The Thermal Imaging Camera And How It Works
A thermal imaging camera records the intensity of radiation in the infrared part of
the electromagnetic spectrum and converts it to a visible image.
What is infrared?
The visible light spectrum. All other forms of electromagnetic radiation, such asinfrared, are invisible to the human eye.The existence of infrared was discovered in 1800 by astronomer Sir FrederickWilliam Herschel. Curious to the thermal difference between different lightcolors, he directed sunlight through a glass prism to create a spectrum and thenmeasured the temperature of each color. He found that the temperatures of thecolors increased from the violet to the red part of the spectrum.After noticing this pattern Herschel decided to measure the temperature justbeyond the red portion of the spectrum in a region where no sunlight was visible.To his surprise, he found that this region had the highest temperature of all.Infrared radiation lies between the visible and microwave portions of theelectromagnetic spectrum. The primary source of infrared radiation is heat orthermal radiation. Any object that has a temperature above absolute zero (-273.15 degrees Celsius or 0 Kelvin) emits radiation in the infrared region. Even objects that we think of as being very cold, such as ice cubes, emit infrared radiation.
We experience infrared radiation every day. The heat that we feel from sunlight, afire or a radiator is all infrared. Although our eyes cannot see it, the nerves in ourskin can feel it as heat. The warmer the object, the more infrared radiation it emits
The Thermal Imaging Camera
infrared detector (C). The detector sends the information to sensor electronics (D)for image processing. The electronics translate the data coming from the detectorinto an image (E) that can be viewed in the viewfinder or on a standard videomonitor or LCD screen.
