Abstract: Various techniques are provided for removing turbulent gases from thermal images of high temperature scenes and for detecting gas leaks. In one example, a method includes receiving a plurality of thermal images captured of a scene comprising a furnace tube and combustion gas exhibiting higher temperatures than the furnace tube. Each thermal image comprises a plurality of pixels each having an associated pixel value. The method also includes applying a digital filter to the thermal images to generate a processed thermal image. Each pixel of the processed thermal image has an associated minimum pixel value determined from corresponding pixels of the thermal images to remove the higher temperature combustion gas from the processed thermal image. Additional methods and systems are also provided.

Abstract: Various techniques are provided for removing turbulent gases from thermal images of high temperature scenes and for detecting gas leaks. In one example, a method includes receiving a plurality of thermal images captured of a scene comprising a furnace tube and combustion gas exhibiting higher temperatures than the furnace tube. Each thermal image comprises a plurality of pixels each having an associated pixel value. The method also includes applying a digital filter to the thermal images to generate a processed thermal image. Each pixel of the processed thermal image has an associated minimum pixel value determined from corresponding pixels of the thermal images to remove the higher temperature combustion gas from the processed thermal image. Additional methods and systems are also provided.

Abstract: An IR camera (1) for use within a predetermined scene temperature range comprises a focal plane array (7), and a signal processing device (9) arranged to receive an incoming signal from pixels of the focal plane array (7). The signal processing device (9) is arranged, for each image, to perform the following steps; identify any pixels of the focal plane array (7) for which the incoming signal, anywhere inside the scene temperature range, is equal to or larger than the predetermined maximum value, or equal to or less than the predetermined minimum value, replace the value of each element thus identified with a replacement value based on the value of at least one neighbouring element. By performing this in real time instead of permanently disabling any element that reaches the maximum or minimum value within the scene temperature range of the camera, the quality of the image is improved.