Ruggedized High-Speed Imaging via Incoherent Fiber Optics
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Solution Overview
Problem
High-speed imaging systems are costly and prone to damage during explosive testing, limiting their use in internal blast tests due to limited optical access and the risk of equipment destruction, and existing solutions for unscrambling images from incoherent optical fibers are not effectively utilized for capturing dynamic processes in situ.
Innovation Solution
A high-speed imaging system employing a lens collector connected to an incoherent optical fiber bundle, which scrambles images, and a protective shield, with a high-speed camera and computer to unscramble these images, providing a cost-effective solution for capturing and reproducing images of explosive events with enhanced field of view.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If a high-speed imaging system is placed inside a blast-proof structure for internal blast testing, then the field of view and imaging capability are improved, but the risk of equipment damage and destruction increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The imaging system is divided into two separate locations: a protective shield containing the lens collector and portion of fiber bundle inside the blast-proof structure, and the camera system outside the structure. This segmentation allows the camera to be protected while maintaining imaging capability through the fiber optic transmission.
Solution Approach 2:
An incoherent fiber optic bundle acts as an intermediary to transmit optical information from the interior blast environment to the exterior camera system. The fiber bundle transmits scrambled images that are then unscrambled by the computer system, enabling imaging without direct camera exposure to blast effects.
2Reliability
If a high-speed imaging system is placed outside the blast-proof structure, then equipment protection is improved, but optical access and imaging capability are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The lens collector is positioned within the protective shield structure, which is nested inside the blast-proof structure. This nested arrangement allows the imaging components to be housed within the protected environment while transmitting data outward through the fiber optic bundle.
3Measurement precision
If coherent fiber bundles are used for image transmission, then image quality is maintained, but system cost and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using expensive coherent fiber bundles that maintain spatial relationships, the system uses incoherent fiber bundles that transmit scrambled image data. The computer system then reconstructs the images by processing the scrambled data, achieving acceptable image quality through computational methods rather than optical precision.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables effective visualization of explosive dynamics with improved field of view and reduced equipment cost by using incoherent optical fiber bundles, allowing for the capture and analysis of key performance characteristics of explosive events without significant damage to the imaging system.
Implementation Method 1
an incoherent optical fiber bundle creates scrambled images from the images of the flow collected by the lens collector
Data Source
AI summary
A high-speed imaging system for capturing images of flow created by initiation of energetic material includes a lens collector disposed in a protective shield. The protective shield helps protect the lens collector from damage due to the blast event. The lens connector is connected to an incoherent optical fiber bundle made of a bundle of coherent fiber bundles. The incoherent optical fiber bundle creates scrambled images that are relayed to a high-speed camera. A computer connected to the high-speed camera unscrambles the scrambled images to reproduce the images of the flow.