Sensors expand scope for thermal imaging

An Irisys product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jun 24, 2005

Five new thermal imaging temperature sensors expand the range of applications covered by the well-established and European award-winning IRI 1011

Irisys has released five new thermal imaging temperature sensors to expand the range of applications offered by its well-established and European award-winning IRI 1011 sensor.

The family offers premium hardware and software functionality at a fraction of the cost of competing products.

Based on Irisys' highly successful 16 x 16 pixel array, the sensors are designed to be used in a wide variety of markets and applications.

The family comprises five new temperature sensors with differing temperature ranges, accuracy and measurement angles.

The IRI 1021 provides certified measurement accuracy over the temperature measurement range of 30 to 300C (measured at an ambient of 23C) of +/-2C or +/-2%, whichever is the greater.

The IRI 1021 is targeted at customers requiring a calibration certificate to meet operational needs, for example to adhere to ISO9000 requirements.

The IRI 1031 measures a higher temperature scale of 100 to 1000C (measured at an ambient of 23C) with an accuracy of +/-30C.

This unit is provided with a calibration certificate, and opens up opportunities for applications where high temperature measurement is required in industries such as, cement, petrochemicals, glass, iron and steel etc.

The IRI 1041, IRI 1051 and IRI 1061 are, respectively, identical to the IRI 1011, IRI 1021 and IRI 1031, except for a narrow angle 10-degree FOV lens in place of the 20-degree FOV lens.

The narrower field of view allows the unit to be placed twice the distance from the object under test while measuring the same area, or to be placed the same distance from the object under test giving twice the resolution.

There are various user settings and controls that add to the flexibility of the devices, with sensitivity and offset control being adjusted manually or automatically.

The software has two user-programmable points on-screen that show the temperature differential between those points and a built-in class II laser is used to aim the device or to highlight the reference pixel.

All operations of these devices have been designed to be used with one hand.

The temperature sensors are easily connected to a PC by an RS232 cable for further data manipulation that can include multiple item storage and retrieval.

Up to ten devices can be linked to one PC and ten user-definable cursors may be used.

The values can be saved to MS Excel, or can be cut and pasted into other MS applications while images can be stored on a Flash card for downloading.

The handheld sensors use a PDA, typically pocket PC or Palm, to display results while the auto-adjusting software allows the user to browse, "grab", save and download measurements to a PC.

The devices offer real-time performance with eight measurements per second.

The output is a 96 x 96 pixel display, which can be digital readout, greyscale, green/blue or red/blue depending on user preferences.

The PDA simply "clicks" onto the sensor or can be used as a separately held display allowing sensor access to awkward places.

Each of the family is cased in impact-resistant plastic, has dimensions of 120 x 125 x 80mm, weighs less than 600g and can be used with the supplied pistol grip, or also with a tripod.

The devices can be powered by four AA-type batteries, which will give up to eight hours operation, or from the mains.

These sensors are not classified as dual-purpose and therefore do not require an export licence.

There is a short lead-time on all orders.