What is Thermal Imaging &
How Does it Work?
Everything you see around you the wall, desk, cars, people, pets, your fridge, everything. They all emit waves of energy called ‘infrared radiation’ or (IR) for short. The hotter the object the more energy it emits. The cooler an object the less energy it emits.
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| After Removing Finger From hot Water. |
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| Example of Conduction 1 |
The detector we use within our thermal imaging cameras are similar to the human eye and are very sensitive. The eye receives wavelengths of energy called “visible light” while the detector on our camera receives wavelengths of heat energy called “infrared.”
We use a 640X480 resolutions camera which gives us 307,200 temperature readings in a single image. The cameras detector captures electromagnetic energy (temperature readings) from an object and converts it into an image for our brains to interpret by assigning a color for each individual temperature in the image.
These images are called “Thermograms” or “Heat Pictures”.
A certified thermographer will have a good understanding of thermodynamics (The science of how thermal energy (heat) moves, transforms and affects matter) to properly capture and analyze images.
No thermal imaging cameras can actually “see through” solid materials. They only “see” the temperature difference on the surface. This is why an understanding of thermodynamics is critical to understand what is going on in the images.
Hire Only Certified Thermographers!
