Heimann HTPA development experience? & Seeking alternative sensor for comparison - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: CraftCannConsulting
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 19, 2024, 07:27:35 am
content: Hello everyone,I'm currently developing a thermal imaging device tailored for a specific niche market. My design involves the use of the HTPA16x16d sensor, paired with a 2" touchscreen interface. The primary application of this device is to measure temperatures ranging from 100° to 450° C, with the sensor positioned approximately 6 to 8 inches away from the object.I chose the HTPA16x16d for its ability to meet these specific requirements. However, I am actively seeking alternative sensors to evaluate and compare against the HTPA. My goal is to ensure that I select the best possible component for my device, considering factors such as accuracy, resolution, and cost. At this point, I am particularly interested in suggestions for alternative hardware that could potentially enhance the performance or efficiency of my device.Additionally, I do plan to develop custom software for this device to handle image resolution manipulation (interpolation) and so that there will be some functionality for the use to change color pallets and add additional measurement reading points to the display (for multiple readings)...More about this later.Finding this forum was a godsend and I truly appreciate all the work put in throughout the years (I've been reading posts going back over 10 years).Because of the vast amount of experience here from all over the world, I extend an invitation to contributors within this forum who may be interested in offering freelance assistance or potentially taking on a role as a co-founder. Your expertise and input could be invaluable to the success of this project.

author: CraftCannConsulting
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 28, 2024, 10:06:50 am
content: 🦗🦗🦗It's just odd that i don't see more about this manufacturer in the forum and the specs seem slightly better than the mlx(x)

