Measurement of thermal diffusivity of insulating material using an artificial neural network

This paper presents results of research, developing methods for determining the coefficient of thermal diffusivity of a thermal insulating material. This method applies periodic heating as an excitation, and an infrared camera is used to measure the temperature distribution on the surface of the tested material. The usefulness of known analytical solution of the inverse problem was examined in simulation study, using a three-dimensional model of the heat diffusion phenomenon in the sample of material under test. To solve the coefficient inverse problem an approach using an artificial neural network is proposed. The measurements were performed on an experimental setup equipped with an infrared camera and a frame grabber. The experiment allowed verification of the chosen 3D model of the heat diffusion phenomenon and proved the suitability of the proposed test method. (paper)