Contact: Abby Barber
A software program developed at Mississippi State is being licensed to a Rockford. Ill., supplier of industrial process heating products, systems and services worldwide.
Developed by Ping-Rey Jang at the university's Diagnostic Instrumentation and Analysis Laboratory, a thermal imaging system will be commercially available through Eclipse/Combustion Tec, which also has offices in Winter Park, Fla.
Called "Thermal Imaging System for Closed Circuit Television," the new software adds another dimension to existing closed circuit television systems used to safely monitor and regulate the production of industrial glass.
Since glass furnaces around the world are routinely equipped with CCTV viewing and monitoring systems, the new software offers the potential for greater furnace efficiency and enhanced quality control with minimal capital investment.
Jang said the new software will help minimize the possibility of lost production and the resulting costs associated with facility restoration.
"The temperature inside a glass furnace varies greatly," he explained. "With the intuitive tools the software provides, operators can keep a close eye on temperatures and determine thermal distribution over a large area with pin-point accuracy in near real-time."
Charles Rivenburgh, director of the campus intellectual property and technology licensing office, said the imaging software is only the latest of numerous MSU-based inventions that have been transferred to the private sector for public use.
"Mississippi State currently holds patents on about 60 pieces of intellectual property, ranging from insect resistance management in agriculture to a fiber optic laser-induced probe to analyze molten material," Rivenburgh said.