r/interestingasfuck • u/Plus_Leopard9367 • 11h ago
This Camera Can Literally See Sound Waves and detect hidden air leaks.
•
u/kbachert 11h ago
Would this work in a loud environment?
•
u/Wooden-Peach-4664 11h ago
Yes, I use this device in a chemical plant where it is so noisy that you have to wear hearing protection at all times.
•
u/Phoenix__Wwrong 5h ago
Does it show every single source of sounds?
•
u/Lv_InSaNe_vL 3h ago
I use a Fluke i915 at work, you can filter it to specific frequencies. And then you can filter "slightly wrong" frequencies too.
→ More replies (1)•
u/TheShaunD 4h ago
I use these in a chemical plant too. The model we have is Fluke ii900, and yes, it lets you filter out surrounding decibels to isolate the leak. It works up to 50 feet away too, which is great for overhead pipe racks.
•
•
u/BlazerWookiee 11h ago
WHAT?
•
u/SelfInteresting7259 11h ago
They said "WOULD THIS WORK IN A LOUD ENVIRONMENT!"
•
u/Chucklum 11h ago
WWHHHAAAAATTTTT??!!
•
u/SenatorBus_ 11h ago
WHY WOULD THIS WORK WITH THE OBAMA GOVERNMENT?
•
u/Pendraconica 11h ago
NO, THEY SAID TWERK IN A CROWDED APARTMENT
•
u/Electrical_Name_5434 11h ago
NO, THEY SAID WOOD AS FORK IS BAD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
•
u/TheMarkola 10h ago
🇼 🇭 🇦 🇹
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
→ More replies (3)•
•
•
•
→ More replies (1)•
•
u/Mr_Chicle 11h ago
I work with Gas Turbines, we use these to find leaks while its running. A gas turbine is loud AF and ours finds air leaks no problem (admittedly, we have a very high end one)
•
u/ThatDamnThang 10h ago
I work with gas turbines (and steam turbines) and we had a vendor come in to demo a unit similar to this and it wouldnt work. I really wish that particular one had worked because my chief engineer was ready to buy one on the spot for us to find gas leaks.
I absolutely believe that these work in loud environments, but i just havent seen it in person. Im glad yours works.
•
u/Mr_Chicle 10h ago
Ill have to find what model we have, ours works in enclosed and open spaces
•
u/throwaway928816 9h ago
would also like to know
•
u/tommos 8h ago
Me too.
•
u/Mr_Chicle 5h ago
I left work early today and have jury duty tomorrow, but on friday ill drop the model after this comment
•
→ More replies (3)•
u/whyitno_workgood 10h ago
Thats cool. Do you know what the device is called?
•
u/AssociateFalse 10h ago
Acoustic Imaging Camera is what it's marketed as. This one is like $800 USD. Fluke sells one that's $21.2K.
•
u/PacificNorthwest09 10h ago
Yeah a lot of warehouse conveyors work on compressed air and are not quiet. I think ours is like that 20k version if not more it’s like a modified tablet.
•
u/Marcos340 11h ago
From memory, it should.
You can select the frequency band for the sensor to display
LTT did a video on a similar product a while back where they looked for air leaks on their compressor lines in their shop.
https://youtu.be/fL1GB-3Bkwc?is=fQIDAar4HFL23Bm9
Full video if you’re interested in the operation of it and some more in depth explanation
•
u/MeanForest 11h ago
Adam Savage from Mythbusters tested that on his YouTube channel, he's it would https://youtu.be/UPVcwDzhBZ8?t=1025
•
u/TheDigitalOne 11h ago
He's using a Fluke 910 acoustic imager, looks like they sell for about $26,600, wow.
•
•
→ More replies (4)•
u/93EXCivic 9h ago
The HBK version starts are $60k and that doesnt include software. Saw a demo for my guy recently
•
u/theModge 11h ago
We use a better version for listening train bearings, ignoring the sound of the wheel - rail interface, so yes definitely
•
u/majorpun 9h ago
As others have answered, yes it works.
It's part of a "predictive" maintenance tool kit because it's an iteration on ultrasonic tools used for a long time in engineering and maintenance.
Acoustic imagining, as it's called, overlays acoustic data over an image, and can be calibrated for distance and range depending on what is being detected. Air leaks, mechanical rubbing, electrical arching, and the like. The parenthesis around predictive, is that you're detecting a failure before the entire system has gone into functional failure. ~Something~ has failed, but the device is still working, for now.
