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Certified Pre-Owned infrared cameras can save you big time. Why pay retail?
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Electro-Optical Systems - what the hell does that mean? Infrared cameras are electro optical systems comprised of specialty sensor and lens combinations used to image infrared (heat) energy. What the hell does that mean? It can sound complicated but really infrared cameras (AKA thermal imagers or thermal cameras) are very simple to understand. Every object in the universe emits infrared energy. This infrared radiation travels in much the same way as the visible light that we see with our eyes except that it is invisible to us humans. Our eyes cannot see infrared radiation but we can sense it with our bodies. If you hold your hand next to something warm or cold and you feel that temperature on your hand, that is infrared energy. Unfortunately, our skin is not a very sensitive detector of infrared energy and requires at least a few degrees of temperature difference for us to be able to sense the change. Infrared cameras, however, are designed to sense temperature changes from about 1/10 of a degree to as little as a few hundredths of a degree difference in temperature. This amazing sensitivity allows infrared cameras to produce a stunning image of the world around you that looks just like a visible light image. There is a common misconception that infrared cameras just show you blobs of heat against a black background. To the contrary, todays infrared cameras produce stunningly detailed images of everything around you. The images are so good that military agencies use thermal imaging to navigate vehicles, fly jets and even target weaponry. The image on an infrared camera is the same in bright light or total darkness because this technology does not rely on visible light to produce an image. The infrared cameras are immune to light pollution of any kind. This gives you a clear advantage after dark. Microbolometers - just a fancy word for imaging chip Infrared cameras have a sensor that is called the Focal Plane Array. This is a fancy word for an imaging chip that is essentially the same as the chip found in your everyday camcorder or digital camera. The difference is that this chip is sensitive to infrared energy rather than light energy. They are made from different materials and have names like VoX (Vanadium Oxide) or AS (Amorphous Silicone) microbolometers with the letters referring to the material the chip is made from. The lens is also special in infrared cameras. Infrared energy does not pass through glass very well at all. The lenses need to be made from exotic materials that will allow infrared energy to pass through freely. The premier material for infrared camera lenses is a crystal called Germanium. This exotic and expensive material is cut and polished to produce the finest thermal lenses available. It is interesting to note that since infrared energy does not pass through glass it introduces on of the drawbacks to infrared imaging which is that it cannot see through windows. Essentially, a glass window will act like a mirror to an infrared camera and all you will see is a reflection of yourself when looking at glass. Some infrared cameras are also calibrated so that they can tell you the temperature of any point in the image. These systems are known as radiometric infrared cameras and are used in a wide variety of industrial and maintenance applications. Radiometric infrared cameras are very popular in energy audit, predictive maintenance, electrical inspection, pipeline inspection and other industrial applications. This type of infrared imaging is known as thermography.
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Rent infrared cameras from SPI CORP. We carry the largest stock of thermal cameras for rental. We offer well maintained and like new infrared camera solutions from all major manufacturers. Rent infrared cameras from SPI CORP, RAZ-IR, FLIR Systems Inc., FLUKE, L3, Raytheon, Inframetrics, Agema and more. If you don't see it listed call us and we will solve your problems today.
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