Hi Stefan,

I modified my camera to detect near IR signals by removing IR filter and insert magnetic film of floppy as visible light rejecting filter. But my intention is to record emitted IR from hot object (8µm to 14 µm range). But all the thermal imaging cameras that can capture emitted IR are very much big in size. Is there any small thermal imaging camera, that can insert into mouth are available??

I think FLIR make a reasonably small one... I saw it, it looks like a cctv ... I think that's around £4000. Unfortunately I don't know the name of the model.

Hi Francis,

Please visit the website: http://www.specinst.com/What_Is_A_CCD.html and you can find the spectral ranges for CCD's cameras with and without filters. Read very carefully last paragraph - you can find limitations of detection by CCD's cameras.

If you take out the filter you will work in near infrared region (and in visible) - so you will detect the signal from the object illuminated by another sources for example sun and if you will go the dark room (1x10-6 lux) you will detect nothing. This is the result of that the CCD's camera can't detect infrared radiation from the object in low (normal) temperature.

The smallest IR camera is from FLIR - TAU or from DRC. 20x20x20 mm (without lense).

FLIR Quark 640 seems to be quite small.

Saying the true it not fully operating camera but IR camera component.

U can also look for Raspberry Pi NoIR camera.

http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/5128

Hi Manu, I do think there are lens filters you can buy for your regular camera. The problem though then becomes the analysis. The filters will show a nice infrared image but you will have no way of knowing what temperatures you are seeing. Just a colourful image. The iPhone adaptation got me intrigued and looks good at first glance but it reads within 2 degree accuracy which may not be good enough for measuring a biological surface. FLIR has some lower cost cameras now but even they start around $1000. FLIR is getting more and more portable and less and less expensive.

All the best with your thermography.

Hi Manu,

If you wish to monitor low temperatures (body) you need to have a sensor with response in the far infrared (typically 14 microns). Of course you also need the lenses with transmission in such a range (the most typical is Ge). With a optical camera or near infrared you can only register very high temperatures, let say near 1000ºC. In that case, the emission is masively in the optical and near IR range. Curiously, in theory at that temperature if you register intensity at two wavelegths you could have even an emissivity-independent system (emissivity determination is a recurrent problem for absolute temperature determination with thermographic cameras).

By the way, now you can buy cheap infrared cameras, Ge lense, microbolometer technology for around 1000€. China broke the market!!!

Best regards and luck,

Eusebio

Hi Manu,

I would avoid to modify the CCD camera, it is a waste of time. CCD without the IR filter will be sensitive to IR radiation at 1 micron which is the radiation emitted by a very hot surface, around 3000 K (you can easily compute this by Wien's law). You do need a thermal camera.

Yes a thermal camera is needed. But I've modified a photogrephic camera removing the IR filter and it's sensitive to 300 K (I could see in total darkness the point of a welder before it get visible) also it was sensitive to reflected IR and I used it for cultural heritage to detect organic pigments. It all depend on the temperature you need. Of course you will also need a filter in the visible to cut the frequency you don't need.

I do agree with Mr. Bellucci.

To modify a CCD camera, so as to pick up electromagnetic waves that allow you to measure temperature, you should change both the sensor and the optics.

If you do not need a high thermal and spatial resolution, better to buy a IR camera such a relatively cheap microbolometric one.

To measure surface temperature (i.e. mainly emitted radiation and not the reflected one), you do not need to buy a camera in the 8-12 microns band, but one in the 3-5 microns one is sufficient.

Should you need more information, you may refer to the recently published book:

ASTARITA T. and CARLOMAGNO G.M.: “Infrared Thermography for Thermo-Fluid-Dynamics”, Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg, ISBN 978-3-642-29507-2 (2013).

It describes all you need.

Good luck !

Any CCD detect near IR radiation, but isn't possible increase sesitivity standard CCD camera to IR for temperature measurements. Only one possibility - remove IR filter (corrector) from low cost CCD to visualize blood vessels and changes in blood microcirculation (specially if you low cost IR LED to illumination of body under investigation). It possible use liquid crystal paint for visualization of temperature fields and CCD for registration of this changes but this methods not too safely and not in practice from 1970x... Lowest way for registration of thermo profile of oral cavity - is using single point pyroelectric (TGS) detector from detector of moving (any safety system). Analog signal from this detector is inough to measure dT less than 0.1 C, but you need add optical scaner and lens (or mirror) to obtain stable result :-)

I little correction: The Flir one does not changes your iPhone camere into a thermal camera but adds a microbolometer sensor and thermal optics in a backcover to the iPhone. There are good low budget microbolometer cameras available at companies as Flir, Xenics, InfraTec, ...