Uncertainty analysis of infrared thermography in convective heat transfer

Nelson K. Akafuah, Carsie A. Hall, Ting Wang

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Infrared thermography is the preferred choice in many industrial processes for thermal diagnostics, condition monitoring, and non-destructive testing. However, the inherent uncertainty of surface emissivity affects the accuracy of temperature measurement by infrared thermography. In this paper a comprehensive experimental investigation was conducted to assess the uncertainty of infrared thermography in convective heat transfer. Four convective heat transfer conditions, including natural and forced convection on a flat plate, were studied. A composite test plate was constructed with an embedded heater and thermocouples. The thermocouples were used as references to compare with measurements by the infrared camera. The results indicate that the uncertainty of temperature measurement is about 4°F (2.7 % of the wall-to-ambient temperature difference) with the largest uncertainty being contributed by calibration of the infrared camera. The uncertainty of the heat transfer coefficient is 4.2% which is largely contributed by wall temperature measurement. Copyright

Original languageEnglish
Pages367-375
Number of pages9
DOIs
StatePublished - 2004
EventProceedings of the ASME Heat Transfer/Fluids Engineering Summer Conference 2004, HT/FED 2004 - Charlotte, NC, United States
Duration: Jul 11 2004Jul 15 2004

Conference

ConferenceProceedings of the ASME Heat Transfer/Fluids Engineering Summer Conference 2004, HT/FED 2004
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityCharlotte, NC
Period7/11/047/15/04

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Engineering

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