Diagnostics of complex systems using thermography

Abstract

Aim of this paper is to discuss possible method, applicable to diagnostics of complex thermodynamic systems, in our case, the small turbojet engine. Our motivation is based on the fact that, the development of utility properties of aviation technologies, its improvement i.e. accessibility to users cannot be done without detailed observation and tests. In aircraft engine design, 40% of the problems are solved by testing. Therefore the financial cost of the product testing significantly affects the economy of the design development, e.g. production of an aircraft engine. The economy problem of a product placement on the market deepens, if the time and energy consumption is considered. For this reason, reducing the price and time, which significantly affects the output application effect, is a task solvable only by rationalization and organization of testing procedures. When accepting these conditions, one of the possible methods of control of a small turbo jet engine is the utilization of thermography. In order to utilize the thermography to diagnose the engine, multiple processing steps are necessary. These steps include thermal image inference correction, image preprocessing, segmentation and correlation analysis. We discuss these steps further in the paper, with main aim on the image inference correction.