Digital holographic interferometry of convective heat transport.

Real-time holographic interferometry has been used to study the convective heat transport in a flat plate solar collector. The analysis and interpretation of the interferograms using digital techniques are discussed. This study aims to develop an automated digital process for interference pattern analysis, and thus special attention is given to those optical and physical aspects that are relevant to this goal. This includes the structural systematics of the fringes, noise due to spurious optical effects, and the accuracy of digitized optical signals. Some experimental results on automated analysis of interferograms will be discussed.