Design of 3D-Silo Surface Imaging System using Microwave Vision in Thermal Power Plants

A silo is the important part of thermal power plant. Traditionally its ash level is measured through the single-point manner with noncontacted range radar or contacted hammer-typed level meter. But the single-point measurement leads to the coarse measurement of ash level. Then there are some risks for the production of the power plant. So a novel 3D surface sensing system using microwave vision is proposed under the severe environment of the silo, which is composed of a millimeter-wave radar and a two-freedom PTZ(Pan-Tilt-Zoom). The nonuniform point cloud is attained by the helical scanning path and is utilized to reconstruct the internal surface of the silo by surface fitting. The experiment results demonstrate the surface imaging system is validate and reliable.