 Image of a small dog taken in mid-infrared ("thermal") light (false color) A thermographic camera, sometimes called a FLIR (forward looking infrared), or an infrared camera less specifically, is a device that forms an image using infrared radiation, similar to a common camera that forms an image using visible light. Instead of the 450–750 nanometre range of the visible light camera, infrared cameras operate in wavelengths as long as 10,000 nm. Image of a small dog taken in infrared light. ...
Image of a small dog taken in infrared light. ...
A forward looking infrared (FLIR) system is a television camera that takes pictures in infrared. ...
Image of a small dog taken in mid-infrared (thermal) light (false color) Infrared (IR) radiation is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength longer than that of visible light, but shorter than that of microwave radiation. ...
Radiation has a variety of different meanings. ...
A camera is a device used to take pictures (usually photographs), either singly or in sequence, with or without sound recording, such as with video cameras. ...
The optical spectrum (light or visible spectrum) is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to the human eye. ...
Prism splitting light Light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength that is visible to the eye (visible light) or, in a technical or scientific setting, electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength. ...
The wavelength is the distance between repeating units of a wave pattern. ...
Theory of operation
All objects emit a certain amount of black-body radiation as a function of their temperatures. Generally speaking, the higher an object's temperature is, the more infrared radiation as black-body radiation it emits. A special camera can detect this radiation in a way similar to an ordinary camera does visible light. It works even in total darkness because ambient light level does not matter. This makes it useful for rescue operations in smoke-filled buildings and underground. As the temperature decreases, the peak of the black body radiation curve moves to lower intensities and longer wavelengths. ...
Temperature is the physical property of a system which underlies the common notions of hot and cold; the material with the higher temperature is said to be hotter. ...
A camera is a device used to take pictures (usually photographs), either singly or in sequence, with or without sound recording, such as with video cameras. ...
Images from infrared cameras tend to be monochromatic because the cameras are generally designed with only a single type of sensor responding to single wavelength range of infrared radiation. Color cameras require a more complex construction to differentiate wavelength and color has less meaning outside of the normal visible spectrum because the differing wavelengths do not map uniformally into the system of color vision used by humans. Sometimes these monochromatic images are displayed in false color, where changes in color are used rather than changes in intensity do display changes in the signal. This is useful because although the humans have much greater dynamic range in intensity detection than color overall, the ability to see fine intensity differences in bright areas is fairly limited. The wavelength is the distance between repeating units of a wave pattern. ...
For use in temperature measurement the brightest (warmest) parts of the image are customarily colored white, intermediate temperatures reds and yellows, and the dimmest (coolest) parts blue. A scale should be shown next to a false color image to relate colors to temperatures. Their resolution is considerably lower than of optical cameras, mostly only 160x120 or 320x240 pixels. Thermographic cameras are much more expensive than their visible-spectrum counterparts, and higher-end models are often deemed as dual-use and export-restricted. Dual-use is a term often used in politics and diplomacy to refer to technology which can be used for both peaceful and military aims, usually in regard to the proliferation of nuclear weapons. ...
Thermal imaging photography finds many other uses. For example, firefighters use it to see through smoke, find persons, and localize hotspots of fires. With thermal imaging, power line maintenance technicians locate overheating joints and parts, a telltale sign of their failure, to eliminate potential hazards. Where thermal insulation becomes faulty, building construction technicians can see heat leaks to improve the efficiencies of cooling or heating air-conditioning. Thermal imaging cameras are also installed in some luxury cars to aid the driver, the first being the 2000 Cadillac DeVille. Some physiological activities, particularly responses, in human beings and other warm-blooded animals can also be monitored with thermographic imaging. Cooled infrared cameras can also be found at most major astronomy research telescopes. Firefighter in full turn out gear with a pickhead axe. ...
Smoke from a wildfire Smoke is a suspension in air (aerosol) of small particles resulting from incomplete combustion of a fuel. ...
Transmission lines in Lund, Sweden Electric power transmission is one process in the delivery of electricity to consumers. ...
Insulation means providing a barrier for the flow of energy, in this case heat. ...
Construction on the North Bytown Bridge in Ottawa, Canada. ...
The Deville (also De Ville and de Ville) name has been used on many of Cadillacs luxury car models. ...
50 cm refracting telescope at Nice Observatory. ...
Types Thermographic cameras can be broadly divided into two types: those with cooled infrared image detectors and those with uncooled detectors.
Cooled infrared detectors Cooled detectors are typically contained in a vacuum-sealed case and cryogenically cooled. This greatly increases their sensitivity since their own temperatures are much lower than that of the objects from which they are meant to detect radiation. Typical cooling temperatures range from 4 K to 110 K, 80 K being the most common. Without cooling, these sensors (which detect and convert light in much the same way as common digital cameras, but are made of different materials) would be 'blinded' or flooded by their own radiation. The drawbacks of cooled infrared cameras are that they are expensive both to produce and to run. Cooling and evacuating are power- and time-consuming. The camera may need several minutes to cool down before it can begin working. Although the components that lower temperature and pressure make generally bulky and expensive, cooled infrared cameras provide superior image quality compared to uncooled ones.
Materials used for infrared detection include liquid-helium cooled bolometers, photon-counting Superconducting Tunnel Junction arrays and a wide range of cheaper narrow gap semiconductor devices including: Narrow gap semiconductors are semiconducting materials with an energy gap that is comparatuively small comapred to silicon. ...
Indium antimonide - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ...
HgCdTe (mercury cadmium telluride) is an alloy of CdTe and HgTe and is third for technological importance after Si and GaAs. ...
Lead sulfide and several other lead salts are used as detection element material in various infra-red sensors. ...
Uncooled infrared detectors Uncooled thermal cameras use sensors that operate at room temperature. Modern uncooled detectors all use sensors that work by the change of resistance, voltage or current when heated by infrared radiation. These changes are then measured and compared to the values at the operating temperature of the sensor. Uncooled infrared sensors can be stabilized to an operating temperature to reduce image noise, but they are not cooled to low temperatures and do not require bulky, expensive cryogenic coolers. This makes infrared cameras smaller and less costly. However, their resolution and image quality tend to be lower than cooled detectors. This is due to difference in their fabricational processes, still limited by available technology. Electrical resistance is a measure of the degree to which an electrical component opposes the passage of current. ...
This article may be too technical for most readers to understand. ...
In electricity, current refers to electric current, which is the flow of electric charge. ...
Uncooled detectors are mostly based on pyroelectric materials or microbolometer technology. Pyroelectricity is the electrical potential created in certain materials when they are heated. ...
A Microbolometer is a specific type of bolometer used as a detector in a thermal camera. ...
Makers of thermographic cameras US - Digital Infrared Imaging
- Rockwell
- Raytheon
- DRS
- BAE SYSTEMS NA
- L-3 Communications, Cincinnati Electronics
- Santa Barbara Focalplane
- FLIR Systems
- Electrophysics Corp.
UK Rockwell can refer to: Rockwell International - a defense company in the United States Rockwell Automation - an industrial automation company that descended from Rockwell International Rockwell Collins - a communications and aviation electronics company that also descended from Rockwell International Willard Rockwell - businessman who helped shape and name what became Rockwell International...
Raytheon Company NYSE: RTN is a major United States military contractor based in Waltham, Massachusetts. ...
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