Industrial process monitoring and imaging

摘要

Exemplary embodiments include an apparatus for imaging a volume of material contained inside a vessel. The apparatus includes a plurality of synchronized acoustic sensors positioned at a periphery of an inner volume of the vessel. A processor combines the outputs of the acoustic sensors to identify at least one ambient noise source of the industrial process generating a noise field that illuminates an internal volume of the vessel and to provide an image of the material by temporal and spatial coherent processing of the transmission and reflection of the noise field generated by the noise source.

主权项

1. A system for imaging material contained inside an enclosure, comprising:
a plurality of synchronized acoustic sensors positioned at a periphery of an inner volume of the enclosure to sense acoustic energy emanating from the material in the enclosure during an industrial process; and a processor that combines an output of each of the acoustic sensor to identify at least one ambient noise source generating a noise field that illuminates the inner volume of the enclosure and to produce image data of the material by temporal and spatial coherent processing of the transmission and reflection of the noise field generated by the noise source; wherein an output of each sensor in a group of closely spaced sensors are combined to enhance a directional sensitivity to the acoustic signal emanating within the enclosure.