How to tear down Flir ix? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: sam1275
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2017, 06:05:51 am
content: Hello.I just want to tear down my Flir i5 for fun, but after remove 2 screws under the battery, only the bottom part is loosed, the head part is still hold by something, are there any hidden screws?Thanks.

author: sam1275
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 18, 2017, 11:45:05 am
content: Wow thank you a lot! That's very informative! I'll try it!

author: sam1275
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 18, 2017, 05:13:48 pm
content: I successfully opened the plastic case and opened the internal metal case, but I cannot take the PCB off the front metal panel, anyone knows how to do that?BTW, I really hate when I see there's such a small hole between the lens and the sensor, so much area is wasted on such a large sensor...

author: sam1275
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 18, 2017, 05:35:50 pm
content: Thank you very much!

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 18, 2017, 08:53:59 pm
content: Sam,Worry not about the small 'hole' between the lens and sensor window...... it is an optical path diaphragm and forms part of a good quality optical block.Fraser

author: sam1275
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 18, 2017, 10:05:35 pm
content: Quote from: Fraser on February 18, 2017, 08:53:59 pmI already knew Flir ix only use a small area of the 320*240 sensor, but looking at it still make me feel bad for the wasted pixels again

author: Bill W
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2017, 10:45:15 am
content: Sam,Think of yourself being sat on a corner pixel on the sensor, you are only 3.4mm from the centre of the sensor.What you want to see looking up is ONLY the rear element of the lens and a lump of metal whose temperature you know. Seeing any other metal or risking seeing reflections is bad.That means a hole smaller than the rear element of the lens because the sensor is smaller than the rear element of the lens.My only gripe is that it should not be round, it should be a rounded rectangle unless there is another aperture lower down near the flag.Bill

author: sam1275
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2017, 12:28:01 pm
content: Quote from: Bill W on February 19, 2017, 10:45:15 amThank you Bill.The fact is that for the Flir ix, the sensor have a much larger area than the lens, the resolution limit is not as same as Ex that down sampling the whole image, ix crop the image instead.I just fully took it apart today, and as Pedre's picture shows, the sensor is a plugable module with 20-pin connector, I wonder anyone can hack it and make a host that can use the full ability of it

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2017, 04:08:33 pm
content: There's a chance the other pixels of the sensor will have more bad ones.

author: sam1275
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2017, 04:54:37 pm
content: Quote from: amyk on February 19, 2017, 04:08:33 pmOf course, and they are not calibrated, but personally I'll still hack it if possible, because otherwise they will be wasted anyway, it's good to have a (much) wider FOV and higher resolution IMHO.

author: Bill W
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2017, 01:34:33 am
content: Quote from: sam1275 on February 19, 2017, 12:28:01 pmWhat is the diameter of the rear element in your lens Sam ?May be of interest if you have not found it already:http://www.merlinlazer.com/assets/Flir_i3_i5_i7_Manual_Merlin_Lazer.pdfregardsBill

author: sam1275
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2017, 09:06:19 am
content: Hello Bill.The diameter of the rear element is about 1cm(+-1mm), and the hole is even smaller.Also, thank you for your manual.Sam

author: Bill W
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2017, 01:24:40 pm
content: Hi Sam,The 'official' sensor size would be for the i7 (as the i3 & i5 are down windowed not downsampled) at 120x120 25u pixels, so 4.2mm diagonal.Presume it was really a 160x120 sensor, which would be 5mm diagonal. I take it the sensor package window is a lot bigger ?regardsBill

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2017, 01:41:57 pm
content: Bill,A reverse costing analysis company identified the microbolometer as a 320x240 type that was being limited to lower pixel count to suit each cameras specification. IIRC, the microbolometer is the On-Semi ISC0601BIt is interesting that the is series is actually a more resilient configuration 'hobble' than that used in the Ex series. Setting windowing in the FPGA would have prevented the Ex upgrade to full resolution.Fraser

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2017, 01:47:27 pm
content: Yep, confirmed, the original iX series used the ISC0601B 320x240 array,Article is herehttp://www.systemplus.fr/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/MEMSTrends_2012_10_N12_systemplus.pdfISC0601B detail is herehttp://www.systemplus.fr/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/SP12101_FLIR_ISC0601B-micro-bolometer_Sample.pdf

author: sam1275
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2017, 03:54:00 pm
content: Thank you Bill and Fraser, I think Fraser's answer is what I'm about to say, the first pdf is also exactly which I read before.Sadly these articles are focused on cost analyze, although they provided something we are interested, it's still too limited on the electric info of the sensor, I really hope someone can probe the pins and tell us about the signal format of the sensor itself.

author: Bill W
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2017, 05:32:57 pm
content: Ah thanks I recall this a while back now but it dod not click. It would explain the 140 x 140 although it is 120 x 120 in the Merlinlazer document linked above.The next question is whether the lens is designed down to cover the 140 x 140 (or 160 x 120, both are 5mm diagonal which might not be a coincidence) or is capable of illuminating a 10mm image circle if required.

author: sam1275
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2017, 06:12:30 pm
content: Quote from: Bill W on February 20, 2017, 05:32:57 pmThis is a good question, I've thought it before.I think it could be checked by a similar method I used on visible light lens:Find a material that is flat and "diffuse reflect" LWIR, similar to a paper for visible light;Take the lens, and put it in front of the material;Use another thermal imaging camera which is able to focus closely, to look at the material;Adjust the distance between the lens and the reflect material, until you see a clear image on the material;Now you can tell the imaging circle of the lens;If the edge is not clearly cropped by the lens, you may point the lens to a wider/hotter scene, until you see the round image edge, which is the best the lens can do.I don't have another TIC which can focus very near, so this job is leaving to you guysedit: I guess the lens is for 140*140, maybe slightly larger than that for the sake of image quality, but no need for Flir to craft a lens covering 320*240 area.

author: sam1275
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2017, 07:21:26 pm
content: I just remember another question: what's the aperture of Flir ix? I searched before but cannot find the answer.