In this paper, in order to achieve automatic defect identification for pneumatic pressure equipment, an improved feature extraction algorithm eddy current pulsed thermography is presented. The presented feature extraction algorithm contains four elements: data block selection; variable step search; relation value classification; and between-class distance decision function. The data block selection and variable step search are integrated to decrease the redundant computations in the automatic defect identification. The goal of the classification and between-class distance calculation is to select the typical (...) features of thermographic sequence. The main image information can be extracted by the method precisely and efficiently. Experimental results are provided to demonstrate the capabilities and benefits of the proposed algorithm in automatic defect identification. (shrink)