KYORImo Sound Camera Developed
December 6, 2011
Chubu Electric Power Co.,Inc.
Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. (President & Director: Akihisa Mizuno; head office: 1, Higashi-shincho, Higashi-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture) and Kumagai Gumi Co., Ltd. (President: Hiroshi Ota; head office: 2-1, Tsukudo-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo) have jointly developed a sound camera called KYORImo that can find the distance from the measuring point to a sound source, in addition to the existing sound camera function of visualizing sound.*
The previously existing sound camera can be used to take steps against noise and investigate abnormal sound by finding the direction from which sound is coming, as well as the sound’s loudness (sound pressure level, dB) and frequency (Hz) on a computer display.
However, if two or more sounds are coming from the same direction, the measurement results overlap on the screen display. Therefore, identification of the sound sources requires an approach such as measuring from multiple spots, which takes time. Moreover, it is sometimes impossible to change the measuring spot, if one is close to a river, mountain or electric power facility (recharging part).
The newly developed KYORImo sound camera uses two groups of the existing sound camera’s microphones. Using the distance between microphone locations and the sound direction (horizontal angle) acquired from each group of microphones, it is possible to show the horizontal projection distance from the measuring point to the sound source in real time using the principle of triangulation.
Using the newly developed camera allows one to easily find source location information for abnormal sounds, etc., and could help enhance work efficiency when inspecting or repairing equipment.
The developers will study a wide range of applications for this device.
*In June 2001, Chubu Electric Power, Kumagai Gumi and Professor Yasuhiro Yamashita of Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering,Faculty of Engineering, Shinshu University, (currently Professor Emeritus of Shinshu University) jointly developed the sound camera. A number of improvements have been made since then, and the Real Time Sound Camera was announced in March 2007.