Analysis of statistical uncertainties of non-contact temperature and emissivity measurements in the optical and near infrared ranges

Abstract

The aim of this report is the analysis of the uncertainties of non-contact measurement of temperature and emissivity determined by the least sum of squares (LSS) method. Analytical expressions are obtained for the uncertainties of the temperature T and the emissivity ε by three methods: (1) linear regression using the Wien approximation, (2) non-linear regression with covariance matrix calculation using the Planck’s equation, and (3) hybrid method that combines linear and non-linear regression methods. It was found that the better the condition for the Wien’s approximation is fulfilled, the worse the accuracy of the emissivity measurement compared to the accuracy of the temperature measurement. The new optimal strategy is proposed to determine the T and the emissivity ε for non-contact measurements. It consists of three steps: (1) the temperature of the radiating body is found by the Wien approximation, TW; (2) the obtained value TW is used as an initial approximation for one-dimensional “hybrid” minimization. Minimization is carried out by one of the numerical methods of one-dimensional minimization. As a result, the values of ε0 and T0 are found at with the sum of the squared residuals, S0, reaches a minimum; (3) Measurement uncertainties are estimated using the covariance matrix method.