Program objective is to develop an electro-optical imaging system for identification of fuel cell punctures that have activated the self-sealing process. The system presented here detects these fuel leak reactions by visualizing small fuel vapor traces from the aircraft cavity drains at the drain apertures. This novel electro-optical concept uses a near infrared television system with a focused illuminator to observe these gas plumes at drain apertures. System performance is based on the physical principle that reflections from an illuminated scene will produce imagery on any absorptive vapor (i.e. low reflectivity) traversing the object plane. Proof of concept will be accomplished by designing, constructing and demonstrating a prototype camera that can image small fuel vapor leaks against a uniformally illuminated background scene. Emphasis will be on optimization of spectral bandpass profile, background reflectance intensity, and camera performance parameters. This new system design has the following beneficial features:(1) comparable in size, weight and ease of operation to a conventional camcorder;(2) adjustable scene contrast optimized for local background environment;(3) all system components are commercially available;(4) ideally suited for performing hanger and flight line inspections;(5) most importantly, personnel access to fuel cell insides is not a requirement.