I'm honestly excited for this tech to be as ubiquitous in industrial environments as infrared, or used with lubrication, installed on a robot, or even be a software solution, depending on hardware limitations (You'll note the asymmetrical location of the microphones).
I like demonstrating it by pointing it at some one who's talking and then the rest of us point and laugh at them.
•
u/Dreams-of-Cthulhu 7h ago
I did notice the seemingly random placement of the holes, which I assumed were the microphones. Obviously, they're not placed randomly but I am very curious about why they are placed where they are and how their placement was determined.
•
u/majorpun 4h ago
So the old sensors were kinda like somewhere between a stethoscope and a boom mic, you had to calibrate it, walk around, hope you didn't accidentally point it at something super loud, and hone in on leaks gradually. Obviously digital meters made it easier, but this is next level.
It's especially awesome feeling when you make an entire air compressor redundant after you patch an entire factories worth of air leaks. This makes it a helluvalot easier!
I remember reading about why the mic placements seemed random, but don't recall it to be satisfying. If someone knows I'd love to be corrected.
•
u/SpockIsMyHomeboy 11h ago
NO THANKS I ALREADY HAVE A MINT
•
•
•
u/Silvedl 10h ago
They're using them to find out who is farting during fancy party events.
→ More replies (1)•
u/Outkast_IRE 9h ago
Yes , I have seen these used on noisy factory floors to find leaks in the overhead compressed air pipelines to machines. They work really well.
•
u/fullitorrrrrrr 9h ago
It depends... For the sound localization it should be capable of filtering to a certain frequency range, but for how well it will do, it will depend on what the loud environment is, as well as the characteristics of the noise you're looking for. If you know the speed of a rotating shaft and want to know if a bearing on that is going bad, you can narrow down to a very tight frequency range , and if the background is loud due to something at a much lower or higher frequency than your target, you can still easily get good separation between the noise of interest and the background noise level, so it can work well. If however the loud environment is a lot of heavy impacts that generate a lot of broadband noise that will overlap with and drown out the noise of interest.... Then probably not so well
→ More replies (16)•
•
u/Shtyles 11h ago
They really could have used this in the ISS when they had an airleak
•
u/diplomatic_koboko 10h ago
But there's no sound in space
•
u/CapricornTV 10h ago
But there is inside ISS
•
u/gobbleself 10h ago
Not when there’s an air leak!
•
u/Mikeologyy 7h ago
I think if the air leak has progressed to the point there’s no sound in the ISS, it’s probably time to start arranging a body recovery mission
•
→ More replies (4)•
•
•
u/SelfInteresting7259 11h ago
Thats fuckign crazy. Cant even whisper shit or fart anymore
•
→ More replies (1)•
u/Ozzyg333 8h ago
They'll definitely put these on the drones when they start hunting us down for saying something bad about the gov
•
u/SinisterCheese 10h ago
Those who wonder how it works.
The series of holes front of it have mics in them. They are set in such manner that there is unique "fingerprint" for every direction the sound can come from. And the machine resolves from that fingerprint where the display the location on the display.
This same thing is user in satellites telescopes. You can figure out where a specific spectrum of light is coming from, with one "exposure" by looking at the pattern it caused. The pattern is such that it can be solved for the direction because ebery direction causes specific pattern.
•
u/fuku_visit 9h ago
The layout is a Finonachi sequence spaced by a fraction of the median freq of interest.
→ More replies (1)•
u/lhgh 8h ago
Fibonacci*
FTFY•
u/PaigeMarshallMD 7h ago
Thank you so much. I was like wtf is this dude talking about? What the hell is a finonacci sequence? You saved me, and probably thousands of other people, a ton of confusion.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (5)•
u/theusualsteve 8h ago
Its fascinating that a "random" layout of sensors actually gives more resolution than if it were an organized array. This isnt true for every application but its cool to see. I used to think that arrays of radio telescopes on hillsides were placed randomly due to geotechnical or other infrastructure constraints unrelated to the science being done. The randomness is very intentional!
