Standardisation of a Thermal Memory System - STORM

"Sensor Coating Systems Ltd (SCS) are developing an innovative technology for measuring temperatures in harsh industrial applications, such as gas turbines. This is a unique technology for high value markets such as power generation and aerospace industries. The technology is based on a smart-memory material that has been developed by SCS and it is applied as a paint or a coating on the surface of the components to be measured. The coated components are then used in standard operation conditions where they exposed to high temperatures. After the process, once the components have cooldown, they are interrogated with a laser-probe instrument also developed by SCS. From the luminescence properties of the material and by performing a sophisticated calibration method, the past maximum temperature of the component can be measured.

When the SCS coating material is exposed to high temperatures, its structural properties are permanently changed. These structural changes are correlated with the lifetime decay (LTD) of the luminescent signal that is emitted by the material when it is illuminated by an excitation source of appropriate wavelength. The LTD signal is then measured using a custom-made readout system developed by SCS before it is calibrated against temperature. A number of these devices have been built using the same modular approach, but it has been found that identical devices are sometimes produce different results.

Recent efforts have been focused on homogenising all the measurement devices and make steps towards the standardisation of the SCS technology. During a previous Innovate-UK mini project, a standard light source that would help standardise instruments was developed in collaboration with National Physical Laboratory (NPL). Preliminary findings indicate strong non-linear behaviour of the highly sensitive detection device used in the SCS instrumentation. It is also observed that there are unit to unit differences that would also influence the measurement. In this project SCS and NPL will address these measurement challenges by looking both into hardware and software upgrades and aim towards achieving full standardisation of the measurement devices. The results will be incorporated in a unique uncertainty model to quantify the temperature measurement uncertainty which is extremely useful for end-user applications. By the end of this project it is anticipated to have at least two fully homogenised measurement devices which are going to be used in typical industrial applications in aerospace and power generation."