Three-dimensional surface temperature measurement using lifetime-based phosphor thermometry

In this study, we propose a three-dimensional (3D) surface temperature measurement method based on the principle of stereoscopic 3D reconstruction and the dependence of phosphorescence lifetime on temperature. A 385-nm UV(Ultraviolet) light was used as the excitation light, and two high-speed cameras were used as the detectors. The phosphor MFG (Mg4FGeO6: Mn4+) was mixed with the binder HPC and sprayed onto the tested 3D surface. The natural texture generated by the surface roughness of the phosphor coating was used as a feature for cross-correlation calculations. The digital image correlation (DIC) algorithm was used to match these feature positions in the phosphorescent images from the two cameras. The effects of the excitation angle and detecting angle were analyzed. The results indicate that the temperature measurement based on phosphorescent lifetime was not affected by the excitation and detecting angle. The method was validated on a turbine blade as an example of a 3D surface to demonstrate the capability. A comparison of the measurement results with the thermocouples proves that the current method can successfully measure the temperature on 3D surfaces with a maximum difference of 1.63°C. The spatial accuracy of the method was obtained by comparing with the measurement results of a 3D scanner, which shows that the maximum absolute error of the 3D reconstruction was 0.350 mm. The current study proposes a promising 3D surface temperature measurement method, which is expected to be widely used in gas turbine blades, Internal Combustion (IC) engine cylinders, complex curved heat exchangers, and other fields due to its non-contact measurement, low susceptibility to infrared radiation interference, high measurement accuracy, and ability to withstand harsh environments.