•
u/Kqyxzoj 4h ago edited 3h ago
Yeah, the random nature is part of it's charm. In the same area you also have coded apertures that do have an intentional pattern to them. You've got the boring rectangular grid ones, Uniform Redundant Arrays (URAs). And then there's the bestagon ones
BestagonalHexagonal Uniform Redundant Arrays (HURAs). Similar to the pseudorandom ones you can reconstruct the original signal by deconvolving. It's pretty fun, you don't need much to get something sorta kinda working. To get it working well is another story. But for just a bit of tinkering fun it's pretty neat.See for example this one for pattern construction:
•
u/guice666 7h ago
Basically, a super-sharper version of our ears. Did you know the canals in our ears are specifically for that? It bounces sound in our ears allowing us to understand the direction it's coming from.
For us, we actually adapt to our ear structure vs the other way around (ears adapt the environment during growth).
•
u/scotshie 10h ago
I’ll use this $1000 device to find the air leak in my $20 inflatable mattress.
Because, guy math.
•
u/Pulmonary_Archery_ 10h ago
Repair 50 leaks in your air mattress instead of throwing it out each time and the thing nearly pays for itself
→ More replies (1)•
•
u/GoatCovfefe 10h ago
My company bought a similar product but different brand that we use to find air leaks. Its a $25k little piece of equipment, allegedly pays for itself over time.
→ More replies (3)•
u/mikew_reddit 8h ago
$500 for a used one. $50 air mattresses, and leaky garden hoses. if it can identify gaps where there's heat loss in a house, it's probably worth it from lower heating bills.
•
u/RedaNassef 11h ago
this feels like straight out of a sci-fi movie, absolute game changer for finding invisible leaks and sound waves
•
u/IamTheUniverseArentU 11h ago
I have spent far too much of my life searching for leaks in various pieces of equipment. I wonder if it works for vacuum equipment.
→ More replies (3)•
u/Realistic_Owl3093 10h ago
I wish I could quantify the number of hours I've spent at my job looking for a leak in a piece of equipment. This would make my life so much less frustrating
•
u/Most_Bet_3658 9h ago
Difference between sci fi and real life is it doesn't have a cool sound wave animation and audio effects on screen. Just the exact db number is all you really need
•
u/Snoo6702 10h ago
Right on! I can so see this being used for finding sound waves and maybe even air leaks! Incredible.
•
•
•
u/Raging_Dick_Shorts 11h ago edited 11h ago
It's detecting ultrasonic pulses, so vibrations at high frequency. It doesn't technically "see" sound waves, it uses a bunch of sensors to detect frequencies.
We have a $20k unit in work and it's pretty sweet. Saves a bunch of money by finding leaking air/gas lines as well as failing bearings, or electrical insulation.
•
u/thrallswreak 11h ago
If I wanted to be pedantic I'd argue that's what they eye does too, broadly speaking 😉
→ More replies (5)•
u/vivaaprimavera 10h ago
That works with an array of "microphones"?
•
u/kratz9 7h ago
Yes. Each microphone can compare to the other microphones to detect phase shift. With the phase shift plus the frequency, you can know the difference in distance the sound traveled to each mic. Since the microphones are a known distance apart, you can do the trigonometry to pinpoint where the noise is coming from.
→ More replies (4)•
u/reParaoh 5h ago
man this thing seems like a nightmare to calibrate. They also gotta calibrate the camera image relative to the sound too, as well as sound pressure level at a given distance
•
•
u/Only_Journalist7895 9h ago
So would this help find the super high pressure hydraulic leaks that can cut through stuff?
•
•
u/SerGT3 8h ago
How does it detect failing insulation?
•
u/Raging_Dick_Shorts 8h ago
It detects arcing and corona, which is typically a sign of failing insulation.
→ More replies (6)•
u/dudeCHILL013 2h ago
I'm an electrician in the navy, I am greatly interested in how this works to see failing insulation so I can justify getting one for my command.
Being able to see failing bearings and leaks would also be a huge plus.
•
u/Mothanius 6h ago
Man, this is one of those things I would have loved to have on the flight line, but they would probably never let us use it. Trying to use the soapy water on hot bleed air lines can be tough. Especially at the angles and the types of connectors that were used. You'd have to use a flashlight and a mirror while trying to get some soapy water on this hot ass tube and hopefully you can see the bubbles if there is a leak.
•
u/Siguard_ 4h ago
This tool will save a company thousands upon thousands of dollars every year.
