Automated Fouling Image Analysis

Fouling is a widely observed phenomenon during the operation of heat exchangers throughout different process industries and results in a significant loss of performance. Therefore, several research projects focus on different strategies to either mitigate, prevent or remove occurring deposits which requires both a profound knowledge about the underlying mechanisms, e.g. eposition of fouling layers, structural, mechanical and chemical characteristics, and a resilient method to detect fouling layers.

To improve the understanding of relevant phenomena, especially for protein deposits, fouling was investigated in an optically accessible micro-structured heat exchanger. Occurring protein fouling layers were stained by supplying a blue dye into the heat exchanger channels and photographed with a DSLR for further evaluation.

The image processing tool automatically detects the relevant image section, straightens it and creates a binary image, which contains colored and uncolored pixels for occupied and clean areas of the image section. Further details about the used setup can be found in Spiegel et al. 2022 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fbp.2022.05.010).