The development history of infrared thermometer
In 1800, the British physicist F. W. Huxell discovered infrared, which opened up a broad road for human application of infrared technology. During the Second World War, the Germans developed active night vision devices and infrared communication equipment by using infrared image tubes as photoelectric conversion devices, which laid the foundation for the development of infrared technology.
After the Second World War, the United States first developed the first generation of infrared imaging devices used in the military field after nearly a year of exploration, called the Infrared Viewing System (FLIR). Scanning infrared radiation of the target. The two-dimensional infrared radiation signs are received by the photon detector, which is processed by photoelectric conversion and a series of instruments to form a video image signal. The original form of this system is a non-real-time automatic temperature distribution recorder. Later, with the development of indium antimonide and germanium mercury-doped photon detectors in the 1950s, high-speed scanning and real-time display of thermal images of objects began to appear. system.
In the early 1960s, Sweden successfully developed the second-generation infrared imaging device, which was based on the infrared viewing system and added the function of temperature measurement, called an infrared thermal imager.
At first, due to confidentiality reasons, it was limited to military use in developed countries. The thermal imaging device that was put into application could detect each other's targets, camouflaged targets and high-speed moving targets in the dark or in thick clouds and fog. Due to the support of state funds, the research and development costs invested are very large, and the cost of instruments is also very high. In the future, considering the practicability in the development of industrial production, combined with the characteristics of industrial infrared detection, the cost of compression instruments will be adopted. According to the requirements of civil use, measures such as reducing the production cost and improving the image resolution by reducing the scanning speed have gradually developed into the civil field.
In the mid-1960s, the first industrial real-time imaging system (THV) was developed. The system is cooled by liquid nitrogen, powered by 110V power supply voltage, and weighs about 35 kilograms. Therefore, the portability in use is very poor. Several generations of improvements, the infrared thermal imager developed in 1986 no longer needs liquid nitrogen or high-pressure gas, but is cooled by thermoelectricity and can be powered by batteries; the full-function thermal imager launched in 1988 integrates temperature measurement, modification, analysis, Image acquisition and storage are integrated, and the weight is less than 7 kg. The function, accuracy and reliability of the instrument have been significantly improved.
In the mid-1990s, the United States first successfully developed a new infrared thermal imager (CCD), which was converted from military technology (FPA) to civilian use and commercialized. When the temperature is warm, you only need to aim at the target to capture the image, and store the above information on the PC card in the machine to complete the whole operation. The setting of various parameters can be returned to the indoor software to modify and analyze the data, and finally get the direct result. Due to the improvement of technology and the change of structure, the inspection report has replaced the complicated mechanical scanning. The weight of the instrument is less than 2 kilograms. It can be easily operated with one hand like a hand-held camera.
Today, infrared thermal imaging systems have been widely used in electric power, fire protection, petrochemical and medical fields. Thermal imaging cameras are playing a pivotal role in the development of the world economy
