Mikron Infrared "MikroShot" preview

Mikron Infrared sells the MikroSHOT thermal imaging camera, Blackbody Calibration Sources, and other thermal imaging tools.

Their website includes a variety of free educational materials.   The web site offers technical references, tools, and a number of hour long web seminars, all at no cost (or in exchange for providing your contact information so they can try to sell you thermal imaging products)

Non-vendor-specific resources on the Mikron/LumaSense web sites:

• The Theoretical Basis For Radiation Measurements
• Mikron Blackbody Radiation Calculator (MBRC) (Free Windows software)
• Web seminars
  
• (More)

Their new (announced 3/3/2009) MikroSHOT imager is a lightweight camera selling for around $6K, with a 10-cm minimum focal length and autofocus from 1.3 m to infinity. Having a 160x120 pixel sensor and a thermal resolution of 0.2°C, the MikroSHOT saves visible and thermal images to an SD card in JPEG format. Unlike many (most) other thermal imagers, the camera operates on 3 standard AA rechargable batteries and includes an AC adapter.

This camera looks and operates like a DSLR from the early 1990s, right down the the presence of a "hot shoe" for an external flash!

Funding Research:

Mikron Infrared is a division of LumaSense Technologies, Inc.. LumaSense is funded by Oak Investment Partners and dfj / Element (Element Partners), both investors are private venture capital firms.

Instructional video on "Interior Thermography"

Found this informative video showing "Interior Thermography", including a good primer on the technology for beginners. Unfortunately, the video includes only three imager screen shots.

Featuring Todd Stevens, this video by Show Me How Videos was  added to YouTube on July 24, 2007:

Thermography techniques are used to locate and identify suspect areas of including moisture, energy loss and electrical concerns. Mr. Stevens a veteran thermographer shares his knowledge and experience with you throughout this video. In this introduction to thermal imaging, Todd will discuss basic infrared camera functions and procedures including proper use of the equipment. He also discusses the science behind the equipment and some of the practical uses.

The complete series can be purchased on DVD from Amazon.com.

Broadland District Council spends $42K to hire spy plane carrying a thermal camera to determine which homes are wasting energy

For five days at the end of January, a Leicestershire-based spy plane circled the English towns of Aylsham, Reepham and Acle. A secret plot by MI-5? A publicity stunt? No, just the Broadland District Council trying to help residents and local businesses save money on their heating bills.  This is part of a larger initiative announced on October 14th, 2008.

According to the Daily Mail "Thermal imaging cameras are being used to create colour-coded maps which will enable council officers to identify offenders and pay them a visit to educate them about the harm to the environment and measures they can take."  (emphasis mine)

With the UK having the largest deployment of CCTV in public spaces, it's not particularly suprising that they would expand beyond just monitoring the population using the visible spectrum. As Broadland's Liberal Democrat group leader Stuart Beadle said "Cameras are in place all over today and we have to accept them. So long as the right guidelines are in place and it will bring benefits, I think the scheme is a good thing".

FLIR stock outlook

Tom Konrad posts a brief analysis of the performance and outlook for FLIR Systems, Inc (FLIR). In the opinion of many analysts, due to both the military and the civilian applications of thermal imaging technology, companies such as Flir clearly have growth potential. Tom believes that "because an IR audit is cheaper than a full energy audit, some state weatherization programs or utility Demand Side Management programs will choose to to adopt IR audits as the sole energy audit used in their program.". In other words, these cameras are ideal for lower-budget refit, including ever-popular "green building" projects.

Tom says in part

"Weatherization of low income housing and Federal building retrofits are a major component of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (aka "Stimulus Package.") This will require the hiring and training of thousands of new energy auditors, for whom infrared (IR) imaging is an extremely versatile tool, both in terms of finding out what problems need to be fixed, and for convincing the customer that they are necessary. IR imaging is not necessary for an effective energy audit, but it is increasingly becoming part of the energy auditor's standard kit. I expect that new energy auditors are likely to flock to the technology because of its strong visual appeal. In addition, it requires training to use IR cameras properly, a service which Flir also provides. "

Found another SPi web site, this time a web forum

Imaging1 is one of the many, many web sites operated by SPi.  Often these are "cobweb sites", few having been updated significantly since 1991, and none offering any real interactive content -- for example "review this product" links go nowhere.

Recently I stumbled upon a new site, this time an actual functional web forum, http://imaging1.yuku.com/

This doesn't appear to be a highly active message board, with very few posts.  Still, there are occasionally some interesting topics on this site, and it is interesting to finally see something associated with SPi having timestamps less than a month old!

Yuku itself is also interesting, they host online communities, including a free (ad-supported) version.  Features include "profiles, chat, photo galleries, polls, community calendars, in-line video embedding, blogs", and for $72 a year you can "go gold", removing their ads and pop-ups.  If your site exceeds 50,000 page views per month, there is an additional fee.

Infrared Training and the InterNACHI Message Board for IR

InterNACHI (International Association of Certified Home Inspectors, Inc) offers a web discussion forum.  Read access is public, posting requires registration and approval by a moderator, which can take quite some time.

The association offers a number of free benefits to certified members, and has many chapters and events.  Membership cost is $289.   If you're planning to get into Home Inspection, this could be a good investment of your time and money.

Back on topic, their home inspection forums include an area dedicated to "Thermal Imaging, Infrared Cameras & Energy Audits".  This is a relatively active message board (multiple posts per day).  Most of the participants have Fluke or FLIR products.

