The main principle behind thermal imaging is to convert the thermal radiation of the detected areas and transform them into visible display for further research or development which can be described by both “thermography” and “temperature measurement” as both the words mean reading the intensity of thermal radiation. In our previous blog, we defined thermal imaging sensors and difference on the basis of their ranges.
But that’s not all, there are various other categories to define thermal imaging sensors. In this blog we will talk about radiometric and non-radiometric thermal cores.
Teledyne FLIR being the most reputed and known thermal OEM cores manufacturers provides the best solution in the areas of thermal imaging . Kasstech Aerospace Pvt LTD is the consultant of Teledyne FLIR for OEM cores in India.
As mentioned above the thermal OEM cores can be of two types:
1.Radiometric
2.Non Radiometric
Radiometric thermal cores help in measuring the temperature of the surface by calculating the parameters of every pixel that includes emissivity, distance reflected temp, humidity etc. This is also open for correction.
Non Radiometric thermal cores- these camera cores only measure temperature fields without any possibility of correction.
This only has the visualization of captured image and therefore cannot be reevaluated.
Applications of Radiometric Thermal Cores:
1. Aerial Surveillance : Radiometric Cores can be found in personal equipment’s like view finder, binoculars and military vehicles where it is used for perimeter surveillance, driving assistance and remotely -operated turrets.
2. Search and Rescue: Radiometric cores are used to detect sources of heat and presence of human ( of authorized and unauthorized personnel,) locate and count people, detect activity and intruders.
3. Fire Fighting Support: Fire fighting is one of the obvious use for radiometric technology, which can provide real- time image of temperature variations- information firefighters can use to navigate their way through dangerous areas.
4. Crop Surveillance and analysis: Radiometric thermal cores generate images that can be used to improve crop yields by providing information on soil irrigation.
5. Gas detection: In the oil and gas industry, radiometric thermal cores are used in all predictive maintenance programs, where it can detect dangerous and costly gas leaks by providing real time images
6. Predictive and Preventive Maintenance: Radio metric technology used in both maintenance and prevention. It enables continuous inspection and can detect the random incident that can occur at any time early on and mitigate their impact. This technology can be used to provide continuous inspection of electricity grids, For e.g., from the power plant and high voltage power lines to electrical panels.
And for machines, it can provide the same continuous inspection capabilities, detecting the heat generated by abnormal friction so that predictive and preventive maintenance can be performed before the problem escalates. This helps in reducing costs as it makes it possible to move to a need based maintenance policy instead of a schedule based maintenance policy.
7.Medical, Paramedical and Veterinary Imaging: Radiometric thermography is a non-invasive technique that can highlight differences in temperature caused by muscle or circulatory issues or tumors for example, abnormal surface temperatures resulting from metabolic or vascular fluctuations (which can indicate a tumor, nerve pain, inflammation, or trauma) can be identified using radiometric thermal technology. The technology has applications in mammography, dermatology, rheumatology, vascular medicine, neurology, traumatology, pharmacology and veterinary medicine.
8.Transportation: Equipping vehicles with radiometric thermal cores can make a substantial contribution to improving traffic safety. It can provide night time driver assistance, alerting drivers to a pedestrian, cyclist or obstacle in the vehicle’s path. Radiometric thermal technology can rapidly detect a potential danger, giving drivers the ability to respond faster and avoid the accident.
A few radiometric thermal cores from Teledyne FLIR are:
FLIR Boson R and Tau 2R.