High Speed Video
'High Speed Video' is any video with more frames-per-second than standard
TV-style video – that is, anything recording more than 30
frames-per-second.
Even low-end 'High Speed Video' equipment can record 'frame rates' of 500 to
1,000 frames-per-second.
There is a trade-off in high speed video, frames-per-second versus seconds of
recording.
The higher the frame rate, the faster you use up the video memory
of the recording equipment.
At very high frame rates you might not be able to
record even one second's worth of events.
For the events common to packaging equipment,
frame rates of 125 to 250 frames-per-second are often the most useful.
You can see detail ordinary video
equipment would miss, but still be able to record several seconds of video.
The following sequence was recorded at 250 frames-per-second.
I am actually
showing every second or third image, to save space.
Even so, you can see
detail that would be largely missed by standard video, and that would be
completely invisible to the naked eye.
This particular high speed video was taken of a filling tube on a vertical
form/fill/seal liquid pouching machine.
We are looking at the shut-off at the
end of a filling cycle, as a valve at the bottom of the filling tube is
closed.
High speed video shows that the valve is not closing cleanly -- the shut-off is
creating spray that can contaminate the pouch seal and cause leaking pouches.
Click to enlarge pictures and drawings.
Here is an animated sequence of the same frames.
The value of this video is more than just diagnostic.
To be sure, the
engineers and technicians can see that a problem exists, and propose corrective
action.
But just as important, the images clearly show non-technical people,
such as managers and financial officers, what the problem is, so they can
better understand WHY the engineers and technicians want to use funds and labor
to take corrective action.
And once action has been taken, more high speed
video can clearly demonstrate that the problem has been solved.
Edward A. Bianchi, PE
Consulting Engineer
Click to enlarge pictures and drawings.
Copyright © 2004 - 2008
Edward Bianchi, PE
All rights reserved.
www.EdwardBianchiPE.com/hsvideo.html 2008/10/01
