Hua Wei Huang

Flame colour characterization in the visible and infrared spectrum using a digital camera and image processing

An attempt has been made to characterize the colour spectrum of methane flame under various burning conditions using RGB and HSV colour models instead of resolving the real physical spectrum. The results demonstrate that each type of flame has its own characteristic distribution in both the RGB and HSV space. It has also been observed that the averaged B and G values in the RGB model represent well the CH* and C*2 emission of methane premixed flame. Theses features may be utilized for flame measurement and monitoring. The great advantage of using a conventional camera for monitoring flame properties based on the colour spectrum is that it is readily available, easy to interface with a computer, cost effective and has certain spatial resolution. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that a conventional digital camera is able to image flame not only in the visible spectrum but also in the infrared. This feature is useful in avoiding the problem of image saturation typically encountered in capturing the very bright sooty flames. As a result, further digital imaging processing and quantitative information extraction is possible. It has been identified that an infrared image also has its own distribution in both the RGB and HSV colour space in comparison with a flame image in the visible spectrum.

Dynamic application of digital image and colour processing in characterizing flame radiation features

In this work, the experimental investigation of the dynamic flame properties of flame flickering and equivalence ratio sensing of a combustion process was done. In particular, the time-varied flame properties were examined using a novel digital image and colour processing methodology. This technique makes use of the observed correlation between a digital image colour signal and physical flame radiation characteristics in the visible wavelength domain. Aspects of RGB and HSV colour modelling principles were applied to show that the addition of colour identification in the image processing of high-speed flame image data could yield three useful parameters which are related to the dynamic behaviour of different flame emanating components. First, the validity of the colour identities for tracking the yellowish-red diffusion and greenish-blue premixed flame colourations were examined by comparing their respective flickering frequency profiles. Then, the usefulness of the extracted Rdiffusion, Gpremixed and Bpremixed colour signals to abstractly represent the behaviour of soot, C2* and CH* emission characteristics in a dynamic flame transition from diffusion to stoichiometric premixed condition was demonstrated. In particular, the colour signal ratio Bpremixed/Gpremixed was correlated to exemplify the approximate time-varied state of the equivalence ratio from the imaged combustion phenomenon.

Analysis of the ignition process using a digital image and colour processing technique

An experimental investigation of flame emission properties in the ignition-to-flame propagation process has been conducted. In particular, the phenomenon of ignition delay was analysed through digital image processing and colour analysis. This processing methodology makes use of the observed correlation between a digital colour signal and physical flame emission characteristics in the visible spectrum. Aspects of red, green, blue and hue, saturation, value colour modelling principles were combined to turn a high-speed digital colour camera into an abstract multi-spectral system. Experiments were carried out on both a laboratory-based atmospheric burner and an industrial gas-turbine combustor. In both cases, results have shown that the commonly observed flame colour feature from the soot radiation does not signify the start of combustion reaction but rather a later stage of flame development. Additional weak colour quantities were identified via digital colour image processing in the ignition delay time interval where there were no previous definitive signals to designate the presence of combustion. This colour entity was found to match with the typical digital colour signal output from the stimulation of CH* and C2* radical chemiluminescence emissions.

Studies of the physical aspects of intumescence using advance diagnostics methods

The use of intumescent paints as an active fire protection method has gained immense interest in recent years. A significant aspect of research has focused on studying the chemical aspects of the system to improve performance. The dynamics and physical aspects of intumescence in real time fire conditions are still unclear. The present research uses an experimental approach where diagnostics techniques such as thermal imaging camera was used to study intumescent characteristics that have been not been reported in great detail. T-panels are a substitute to the most commonly used part in construction, the I-beam. Studies were conducted using a cone calorimeter that provided a uniform heat flux through radiation on steel T-panel samples. The complex nature of char movement was recorded and a novel algorithm was used to track the growing char laye07r. The samples are designed to cater to different fire conditions. Therefore, the degree of intumescence was observed to be very different in the samples. The sampl...