One of the great features of the Arduino platform is the level of detail some projects can go into, and you can end up creating devices you never imagined were possible. An example of this has been documented on the eevblog forum by Rolf Bakke, whose scanning thermal camera project is fascinating and quite successful. He has mounted a contactless infra-red thermometer on a tilt/pan device that is controlled by two servos.
An Arduino then controls the angles of the sensor and feeds the temperature data back to a PC for display via a processing sketch. By methodically scanning every row of a certain area, an image can be constructed based off the heat profile of the subject, and thus a thermal camera is born. You can see this in action through the following video:
Making your own isn't that difficult, and you can start with the code and discussion on the eevblog forum. And for more, we're on twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.
Looking for an infra-red temperature sensor module to experiment with? Then look no further as we can off you the the Freetronics IRTEMP:
This module is perfect for contactless temperature measurement. It is our special version of an industrial infrared remote thermometer units with an onboard power supply, communication support and a software library and examples supplied. Very simple to use with an Arduino as we have provided a Getting Started guide and Arduino library. For more information and to order, click here.
