Thermal Imaging Gallery
By Faith CheungWelcome to our Thermal Imaging Gallery, where the hidden world of heat and energy is revealed. Using a thermal camera, we capture and showcase temperature variations in objects and environments. This unique perspective enables us to explore heat patterns in nature, vehicles, bulidings, and more.
Thermal imaging has diverse applications such as detecting heat loss in homes, gas detection, electrical wiring maintenance, animal health monitoring, security, and assisting first responders in emergencies.
There are three modes of heat transfer: convection, conduction, and radiation. In convection, heat moves through fluids due to density differences, like in boiling water. Conduction involves direct heat transfer between objects in contact, such as when touching a hot pan. Radiation transfers heat through electromagnetic waves, as seen when heating up food in a microwave [1].
The thermal camera works based on emissivity and radiation. Radiation transfers energy from a surface to an infrared (thermal) camera, which captures the emitted or reflected radiation to create an image [2]. Emissivity measures how efficiently an object radiates heat, with a range from 0 to 1. A value of 0 indicates a perfect mirror, reflecting all energy, while 1 represents an object that absorbs and radiates all energy. For example, a metallic surface has an emissivity below 0.10, and human skin has an emissivity of 0.98. For low-emissivity objects like metal, the thermal camera measures the reflected temperature rather than the actual surface temperature. To improve accuravcy on measuring low-emissivity objects, a piece of black tape can be applied. The tape will absorb the heat from the object, allowing the thermal camera to measure its temperature more accurately [3].
This website will display various objects captured by the thermal camera. Click on the links below:
This project was made possible by School of Engineering’s Dean’s Innovation Grant 2024.