Patent ID: 6926440

Claim:
A system for generating a temperature profile of at least a portion of a surface area of a solar receiver having a plurality of receiver panels, said system comprising: a plurality of IR cameras positioned to view approximately one half of the surface area of said solar receiver, wherein each said IR camera is located to have a field of view including a different one half of the surface area of said solar receiver such that said field of view for each IR camera includes a portion of overlap with said field of view of at least one of said other IR cameras; and a control system adapted to: receive information relating to an IR image from each said IR camera, each said IR image depicting IR readings at a plurality of equally spaced points across the entire related one half of the surface area of said solar receiver viewed by each said IR camera; translate said plurality of IR readings into digital temperature data comprising discrete digital temperature values at a plurality of points equally spaced along a length of each one of a plurality of receiver tubes included in each of the receiver panels, the digital temperature values representative of temperature values of an outside surface of the receiver tubes, wherein said overlap portions provide additional digital temperature data for said equally spaced points within said overlap portions; generate a digital temperature profile of at least approximately one half of the surface area of said solar receiver utilizing said digital temperature data, wherein said additional digital temperature data received from said overlap portions provides added accuracy of said digital temperature profile at said overlap portions; and generate an alarm signal when the temperature at any of said equally spaced points exceeds a predetermined threshold value.