Engine bay fire detection with video camera

On Saturday, October 10, 2020 at 4:21:34 PM UTC-4, Eric Greenwell wrote:
Kenn Sebesta wrote on 10/10/2020 12:09 PM:
On Saturday, October 10, 2020 at 12:54:55 PM UTC-4, Eric Greenwell wrote:
I don't trust the heat sensor on the right side of the engine bay to activate soon
enough to land safely, especially for fires caused by the bearings of the lower
propeller belt drive. It'd be easy to install a small video camera at the front of
the engine bay, and run the wires to a small display in the cockpit where it's
easily seen. This could be used on gas power and FES (for the battery compartment)
gliders. Has anyone tried this?

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1

That's an intriguing idea. How would you monitor the video feed? Would it be part of your active scan during takeoff?

You might do better with a FIR camera than an EO one. I'm just guessing here, but it's probably easier to do background subtraction to highlight heat changes than to see smoke in a very well-ventilated compartment.

I think glancing at it just before you start the takeoff roll, then again after
you reach a safe height (300 feet, say) and every 20-30 seconds after that would
be adequate. But - I think you are right that detecting the smoke or flame might
be very difficult in the engine bay, which is my problem (The FES pilots might
have success in the battery compartment, though). Probably need to do some smoke
tests on the ground and inflight with the engine running.

I have a FLIR ONE for my iPhone, but mounting it in the engine bay with a
Lightning cable to the front isn't practical, since it can't be turned on remotely.

I couldn't find a cheap camera ($200) online that could be used the way I'd like
to, either.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1

Possibly a camera and display like used for rear view in RV's might be adaptable.
FWIW
UH