Remote Temperature Measurement in Hostile Industrial Environments with Microwave Radiometry

摘要

This project investigated the feasibility of developing a remote temperature measurement instrument for energy-intensive industries. Existing remote temperature measurement techniques based on infrared radiation fail when excessive amounts of dust, smoke, or other particulates are present. We found that a remote temperature measurement instrument using microwaves demonstrated performance superior to infrared instrumentation in laboratory and field trials when dust or steam was present. Since improved temperature measurement helps improve energy efficiency and quality in a wide variety of industrial processes, making the new microwave instrument commercially available should lead to reduced energy usage, improved quality, and better competitiveness in a number of energy-intensive industries such as food processing and cement manufacturing. These improvements can lead to lower-priced products of improved quality for the consumer, and can contribute to the nations energy independence.