Thermography is a thermal imaging technique using an infrared camera.

Any material that is at a temperature above 0 K (273.16C) gives out electromagnetic radiation at a particular
wavelength.

The wavelength of this

electromagnetic radiation is just above the wavelengths of visible light. The
wavelength of the visible light is 4000 to 7000 angstrom (1 angstrom = 10 10 m).
Electromagnetic waves radiated in the range of 9000 to 14,000 angstrom are
known as (IR) infrared waves.

This thermal
radiation is measured by suitable infrared detectors to provide a means
to know the surface temperature of the thermal energy-emitting body

The energy emitted by the body is directly proportional to the fourth power of its temperature in Kelvin scale. This
constant
of proportionality is known as the StefanBoltzmann constant, which has a
value of 5.67 108 W/m2K4.

The fractions of the radiated energy, which describe the absorption of the
incident energy, is denoted by , the reflected energy is , and the transmitted
energy is . Each coefficient can vary anywhere from zero to one. A body
where no energy is transmitted or reflected and all the incident energy is
absorbed is known as a black body. This amount of energy absorbed by a black
body is independent of the wavelength of thermal radiation. A black body is
also a perfect emitter and the energy emitted by a black body is independent
of the direction of radiation.
no real-world body is a perfect black
body and thus every body that radiates thermal energy is characterized by
its surface emissivity

An object that has

the same emissivity at all wavelengths is known as a grey body. Thus
the Stefan-Boltzmann law is given as in Equation (10.3)
W = T4 (10.3

Based on the above principles of thermal radiation, commercial infrared detectors are available for measuring the
surface temperature of a radiating body.

Thermal imaging devices

The thermal energy emitted by a black body varies according to the wavelength of the radiation and is given,
according to the Plank distribution

The StefanBoltzmann law in Eq. 11-3 gives the total blackbody emissive
power Eb, which is the sum of the radiation emitted over all wavelengths.
Sometimes we need to know the spectral blackbody emissive power, which
is the amount of radiation energy emitted by a blackbody at an absolute temperature T per unit
time, per unit surface area, and per unit wavelength about
the wavelength .

E
b = monochromatic black body emissive power [W/m2m]
= wavelength, m
T = temperature, K
C
1 = 3.743 108 Wm4/m2

C
2 = 1.4387 104 mK

Optical pyrometer

Optical pyrometers are used to measure surface temperature of radiating

bodies, where, because of the high temperatures (as in the blast furnace of
a steel plant), conventional contact-type measurements at high temperatures above 500C would not work.

no direct contact between the pyrometer and the object whose temperature is to be found out.

The device compares the brightness produced by the radiation of the object whose temperature is to be
measured, with that of a reference temperature. The reference temperature is produced by a
 lamp whose brightness can be adjusted till its intensity becomes equal to the brightness of the
source object.

For an object, its light intensity always depends on the temperature of the object, whatever may be its
wavelength.

1. A reference lamp, which is powered with the help of a battery.

2. A rheostat to change the current and hence the brightness intensity.

1. A red filter placed between the eye piece and the reference bulb helps in narrowing the band of wavelength.

The radiation from the source is emitted and the optical objective lens captures it. The lens helps in
focusing the thermal radiation on to the reference bulb. The observer watches the process
through the eye piece and corrects it in such a manner that the reference lamp filament has a
sharp focus and the filament is super-imposed on the temperature source image.

Filament disappears. Thus, there is equal brightness between the filament and temperature source. At
this time, the current that flows in the reference lamp is measured, as its value is a measure of
the temperature of the radiated light in the temperature source, when calibrated.
When the glow of the reference matches with the hot object through
an eye piece, that electric current is measured to calibrate the
temperature of the hot body.

In front of the eye piece there is a coloured glass (usually red), to

make lights monochromatic.
Optical Pyrometers work on the basic principle of using the human eye to match the brightness of the hot
object to the brightness of a calibrated lamp filament inside the instrument. The optical system
contains filters that restrict the wavelength-sensitivity of the devices to a narrow wavelength band
around 0.65 to 0.66 micons

infrared cameras operate in wavelengths as long as 14,000 nm (14 m)

It works even in total darkness because ambient light level does not matter.