I am currently working on a problem involving volatile organic compounds (VOC) source monitoring on some oil and gas transportation environment. I think using infrared (IR) cameras could be a straightforward approach. The core idea is that temperature gradients will indicate the points where there are emission sources.
I am currently comparing IR camera specifications. Some cameras can be literally portable as a smartphone gadget (e.g. Flir ONE) but I'm quite lost on which properties I should look for (gases' and cameras'), in order to find the most practical and cost effective solution. I've thought to start by finding out:
- Which are the most frequently-occurring VOC in these environments;
- What are these compounds' most interesting properties (maybe emissivity, absorptivity, transmittance, reflectivity?) Note: Please correct me if I'm wandering off here, as it's been a while since I read any Heat Transfer literature;
- And how broad can the cameras be in terms of energy spectrum registering.
I am looking for guidance from anyone with practical experience using this method, especially with a gadget like the Flir ONE, or any method of inexpensive, portable VOC monitoring.
