Ten-dollar thermal infrared imager

Philip C. D. Hobbs

doi:10.1117/12.452658

27 December 2001 Ten-dollar thermal infrared imager

Philip C. D. Hobbs

Proceedings Volume 4563, Sensors and Controls for Intelligent Manufacturing II; (2001) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.452658
Event: Intelligent Systems and Advanced Manufacturing, 2001, Boston, MA, United States

Abstract

A thermal infrared imager of competitive sensitivity and very simple construction is presented. It is a pyroelectric device of 96 pixels, based on ferroelectric polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). It uses a novel charge-dispensing multiplexer based on ordinary light emitting diodes to achieve a noise-equivalent temperature change (NETD) of 0.13 K at a 5 Hz frame rate (2.1 Hz BW). Design information, theory, and measured performance are presented. Achieving such a low total system cost requires the use of the very least expensive optical system, a moulded polyethylene Fresnel lens, whose advantages and limitations are discussed. Several possible improvements, aggregating approximately 30 dB in sensitivity are also discussed, leading to the interesting possibility of few-millikelvin NETD values with an uncooled pyroelectric device of extremely low cost.

Citation Download Citation

Philip C. D. Hobbs "Ten-dollar thermal infrared imager", Proc. SPIE 4563, Sensors and Controls for Intelligent Manufacturing II, (27 December 2001); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.452658

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