Observation Of Container Liquid Levels By Dynamic Heat Conduction

A method of observing the liquid level inside an opaque metal container is proposed, where the change in surface temperature of the container is monitored using an infrared camera following momentary heating of the container by a flash. Our mechanism utilises dynamic heat transport processes occurring over a short timescale, which arise from the three modes of heat transport: radiation, conduction and convection. In this paper, we outline the theoretical foundations of the observation method and describe verification experiments carried out with copper, brass, aluminium and polyvinyl chloride containers. We expect the observation method to have a wide range of applications in research and industry.