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 28, 2024, 12:17:59 pm
content: Hi,Heimann are a well known manufacturer in Industry but, like Hamamatsu they tend to be less well known in the consumer market.In the case of the sensor array that you mention, you are dealing with a very low resolution thermal sensor that has limited imaging capabilities so is less attractive to many users of thermal imaging. With modern microbolometers coming out of Asia offering 120 x 90 or 256 x 192 pixels, a 16 x 16 pixel sensor appears less than attractive to OEM’s and consumers, unless the application is very limited and requires no more than a very low resolution image.To put this into perspective, IRISYS (UK) make people counting devices that monitor the number and habits of humans passing through the sensors field of view. They wanted an affordable thermal sensor for their people counters. They ended up designing and making their own 16 x 16 pixel pyroelectric sensor as no suitable alternative was available at the time. The Pyroelectric sensor was perfect for the application as it only detected thermal energy that was changing so would track a human moving across the field of view whilst ignoring static sources of thermal energy. IRISYS produced thermal imaging people counters that contained a low resolution 16 x 16 pixel sensor array yet could both identify and track a warm target moving through the lenses field of view. The people counter head is mounted on the ceiling and looks down on the target area with a wide FOV Simple single element lens. The associated software could identify a human target from the oval thermal profile, as compared to say a dog or cat in the scene. A breadcrumb trail was also available to show a targets movement across the FOV. This enabled retailers to use the people counter to monitor customers behaviour, such as loitering or circling a display stand etc. a university student wrote software that could determine whether the human target moving across the FOV is male or female ! It was done by monitoring the walking gate of the target…… all done with only 16 x 16 pixels !IRISYS was asked whether they could produce a low resolution thermal imaging camera for use on railways to monitor brake temperatures. IRISYS rose to the challenge and built a thermal imaging camera with their 16 x 16 pixel pyroelectric sensor array. This camera incorporated a chopper wheel between the lens and sensor array to create the necessary change in scene temperature for the pyroelectric sensor pixels. This enabled imaging of non moving thermal targets. The first such camera was the IRI-1001 and it was the most affordable thermal imaging camera on the market at the time. The camera used a standard Compaq iPAQ PDA for its image processing and interpolation was employed to create a 128 x 128 pixel image from the 16 x 16 pixel sensor array. These days no one would claim that the images produced by this camera are anything but poor, verging on unusable, when compared to modern higher resolution thermal cameras. In the era in which the camera was produced, it was nothing short of miraculous in terms of what it offered for the asking price, when compared to conventional commercial cameras of the time.IRISYS went on to produce several revisions of low resolution thermal camera with ever improving ergonomics. They kept the 16 x 16 pyroelectric sensor array but also added 32 x 32 and 47 x 47 pixel pyroelectric sensor arrays to the available line-up and these were used in the later thermal cameras that they produced. IRISYS realised that the market wanted higher resolutions than they could deliver with their “in-house” affordable pyroelectric sensor array. They had no choice but to buy-in conventional Microbolometer FPA’s from ULIS to remain competitive in the marketplace. They continued to offer affordable low resolution thermal cameras but added 160 x 120 and 320 x 240 pixel microbolometer based thermal cameras as well. One low resolution thermal camera project that IRISYS was working on became the FLUKE VT-02 (16 x 16 pixel) and VT-04 (32 x 32 pixel) “visual thermometers”. They were called visual thermometers because they used a visible light image with low resolution thermal overlay that would not have Ben very useful on its own due to an inability to provide scene details for context. FLUKE’s mother company ended up buying IRISYS to obtain their thermal people counter expertise. All of the thermal cameras, except the Fluke VT series were soon deleted as FLUKE had its own thermal camera range, having bought Infrared Solutions some years before.So why the long story about IRISYS ? …… Well it shows that a low resolution 16 x 16 pixel thermal sensor array does have uses, although they are somewhat limited by the low resolution and not really competitive or appealing in the modern consumer thermal camera market . Such low resolution sensor arrays are now made for the purely sensing market where image detail is less important and basically a small cluster of thermally sensitive pixels are what is needed. These low resolution sensors can make some very smart thermal detection systems that far outperform the old “dumb” Passive Infra Red (PIR) movement detection sensor heads of old. They can also offer scene monitoring for thermal excursions etc where high resolution may not be needed. The people counting market that IRISYS specialised in was very lucrative as it provides accurate data on retail customer footfall, checkout wait times and browsing habits…. Such data is worth serious money to large retail companies. Yet how many people have heard of IRISYS or their ground breaking Redeye pyroelectric thermal imaging sensor arrays that were not affected by USA dual use technology regulations etc ? These sensor arrays found their way into specialist equipment and the general public are largely oblivious to their existence. This is also why we do not see Heimann thermal sensor arrays discussed on public forums… they are specialist low resolution sensor arrays that have been eclipsed by affordable and more capable microbolometer technology coming out of Asia. If you know about Heimann low resolution thermal sensors you are likely working on a specialist applications and had to go hunting for them !With regard native sensor arrays to the Heimann product, there are several manufacturers of low resolution thermal imaging sensor arrays but without a detailed description of your application it is not possible to offer any comment. You are best served by searching for thermal sensor manufacturers and asking their sales teams for full data sheets and application notes on suitable arrays.Fraser

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 28, 2024, 12:36:23 pm
content: A teardown of a low resolution (16 x 16 pixel) IRISYS IRI-1000 series thermal camera…..https://www.eevblog.com/forum/thermal-imaging/thermal-camera-teardown-the-irisys-iri1011-by-fraser/

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 28, 2024, 12:40:04 pm
content: The IRISYS VT-02 prototype teardown…..https://www.eevblog.com/forum/thermal-imaging/fluke-vt02-thermal-camera-visual-thermometer-teardown/

author: maurit
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 21, 2024, 08:52:36 am
content: Hello everyone,I was given an old IRISYS IR1011 thermal camera but unfortunately without the software to view the images.Can someone help me?Thank you.Maurizio

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 21, 2024, 10:25:39 am
content: I believe I have the IRISYS software in my archives. I will have a look later today.This thread may also be of interest……https://www.eevblog.com/forum/thermal-imaging/thermal-camera-teardown-the-irisys-iri1011-by-fraser/Fraser

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 21, 2024, 10:32:04 am
content: Some more threads that may be of interest to you…..https://www.eevblog.com/forum/thermal-imaging/irisys-thermal-camera-history-models-iri4035-camera-unboxing-by-fraser/https://www.eevblog.com/forum/thermal-imaging/fraser-has-lost-his-mind-its-official-!-bought-an-iri-1011-camera-!/

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 21, 2024, 03:14:06 pm
content: Maurit,Software for PC, Win CE PDA and PALM PDA uploaded and link sent via PMFraser