| Summary: | Rolls-Royce develops and manufactures some of the most efficient turbine jet engines in the world using their cutting-edge technologies and research. Over the years, the company has improved their engines by increasing the fuel conversion efficiency, reducing the environmental and health impacts, and introducing new materials for the engine parts. In such engine developments, temperature is one of the most important parameters to optimise the performance efficiency of the engine and ensure the lifetime of the engine components. The temperature of the hottest region of the latest engines can reach from 1400 to 1700 °C, which could be a deteriorating condition for the engine parts. To ensure the lifetime of the engine parts whilst increasing the operation temperature, various techniques have been developed to protect the parts and obtain temperature information from the engine tests.
One such temperature measurement method is the application of irreversible thermochromic paints. Thermochromic paints at Rolls-Royce irreversibly change colour with the increasing temperature. These paints are applied to the engine components and the colour change on the surface is visually analysed to obtain the temperature information from the engine test. Thermochromic paints have become a reliable tool for the temperature analysis of test engines because they are affordable, consistent, and versatile. To obtain more accurate and precise temperature information, Rolls-Royce is pushing the progress in the development and application of thermochromic paints.
The work presented in this thesis contributes to the effort of optimising the technology of thermochromic paints. The work is divided into two aspects involving thermochromic paints: paint development and temperature prediction. The first half of the work (Chapter 3 and 4) focuses on the development of thermochromic paints for high-temperature application and the investigation of the material interactions of thermochromic paints and the substrate. The second half (Chapter 5 and 6) is devoted to the automation of temperature reading of thermochromic paints by temperature prediction models combined with spectroscopic and hyperspectral imaging methods. The results from both sectors of research have shown promising adaptability for real industrial applications and demonstrated the ways of enhancing the thermochromic paint application for the jet engines at Rolls-Royce.
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