target locations; and generating a set of comparative data reports and comparative images based on real time data accumulated for each of said one or more target locations and based on the comparisons of the thermographic images to the corresponding base line images.