Re: How do infrared thermometers work?

plenty900@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

Hi,

I'm curious how infrared thermometers work.
Here is my hypothesis: There must be some simple
photodetector -- I looked in electronics catalogs and
didn't find it-- that can sense the range of IR light
(8 to 12 micrometers?) that is radiated heat.
This is surely placed at the end of a tube and
only IR light that enters is from whatever object
is being measured. This is then converted to a voltage
and read with a D to A converter by a microcontroller
and displayed.

More or less. The sensor is called Thermopile
and basically is a bunch of micro thermo elements
stacked together. The generated voltage is
extremely small, in the microvolts.

Rene
--
Ing.Buero R.Tschaggelar - http://www.ibrtses.com
& commercial newsgroups - http://www.talkto.net
.

Relevant Pages

  • How do infrared thermometers work?
    ... I'm curious how infrared thermometers work. ... photodetector -- I looked in electronics catalogs and ... and read with a D to A converter by a microcontroller ...
    (sci.electronics.design)
  • Re: How do infrared thermometers work?
    ... I'm curious how infrared thermometers work. ... and read with a D to A converter by a microcontroller ... it doesn't work by measuring the amplitude of the IR. ... If you do some reading on "black body radiation" then you'll be able to ...
    (sci.electronics.design)