Thermal Image Measurement

To meet growing demand for integrating thermal imaging measurements into computer-based measurement and automation systems, the company has teamed with FLIR Systems Inc., a leading designer of thermal imaging cameras. The companies have developed thermal imaging software for LabView and IMAQ Vision machine vision software.

ThermoVision InfraRed Machine Vision (IRMV) cameras offer an image with more than 76,000 points of temperature measurement. The cameras are designed for the manufacturing floor where engineers are increasingly using thermal imaging for machine vision inspection and predictive maintenance.

Infrared cameras measure the emission of thermal, or infrared, energy that the naked eye cannot detect. Hotter objects emit more infrared energy, and the cameras measure these differences and display them in varying colors. With LabView, engineers and scientists can use a computer to automatically acquire and measure thermal images. Using IMAQ Vision, engineers and scientists can then test for quality and consistency. For example, if a product's thermal image does not match the template stored by IMAQ, the product fails the production test.

Applications for using LabView and the pattern matching and blob analysis of IMAQ Vision together with the ThermoVision cameras range from evaluating products inside opaque packaging to inspecting electronic components. Measuring the varying temperatures of an electronic component provides valuable information for predictive maintenance programs.

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