•
u/GlockAF 3h ago
OR…hear me out…languish unused in the tool cage because it’s too expensive or management didn’t bother arranging for the required training to use it . Or both.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (1)•
•
u/Lopsided_Flamingo_27 9h ago
Amaze amaze 👎
•
•
→ More replies (1)•
u/RathVelus 8h ago
I was scrolling just looking for somebody that made the reference. I was almost disappointed.
•
u/mushroognomicon 6h ago
Will it help me find crickets and mosquitos in my house!?
•
u/branm008 6h ago
It actually could. We use a variation of this from Fluke and it can detect some pretty minimal soundwaves in a very, very loud manufacturing plant.
•
u/mushroognomicon 6h ago
Definitely some googling tonight. I use a lot of Fluke products for network testing and never knew they had something for sound waves.
→ More replies (1)
•
u/TechnicallyCant5083 9h ago
It can't "literally see sound waves" it's a regular camera with an array of very well calibrated microphones and some clever software
•
u/fuku_visit 9h ago
The mic calibration actually matters a lot less than you think. They will just be standard MEMS mics which are like $2. It's not a quantitative measurement device, so all you need is a reasonable frequency response from each mic and good spacing between them. The software is also pretty simple to design, pretty basic beamforming.
•
u/TechnicallyCant5083 9h ago
Alright Dexter's Laboratory, that has nothing to do with my point
→ More replies (7)→ More replies (2)•
u/mini-hypersphere 8h ago
I mean sure, be pedantic. But then no camera can see, it just has an array of CCD sensors that are well calibrated. Hell, no human can "literally see light waves" because we just have a set of highly calibrated cone and rod detectors. At that point the word seeing is merely philosophical
•
u/Ghostley92 9h ago
I used a FLIR one at a previous job just screwing around. We had an air line drop in the middle of our lab, which was normally at 80-90dB if the pumps were running.
From about 30 ft away the acoustic camera easily picked up a leak at the end of the drop. I think the leak was noisier than the 10-15 dB shown in the video, but it wasn’t THAT bad…
In any case, it was an air leak nobody really noticed that was picked up from considerable distance inside a ~85dB environment. I was impressed, but the camera cost like 25k
•
u/MobiusDie 11h ago
They have one that can go on your smartphone for $700.
→ More replies (1)•
u/screamtracker 11h ago
Is it better than the flir one camera that goes on my phone? Wasnt too impressed with that, kinda crappy unless really really close to the object
→ More replies (2)
•
•
u/Syzyjyzygy 10h ago
We have one of these at my work any my biggest takeaway from it is that we are constantly bombarded with extremely loud noises outside of the audible spectrum. It can sound completely silent in a room but then you point this camera at the ceiling and there’s like 100dB of 70Khz just blasting through the ducts. Kinda freaked me out a little bit.
→ More replies (2)•
u/fuku_visit 9h ago
That's unlikely. 100dB from about 1.5m away (or so) is something quite serious. Ultrasound can effect congnition at those levels. Also, if you measured 100dB with that machine I'd take it with a giant punch of salt. They are generally not well calibrated. You need a proper sound level meter.
•
u/Syzyjyzygy 8h ago
100 dB is an exaggeration, I don’t remember the actual number but I do remember thinking it seemed very high.
•
u/CryptographerLow6772 11h ago
We used to use an ultrasonic leak detection device for compressed air. It was not nearly as cool as this.
•
•
u/zlliksddam 10h ago
Adam Savage reviewed a similar device on his YouTube channel. Really cool device. His was quite pricey if I recall.
→ More replies (1)
•
u/SustainedSuspense 10h ago
Can it find underwater leaks through a pond liner you think?
•
u/fatcatfan 10h ago
Bro, you and me both. Came here to ask the same thing. Every year without fail right when it's time to close the pool I get a leak I can't find, and can't keep water in the pool.
•
•
•
•
•
u/PDXGuy33333 9h ago
$800 on Amazon. If I had an auto repair shop this would be on my list.
→ More replies (1)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
u/Pyronatic 9h ago
The amount of work to calibrate that thing is probably insane. Like I imagine a half a day or a day just to calibrate it
•
•
•
•
u/Training-Employee-18 9h ago
It is not the camera that is doing the “seeing”, it’s the sensors. The camera is just overlaying an image on top of the data from the sensors for the benefit of the user
•
•
•
•
•
u/Chucklum 11h ago
How much does this baby cost? I want one for, stuff.