Understanding Cooled Versus Uncooled Optical Gas Imaging
FLIR Systems has published a technical note that discusses and compares the advantages of cooled versus uncooled Optical Gas Imaging (OGI) technology for different industrial applications.
Historically, OGI cameras have been designed with cooled infrared (IR) detectors that offer several advantages over uncooled detectors – but they often come at a higher cost. Advancements in the technology of uncooled detectors have allowed the OGI camera manufacturers such as FLIR to design and develop lower cost OGI solutions for a growing range of industrial applications. However, although lower in cost, there are some limitations to OGI cameras with uncooled detectors versus those using cooled detectors.
Before comparing the benefits of the 2 technologies the authors provide a useful background to the scientific theory of OGI cameras.
The technical note discusses when selecting a camera for your OGI needs, the first factor to consider is ensuring the camera in question can visualize your target gas. Though price is often an important consideration in choosing an OGI camera the article reviews the key advantages of a cooled OGI camera such as increased sensitivity and image quality which may not only impact your ability to visualize small leaks but may also be important when trying to meet regulatory standards.
The authors also discuss that there are advantages to uncooled OGI cameras beyond a lower purchase price including that they also cost less to maintain due to the simplicity in design with no cooler needed – potentially making them more appropriate for continuous, 24/7 operation applications.
To read the article in full please visit https://bit.ly/2E5bTjg. For further information on OGI cameras please visit https://www.flir.com/browse/industrial/gas-detection-cameras/ or contact FLIR Systems on +32-3665-5100 / [email protected].
Determining the Thermal Characteristics of Microelectronic Devices
FLIR Systems reports how researchers from the Microscale Thermophysics Laboratory at the University of Texas (Arlington, USA) are using FLIR thermal cameras to measure heat dissipation in three-dimensional integrated circuits (ICs).
The Microscale Thermophysics Laboratory conducts research on microscale thermal transport, energy conversion systems, semiconductor thermal management, bioheat transfer and related topics. Heat dissipation in three-dimensional integrated circuits (ICs) is a significant technological challenge, and has impeded the wide adoption of this technology despite a tremendous amount of research in past decade or two.
To measure the temperature on microelectronic devices, researchers at the Microscale Thermophysics Laboratory have traditionally used a wide variety of techniques, including thermocouples. A main challenge with this technique is that thermocouples only measure temperature values at a single point. For a more complete, and visual, picture of the temperature field, the team decided to use thermal imaging cameras from FLIR. Designed for applications including electronics inspection, the FLIR A6700 Series thermal imaging camera has proven ideal for capturing high-speed thermal events and fast-moving targets. Short exposure times have allowed users to freeze motion and achieve accurate temperature measurements. The camera’s image output can be windowed to increase frame rates to 480 frames per second which has enabled the researchers to accurately characterize even higher speed thermal events, helping ensure critical data doesn’t get missed during testing.
The head of the research group at the Microscale Thermophysics Laboratory, Dr Ankur Jain said “Thermal phenomena in devices of interest to us occur very rapidly, and we need full field information as opposed to single-point measurements”. He added “The FLIR A6703sc has helped us during our experiments, because the camera presents us with very fine details of the device being measured.”
For further information on the FLIR A6700sc thermal imaging camera series please visit https://www.flir.com/products/a6700-mwir/ or contact FLIR Systems on +32-3665-5100 / [email protected].
