affect of flying debris and water particles on IR measurement

[buzzp]

We have an application where we need to measure the temperature of some diamond tipped cutting blades on a rotating saw. The saw may be a wet cut or dry cut. There will be particles flying around from the cutting action. What affect would the particles and water have on the IR measurement? I am thinking the eye of the measurement would have a significant affect on the reading (in this case the bigger the better?) Is there another method of temp measurement I should be looking at? Thanks to all in advance, Buzzp

 

[hotspot]

Sounds like a lot of trial and error ahead! As long as particulate solids are fine enough and dispersed enough, your imagers spot size will probably cause the imager to ignore this particulate to a large degree. Moisture in the air will possibly prove to be the second biggest annoyance. According to the ASNT Non Destructive Handbook, Third Edition, Volume Three, Chapter Three, you will find that water is a big attenuator in most spectrums used in short and long wave IR. The largest gap in (least)effect of moisture in the air on transmittance is in the 5.5 to 7.25 micron range, indicating least impact from the moisture using a long wave imager. You will still have to deal with scatter caused by large moisture particulate. The largest limiting factor might simply be the imagers spot size. Be careful of the IFOV method for determining your imagers spot size, it can be as much as 5 times larger than actuality(typically twice).

I have had to do something similar in that I was requested to help in tracking/determining heat at a engine drive shaft boring bit on a shaft fabrication line. Excess heat at the bit tips was being blamed for early dulling and shaft overheating and temper faults at boring points.

Good Luck, I would appreciate any feedback!

 

[buzzp]

Thanks for the advice. I will be hunting for a sensor in a few weeks and wanted to know how practicle it is. This application may allow temperature detection only on dry cut operations. I will try to let you know as I progress.