The Silver 480M was selected by the CEA as it was an affordable, high performance 3-5um IR camera offering the sensitivity and high frequency acquisition capabilities demanded by their applications.
The Department of Gas and Diphasic Thermohydraulics at the CEA (Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique) has selected a Cedip Infrared Systems Silver 480M IR camera system to study thermal transfers in pipes walls under high flow, high pressure and high temperature conditions.
In a typical gas cooled reactor the temperature of the fluid lies between 100 with 350C and the temperature of pipes walls varies between 20 and 800C.
Thermal transfer phenomena on pipe wall surfaces determine the performance and long-term behaviour of the reactor.
In order to design and build more efficient, reliable and safe reactors it is therefore essential to be able to precisely measure pipe wall temperatures.
In order to simulate and study the behaviour of hot fluids in pipes the CEA developed two test rigs that use the Silver 480M camera to measure pipe wall temperatures, heat exchange coefficients and characterise boiling processes.
The first test rig, comprising a heated cell with a sapphire window (transparent in the 3-5um region), has enabled the Silver 480M to visualise and thermally characterise the fluid boiling process.
The second test rig, comprising a heated Inconel wall and a heat extractor charged to extract the power generated by the induced Joule effect in the wall, has enabled the Silver 480M to measure transient thermal transfers in the wall (2000C/s).
Designed for researchers looking to perform ultra-fast thermographic analysis the Silver 480M uses its analogue inputs for synchronous acquisition of external sensor signals, that after processing by an advanced 'lock-in' technique, enable highly sensitive and accurate non-destructive evaluation.
Based upon Cedip's proprietary high performance cryogenically cooled InSb focal plane array detectors and incorporating the latest ROIC technology the Silver 480M delivers 400Hz full frame rate while maintaining linearity and high sensitivity of typically <20mK.
Built for operational flexibility the Silver 480M is programmable from 1Hz to 400Hz in full frame mode, offers a sub-array windowing mode with integration time adjustable in 1us increments and smart external triggering capability synchronising image capture to even the most transient events.
The Silver 480M offers true plug-and-play compatibility with standard computers as well as third party frame grabbers and image processing software.
Using either Camlink or GigE interfaces the Silver 480M is able to transmit commands and transfer video images at 40MHz pixel rate and full 14-bit dynamic range.
Comprehensive image analysis software dedicated to thermal measurement comes as standard.
The CEA (Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique) is a French government-funded research organisation that devotes its expertise to the development of new technologies, in the fields of energy, heath, information and communication.