If you're thinking about getting started in Home Inspection, one member, John McKenna, is offering a training course including a Fluke TiR .   With completion you can become a Infrared Certified Thermographer:

Here's a simple example of the utility of Infrared Thermography in home and building inspection:

How to Make a Good Infrared Image: thermograph.net

Thermograph.Net had an abortive attempt at a blog in September/Ocotber 2008.  While the site is no longer updated, one of the few posts from October was the very helpful entry "How to Make a Good Infrared Image", giving suggestions for taking quality thermogram images.

While you should go read the post, it boils down to:

1. Focus!
   
2. Temperature level
   
3. Distance
   
4. Palettes
   

The first item, focus, is the most important.  Poor focus makes it impossible to properly evaluate hot spots.  Once you've captured an unfocused image, no amount of editing can improve it. People have been spoiled by autofocus consumer and prosumer digital cameras, this important skill is neglected.  Distance is also key, but generally boils down to getting as close as possible (ties back to #1)

Do megapixels matter?

One of the first things people find confusing when discussing Infrared Thermography is the resolution of these cameras, or more accurately, the lack thereof.

While consumer cameras claiming 8-11 megapixels cost not much more than one or two hundred dollars, a thermal imager at a hundred times the price offers barely 0.9 megapixels!

This is because the technology behind uncooled infrared detectors (e.g. FPA microbolometers) is inherently different from the technology of visible light cameras, and also because the commercial applications of thermographic cameras does not require high pixel resolution, but rather high thermal sensitivity.   That is to say, it's not how many pixels you have, but how many bits-per-pixel, in this case not of "color" but rather of degrees of millikelvin (°mk).  Common sensors have a sensitivity of 100ml, or about 0.1°C

Here's some sample shots from an IRTalk thread, showing images from various sensor array sizes;  even with the smallest sensor, thermal sensitivity is the key criteria -- even with relatively few pixels, the necessary information for a thermal survey is collected.

Top:Residential home with 3 different sensors.

Bottom: Outdoor substation at "high" resolution.

Photo by Matt Schwoegler

SPi product placement on CSI:NY

SPi scored a major coup with their "RAZ-iR" product appearing in an episode (Season 5 Episode 15)  of CSI:NY.  This isn't the first time a Thermal Imaging Camera was used in a CSI episode (previously seen on CSI:Miami, etc), but may be the first appearance of a handheld unit on the show.

See below how this drama depicts the imager as "seeing" a sharp outline of a living human body inside a metal office supply cabinet.   Any volunteers to recreate this scene and show how this would really appear? 

In real life, they'd just send in a police dog.

I doubt real-world crime scene investigators have this particular piece of technology available, but giving investigators expensive or outright non-existent tools is par for the course for television in general, and the CSI franchise in particular.  Overstating the capabilities of thermography is a common TV Trope, often attributing to these cameras visualization not even feasible with millimeter wave radar.

Thermograph.net launches blog

Thermograph.net has launched a "Infrared Thermography | IR Camera Application Blog",
for Infrared Thermography Education and IR Camera Applications.  So far they have an interesting FLIR video (Youtube), and some sample images.

I wish them the best of luck, and hope to see more videos in the future.

IRTalk Classifieds

I am still shopping around for a good used IR camera, doesn't seem like there are very many on the market.

One place I've been checking regularly is the Classifieds section on IRTalk.com.  The message boards are slow, but the participants are knowledgable.  So far I haven't seen any really great deals come by, but I keep hoping.

IRTalk.com, a service of The Snell Group, connecting the infrared community through discussion, information, and collaboration.

IRTalk.com is an online community of infrared professionals that welcomes everyone regardless of their equipment preference, training, experience, or applications. Whether you are a maintenance technician, reliability engineer, electrical contractor, building inspector, weatherization professional, infrared service provider, or just want to know more about infrared, IRTalk.com is the place to learn from those who are active in the industry.

Found the RAZ-iR on X26.com

While searching for new night vision products, I ran across X26.com and the new RAZ-iR product, billed as "infrared cameras for PM, PDM, PPM, and Infrared FLIR Vision".

At first glance the site appears to be nothing more than a link farm for catching traffic related to thermal infrared cameras -- the site includes limited information on a number of products, but no amount of clicking around actually leads to pricing information.

Clicking through leads to x20, x26, and 7b, eventually taking me to ir55, with similar link farming but also some good FLIR images, and thence to imaging1, with a contact form to ask Jim Santana of Sierra Pacific Innovations (SPi) for more information on the RAZ-iR and other products. I also found RAZ-IR specifications and a user guide.

List price on the RAZ-iR SX is $6,900, official street pricing is $5,900.

Turns out the imager is made in China, otherwise known as the Wuhan Guide Infrared M4.

Thermographic camera - Defined

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 nanometer range of the visible light camera, infrared cameras operate in wavelengths as long as 14,000 nm (14 µm).

(Text and image courtesy of Wikipedia)

California vendor a2ti

Today I ran across a2ti, offering rental thermographic cameras and other related services in California.

They use FLIR's S60 with close-up optics for circuit board inspection, achieving temperature resolution down to 100um at temperature differentials as small as 0.06C!

The S60 is a popular, if expensive, camera with a 320 x 240 sensor.  This firm offers both the FLIR S60 and FLIR P60 for rental.