Imaging-based thermal modelling and reverse engineering of as-built automotive components: A case study

Virtual prototyping of objects with thermal characteristic requirements depends on several aspects such as the geometry of the component, material properties, ambient environmental conditions and most importantly temperature curves/heat patterns of the component when functional. In this case study, we present the data acquisition methodology towards thermal modeling of as-built automotive parts into their virtual prototypes. We explain the imaging-based reverse engineering pipeline suitable for our application towards recovering 3D geometry and identify tools for measuring temperature curves in the data collection process. Further, we show results of immersing the reverse-engineered mesh in the thermal simulation environment and verify the finite-element based simulation results to agree with the thermal image sequences. Our experimental results based on automobiles are able to address the issue of thermal modeling and verification of virtual vehicle components even when the computer aided design (CAD) models are not available. Finally, we conclude our investigation with the experimental achievability and limitations of imaging-based thermal modeling of vehicle components.