US 12,392,681 B2
System and method for remote detection and location of gas leaks
Mary D. O'Neill, Santa Barbara, CA (US); Mark Morey, Las Vegas, NV (US); and David Terry, Santa Barbara, CA (US)
Assigned to MISSION SUPPORT AND TEST SERVICES, LLC, North Las Vegas, NV (US)
Filed by Mission Support and Test Services, LLC, North Las Vegas, NV (US)
Filed on Jun. 21, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/845,888.
Application 17/845,888 is a continuation of application No. 16/989,732, filed on Aug. 10, 2020, granted, now 11,438,554.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/885,144, filed on Aug. 9, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0337788 A1, Oct. 20, 2022
Int. Cl. G01M 3/38 (2006.01); G01M 3/04 (2006.01); G06F 18/23 (2023.01); G06T 7/246 (2017.01); G06V 10/147 (2022.01); G06V 10/762 (2022.01); G06V 20/52 (2022.01); G08B 21/12 (2006.01); H04N 5/272 (2006.01); H04N 7/18 (2006.01); H04N 23/56 (2023.01)
CPC G01M 3/38 (2013.01) [G01M 3/04 (2013.01); G06F 18/23 (2023.01); G06T 7/246 (2017.01); G06V 10/147 (2022.01); G06V 10/762 (2022.01); G06V 20/52 (2022.01); G08B 21/12 (2013.01); H04N 5/272 (2013.01); H04N 7/183 (2013.01); H04N 23/56 (2023.01); G06T 2207/30232 (2013.01)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for monitoring for a gas leak from a gas containing structure comprising:
a lens configured to receive an image of a scene of interest, the scene of interest containing a gas containing structure containing a gas being monitored;
a filter located after the lens, the filter having one or more passbands that pass wavelengths which match one or more emission or reflectively wavelengths of the gas being monitored;
a detector arranged to receive the image after the image passes through the lens and the filter, the detector configured to generate image data representing the scene including gas containing structure, wherein the detector is not actively cooled;
a processor configured to process the image data by executing machine executable code;
a memory configured to store non-transitory machine executable code, the machine executable code configured to:
process the image data to identify turbulence flow in the scene represented by the image data such that turbulence flow indicates a gas leak, the processing of the image data comprising;
calculating normalized variance over all pixels of the image data to create flux variance images;
processing the flux variance images by computing an angle of gas flow for pixels and computing a magnitude of gas flow for pixels;
identify flow patterns based on the angle of gas flow and the magnitude of gas flow, the flow patterns indicating the turbulence flow; and
generate and send an alert in response to identification of a turbulence flow.