Measurement of thermal parameters of a heat insulating material using infrared thermography

The article presents results of research developing methods for determining thermal parameters of a thermal insulating material. This method applies periodic heating as an excitation and an infrared camera is used to measure the temperature distribution on the surface of the tested material. The usefulness of known analytical solution of the inverse problem was examined in simulation study, using a three-dimensional model of the heat diffusion phenomenon in the sample of the material under test. To solve the coefficient inverse problem an approach using an artificial neural network is proposed. The measurements were performed on an experimental setup equipped with a ThermaCAM PM 595 infrared camera and a frame grabber. The experiment allowed verification of the chosen 3-D model of the heat diffusion phenomenon and proved suitability of the proposed test method. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.