Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Physics Thermal Imageing Thermal Imageing Suspect Marijuana grow facility detection with color IR imaging Thermal Imaging is the conversion of radiated or reflected heat into real-time pictures or images. A thermal image is an analogue visual representation of temperature differences. All objects above absolute zero (-273 degrees) emit radiation waves that are infrared. Depending on temperature and emissivity, most objects in the world can be thermally imaged. Thermal Imaging can be applied in many varying circumstances to simplify the detection, location and assessment of temperature related problems. Thermal imaging is used for a variety of heat detection tasks including checking for leaks (for all substances have slightly different temperatures) to surveillance/night vision (detecting body heat for when visual detection isn’ t possible). Thermography is a science capable of providing very detailed images of situations invisible to the naked eye. Thermal infrared imagers are transverse wave detectors and lens combinations that give a visual representation of infrared energy. The most common tool used for thermal imaging today is the thermal infrared camera. Thermal infrared cameras can be used to detect and display the presence of anything radiating heat above absolute zero. They supply visual representation of the infrared energy emitted by all objects. These cameras come in two types, those that take stills (like photos) and those that record motion imagery (like video). All imagers can only see through a limited density of material. For example if you took an image of a pipe at the right detection setting you would see the pipe and any leaks but you wouldn’t see what was happening inside the pipe. Thermal imagers can passively see all objects regardless of ambient light. Video images, colour or black-and-white hard copy, or electronic data format can be captured for further manipulation. Thermal energy is transmitted in the infrared wavelength ( 1 micron to 100 microns ). You can see by the image above that thermal energy is closely related to visible light in that it travels in a wave. The human eye can only see the narrow middle band of visible light that encompasses all the colors of light in the rainbow. Thermal infrared imagers translate the energy transmitted in the infrared wavelength into data that can be processed into a visible light spectrum video display. The first image displays two adults and a child through an infrared thermal imager. After a minute of sitting on the couch the thermal infrared energy of the people is transferred and stored in the couch until they get up. The second image, with no people, shows the fact that all objects radiate heat. The heat from their bodies that transferred to the couch is now being emitted from the couch and displayed on the thermal imaging device. Thermal imaging devices have progressed a lot since their invention, first generation thermal imagers used a glass tube technology and while the images produced were useful, early units were prone to white out where the screen only sees heat because the room and/or the heat source was to hot for the sensors. Second generation of imagers used Ferroelectric detectors also know as Barium Strontium Titanate (BST) detectors. While the image quality has improved over the first generation, the images produced have a visibly slow reaction time so they can be rather choppy, showing dark areas around hot images and the smearing of images during movement of the camera. The third and most advanced generation of imagers use microbolometer imaging technology which creates a high quality image by focussing heat onto an arrangement of microscopic picture elements (pixels) and converting this change in heat into an electrical signal. These signals are processed by the imagers electronics to form an image which is displayed a screen. Some example of Thermal Infrared images : Thermal infrared imagers come in different configurations, some imagers are designed to give actual temperature measurement of the scene along with a colour video representation. This type of imager is called "radiometric" and is used mostly for industrial (predictive maintenance, process control, R&D) and medical ( human & veterinary ) applications. Other imagers are designed primarily for surveillance and / or target acquisition environments. These units can be either hand held or mounted installations. The main differences in surveillance units is going to be the optical components and the resolution of the imager. High end units for surveillance and target acquisition scenarios are capable of human detection at over 1 mile and vehicle detection at over 5 miles. Thermal imaging devices have affected many business fields, for example thermal imagers were a real breakthrough for the fire/rescue service, providing fire fighters with the ability to see through smoke and in completely dark conditions for the first time ever. They have also positively affected property surveillance efforts by stopping the cover of darkness being an advantage to intruders and have assisted polices in the finding of illegal marijuana growing facilities. Thermal imagers are also used a lot in the medical field as a non-invasive way to monitor the human body. The most recent use found for thermal imagers is that of surveying the surface of Mars, they may even be able to use this to see if there is water/ice on this planet. Bibliography: Bibliography Thermal infared imageing, Sierra Pacific Inovations, http://www.x20.org/index.html Thermocouples ,Thremotech USA , http://www.thermotechusa.com/whois.htm Universal Heat Flow Sensor , WUNTRONIC GmbH, http://www.wuntronic.de/homepage.htm USAF Fact Sheet Defense Support Program Satellites , http://usmilitary.about.com/careers/usmilitary/mbody.htm , About > Jobs/Carers > U.S Military Search for “Heat Detecting” FireOpTIC Thermal imageing camera, Infrared Components Corporation http://www.infraredcomponents.com/foptic/fireoptic.htm Mars Gobal Surveyor, Thermal Emission Spectrometer project home page http://emma.la.asu.edu/ Heat Seekers Infrared Imaging http://www.heatseekr.com/ Specialists in infra-red thermal imaging, HORTON LEVI http://www.hortonlevi.co.uk Teletherm infrared, Division of Ashwin Systems International Inc. http://home1.gte.net/infrared/ Word Count: 883
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